Removable Bollards: What They Cost and How They Work

A removable bollard can be built several ways, and each choice changes the price. The post can lock to its sleeve with welded tabs and a padlock or with a welded chain, and the sleeve can be set in a new footing in dirt or core-drilled into an existing slab. The post can be painted or galvanized. This post explains what a removable bollard costs and what each of those options changes.

How the sleeve works

The post is steel pipe, often 4 inch Schedule 40, with a cap welded on top. The sleeve is a slightly larger pipe set in a concrete footing, with a flat bar welded across its bottom as a stop.

The post drops into the sleeve and lands on that stop, so it stands at the same height every time. Ours run 42 to 48 inches above grade. Pulling one takes no tools past the padlock key.

Posts can be primed and painted, or galvanized.

The lock

One lock uses two tabs welded so they line up at grade, with a padlock through them.

A short welded chain does the same job in place of the tabs, and it has more play, so the padlock lines up easier.

What moves the price

Setting the sleeve in open dirt costs less than setting it in asphalt or an existing slab, where the surface has to be cut out or core-drilled before the sleeve goes in.

A removable bollard can also be bolted to the slab instead of set in a footing. A bolted bollard is not as strong as one set in concrete.

Before we drill or dig, we submit the 811 ticket for underground utility locating.

What it costs

The mounting and the finish are what move the number. Installed, a removable post runs about $950 to $1,000 and up.

Paint costs more than galvanized only. A single post on its own carries the whole trip, so it prices higher than a post on a job with several.