How to price concrete jobs

Concrete is priced with the same equation as any job: price = materials + labor + other job costs + overhead + profit.

What makes concrete different is that the most visible part, the pour, is the shortest. Tear-out, grading, base and forms take more hours than placing and finishing. And the concrete is bought by the yard while the slab is sold by the foot.

This guide walks through each part, shows where your labor hours per unit come from, then prices the replacement of a 12 × 20 foot patio line by line. It covers the arithmetic, not your local prices: wages, plant prices and material costs vary by metro and by week, so every dollar figure is yours to fill in.

For the general method, see how to price a construction job. For software built around concrete, see the concrete industry page.

How concrete work is measured

Concrete work uses three units.

• Slab work, by the square foot: tear-out, grading, gravel base, vapor barrier, reinforcement, placing, finishing and sealer.
• Edges, by the linear foot: forms, control joints, expansion joints, footings and crack repair.
• Concrete, by the cubic yard: what the plant sells, worked out from area and thickness.

Thickness changes every line

A 6-inch driveway holds half again as much concrete per square foot as a 4-inch patio. It usually wants heavier reinforcement and a deeper base too.

The formula for a concrete price

1. Quantity × labor hours per unit = labor hours for each line.
2. Labor hours × your full hourly labor cost = labor cost. Full cost is the wage plus labor burden: payroll taxes, workers' compensation and benefits. Forming is carpentry and finishing is skilled work, so price those hours at what they really cost you.
3. Materials at what you will pay near the job now, with waste, and the concrete at the plant's delivered price.
4. Other job costs: disposal, pump, equipment rental, permit and mobilization, the cost of getting the crew, trailer, saw and compactor to the site.
5. Overhead for every labor hour.
6. Profit, as a markup on the total cost.

The labor rate guide and the labor rate calculator build your hourly cost once, so every slab uses the same number.

Labor hours for common concrete work

The hours per unit belong to your crew, so only you can supply them. Your own records from job costing beat any table.

Record hours and quantity, then divide

On every pour, record the hours each step took and the quantity it covered, then divide. Keep it per 100 square feet for flatwork and per 100 linear feet for forms and joints.

Count labor hours, not crew hours

A crew of three working a four-hour morning is 12 labor hours.

Keep a separate number for each step

Don't use one rate for "concrete":

Forms, rebar and tear-out move the hours

Forms are priced by the foot of edge, while placing is priced by the square foot of slab. A small slab has a lot of edge for its area, which is why small pours cost more per square foot.

Rebar takes longer to tie than mesh takes to lay, so the reinforcement choice moves the labor too. And tearing out an old slab often takes more hours per square foot than placing the new one. Your records will show by how much.

Ready-mix, short loads, access and weather

Pour-day costs depend on the plant, the site and the forecast.

Bags for small pours, ready-mix for slabs

Bagged mix works for a pad, a landing, a few post footings or a repair. For a full slab, convert to cubic yards with the concrete calculator and price ready-mix: square feet × thickness in feet ÷ 27, plus waste.

Ready-mix arrives as one batch, so the whole slab sets together and nobody spends the day feeding a mixer.

Ask the plant about short-load fees

Plants have a minimum load, and many add a short-load fee below it. Some also charge for truck time beyond an allowed unloading window. The amounts vary by plant, so ask your supplier when you price, and put any fee on the estimate as its own line.

Pump or wheelbarrow when the truck can't reach

If the truck can back up to the forms, the chute does the work. A backyard patio often cannot be reached.

That means wheelbarrows or power buggies and more hours on the placing line, or a pump with its own minimum charge. Walk the route from the street before you price it.

Put weather terms in writing

Rain on fresh concrete ruins the finish. Cold slows the set and may call for blankets or a mix adjustment from the plant. Heat speeds it up and may call for an early start and more finishers.

Say in your terms how a weather delay is handled, and price the blankets or additives when the season calls for them.

Taking off concrete materials

Turn each quantity into what you buy, with waste added and rounded up to the purchase unit.

• Concrete: cubic yards plus 5% to 10% for an uneven subgrade and spillage, rounded up to the increment your plant sells.
• Gravel: the area times the base depth, in cubic yards for bulk or in bags from the coverage on the bag. Order extra for compaction; bulk delivery may cost less than bags.
• Forms: the form length in the board lengths you buy, a stake every 3 to 4 feet and at the corners, and form release.
• Reinforcement: mesh to cover the slab with the edges lapped, or rebar at the grid spacing in both directions, plus chairs and tie wire.
• Finish and joints: curing compound, joint filler, sealant and sealer by the square or linear foot.

Worked example: replacing a 12 × 20 patio slab

Example: A homeowner wants a cracked 12 × 20 foot patio, 4 inches thick, torn out and replaced at the same size behind the house. The 20-foot side meets the house foundation. The truck cannot reach the back yard. The new slab gets:

• A compacted gravel base
• Wire mesh
• A broom finish
• Saw-cut control joints
• An expansion joint at the house
• A sealer

Measure the slab, forms and joints

• Area: 12 × 20 = 240 square feet, for demo, haul-out, grading, base, mesh, placing, finishing and sealer.
• Forms: the perimeter is 2 × (12 + 20) = 64 feet. The 20 feet against the house get an expansion joint instead, so forms run 64 − 20 = 44 feet.
• Expansion joint: 20 feet along the house.
• Control joints: a common rule keeps joints no more than 2 to 3 times the slab thickness in feet apart, 8 to 12 feet for 4 inches. Two joints across the slab at the thirds of its length (2 × 12 = 24 feet) and one down the middle of its width (20 feet) make 44 feet, and six panels about 6 × 6.7 feet.
• Concrete: 240 × 4 ÷ 12 = 80 cubic feet ÷ 27 = 2.96 cubic yards. With 10% waste, 2.96 × 1.1 = 3.26 yards, rounded up to your plant's increment.

Labor hours by line

Say your crew's own records show the hours per unit below. They are example inputs to show the arithmetic, not a standard: use your own.

The check: 19.2 + 4.8 + 9.6 + 7.2 + 6.6 + 2.4 + 12 + 3.6 + 2.2 + 1.2 + 1.2 = 70 labor hours.

Tear-out and grading are nearly half

Tear-out, haul-out and grading come to 33.6 hours, nearly half the job, before any new concrete arrives. Placing and finishing are 15.6.

Because the truck cannot reach, raise the placing hours for the wheelbarrow crew, or price a pump instead. The example hours assume normal access.

Vapor barrier and rebar add hours

Say a vapor barrier takes your crew 0.5 hours per 100 square feet: it adds 240 × 0.005 = 1.2 hours, for 71.2. An open patio usually does without one, so it is offered as an option.

Say a rebar grid takes 2.5 hours per 100 square feet against 1 for mesh: it adds 240 × (0.025 − 0.01) = 3.6 hours, for 73.6.

Concrete and other materials

From the measurements and the coverage printed on each product:

• Concrete: 3.26 yards of ready-mix at the plant's delivered price. For comparison, an 80-pound bag of mix yields about 0.6 cubic feet, so bags would be 80 × 1.1 ÷ 0.6 = 146.7, or 147 bags.
• Gravel: say a 4-inch base: 240 × 4 ÷ 12 = 80 cubic feet, or 2.96 cubic yards before compaction. Order extra for compaction, or the bag equivalent from the coverage on the bag.
• Forms: 44 feet of 2x4 in the lengths you buy, and a stake every 3 feet plus the corners: about 17 stakes.
• Mesh: 240 square feet plus the laps, in the sheet or roll size you buy, with chairs to hold it in the middle of the slab.
• Curing compound and sealer: from the coverage on each label for 240 square feet, rounded up to full gallons.
• Expansion joint: 20 feet of joint filler, and sealant from the bead coverage on the tube, rounded up to full tubes.

Price everything except the concrete near the job and call it M.

Building the price

Markup is not margin

A 25% markup means the total cost × 1.25, a 20% margin; a 20% markup is only about a 16.7% margin. The markup vs margin guide explains the gap, and the job cost calculator adds the lines up.

Divide the price by 240 for a price per square foot, and compare it with similar replacements you have done.

Common concrete pricing mistakes

• Pricing a replacement like new work. Tear-out and haul-out can be as many hours as the new slab.
• Ordering yards with no waste. Running short mid-pour leaves a cold joint and a second truck.
• Leaving the short-load fee off. Small orders often carry one. Ask the plant.
• Ignoring access. A pour the truck cannot reach needs a pump or more hands.
• Forgetting disposal weight. Broken concrete is heavy, and dump fees often go by weight.
• No weather terms. A rained-out pour costs a day. Say who carries it.

How to present a concrete estimate

• Show the steps as lines: tear-out, base, forms, reinforcement, placing and finishing, joints, sealer.
• State the spec: thickness, base, reinforcement, finish and joint layout, so a cheaper bid can be compared fairly.
• Offer options like a vapor barrier or rebar as separate lines the client can add.
• List exclusions: buried obstructions, soft subgrade, utilities and landscape repair.
• Set the deposit, an expiry date and your weather terms. Many contractors take a deposit before ordering concrete; the progress billing guide covers it.

The concrete estimate template lays these out, and the concrete invoice template bills the deposit and balance.

Pricing concrete jobs with BuildWell

BuildWell builds a concrete estimate from a description of the job by voice, text or photos, such as "tear out a 12 by 20 patio and replace it, 4 inches, gravel base, wire mesh, broom finish." The AI decides what work the job needs and how much; it does not set prices.

BuildWell prices materials at stores near the job and labor at the metro's median wage for each trade, plus your overhead and markup.

You can change any quantity, hour or price, and add a custom line with your plant's delivered price for a truck pour. The client signs on their phone.

A concrete pricing checklist

• Slab in square feet, edges and joints in linear feet
• Cubic yards with waste, rounded up to the plant's increment
• Tear-out, haul-out and disposal weight
• Labor hours line by line, adjusted for access
• Short-load fee, pump and equipment asked and priced
• Materials at current prices near the job
• Overhead on every labor hour, then profit
• Weather terms and options in writing