How to price concrete work

A flatwork price that only looks at the square footage misses the things that make or break a pour: how far the truck has to reach, how much old concrete has to come out, how thick the slab is and how many people it takes to finish it before it sets. This guide builds the price from your yards, your crew and your trucks, then shows where national figures land.

What goes into a concrete job

• Concrete by the yard. Ask your supplier for the delivered price, the short-load charge and the time allowed before overtime on the truck.
• Base and steel. Gravel base, compaction, rebar or mesh, chairs, expansion joint and form boards or stakes.
• Tear-out and haul-off. Breaking the old slab, loading it and the dump or recycling fee by the ton.
• Crew time. Forming day, pour day and the return for saw cuts or form stripping. Count the hours from yard to yard.
• Equipment. Skid steer, plate compactor, saw, power trowel, and a pump or buggy when the truck cannot reach.
• Overhead and profit. Insurance, trucks, phones, software and the slow weeks, plus what the business keeps.

Write each down for one typical job and you can price the next one in minutes.

Setting your labor rate

Start with the wage. The closest group the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes is cement masons and concrete finishers. In its May 2025 wage survey, that group's national mean wage was $28.87 an hour and the median was $27.41 (BLS OEWS 47-2051). Finishers who can run a stamped or exposed aggregate job without callbacks are worth more than the median.

Add your labor burden on top: payroll taxes, workers' comp and any paid time off. If burden in your state comes to 20% of wages, a $28 an hour tech costs you $33.60 an hour. That loaded number is what goes into the job cost.

Fixr's driveway guide lists excavation and grading at $50 to $70 an hour, and the forming, raking and form stripping labor at $1.50 to $2 a square foot (Fixr). If your loaded crew cost plus overhead and profit lands far outside that, check your hours before you check the market.

Per square foot benchmarks

These are national consumer figures, so they show what homeowners are told to expect. Use them as a check on your own math.

Notice the spread between plain and stamped work. Most of that gap is finishing time and skill, not material, which is why your finish options should carry their own price.

A worked example: a 24 by 24 foot driveway

Every input below is an assumption for the example. Swap in your own supplier price, crew and margins.

• Size: 24 x 24 feet, 4 inches thick, replacing an old cracked slab. That is 576 square feet and about 7.1 cubic yards, ordered as 7.4 to cover waste and low spots.
• Concrete delivered at $165 a yard.
• Crew: three people, two days of nine hours each, at $33.60 an hour loaded.
• Overhead 20% of the price and profit 15% of the price.

1. Concrete: about 7.4 cubic yards x $165 = $1,221
2. Rebar, forms, base gravel and expansion joint: $640
3. Labor: 3 people x 2 days x 9 hours x $33.60 = $1,814.40
4. Equipment and pump or chute fees: $300
5. Drive: 4 trips x 30 miles x $0.76 = $91.20
6. Dump fee for the old slab: $250
7. Direct cost: $1,221 + $640 + $1,814.40 + $300 + $91.20 + $250 = $4,316.60
8. Overhead plus profit: 20% + 15% = 35% of the price
9. Price: $4,316.60 / (1 - 0.35) = $4,316.60 / 0.65 = $6,641

Check it: 35% of $6,641 is about $2,324, and $6,641 minus $2,324 is about $4,317, the direct cost of $4,316.60. The profit and overhead are inside the price, not added on top of a cost you guessed.

That works out to about $11.53 a square foot. Fixr's broom finish range is $8 to $12 a square foot and its typical driveway lands at $3,460 to $6,910, so this price sits inside the market with tear-out included. If your math lands well above the range, look at crew days and the dump fee first.

Offer good, better, best

Concrete is a big ticket, and a choice is easier to sign than a single number. For a driveway it often looks like this:

• Good: tear-out and a broom finish slab, the $6,641 job from the example.
• Better: the same slab with a thicker section at the apron and a decorative border, priced from your own finishing time.
• Best: stamped and colored, with sealing after it cures and a resealing visit on the calendar.

Koira's estimates send up to three options from your price list. The customer picks one, signs and pays the deposit on the same page, which matters on a job where you are buying a truckload of concrete before you get paid. If they go quiet, Koira follows up on day two and day four, then stops.

Take a deposit before you order

Concrete gets ordered for a set day and cannot be returned. A deposit at signing covers the material and the booking. With deposits your rule is applied to every estimate, the deposit is paid on the same page as the signature, and the final invoice shows it already paid. For big drives and patios, pay over time on the pay page can help the customer say yes to the better option.

Common concrete pricing mistakes

• Pricing from the square foot alone. Two driveways of the same size can need very different tear-out, base and reach.
• Forgetting short-load and wait charges. A small pad can cost more per yard than a big drive.
• No weather day in the schedule. A rained-out pour still costs you a crew morning.
• Giving stamped work away. Decorative finishing is skilled time. Price it as its own line.
• Not counting the return trip. Saw cuts, form stripping and sealing are separate visits.

Want to see how your business looks to people comparing concrete contractors near you? The free AI report checks your listing, reviews and site in about a minute.

How to raise your prices

• Rerun your cost math once a year with this year's wages, fuel, insurance and materials. If it gives a higher price than you charge, the gap is coming out of your pocket.
• Raise prices for new customers first. They have no old number to compare against.
• Tell repeat customers ahead of time, in writing, with the new price and the date it starts.
• Watch your supplier's price letters. When the yard price moves, update your price list the same day.

Questions contractors ask