What a patio costs installed, by finish — including the tear-out, reinforcement and permit lines that quotes leave out.
Concrete Patio Cost Calculator
Inputs
1 for mesh or rebar, 0 for none. Almost every patio should be reinforced.
Tear-out and disposal of an existing slab. Leave 0 for a new patio on open ground.
1 if your jurisdiction permits patios. Many do not for a slab at grade.
Results
Estimated patio cost
$2,800 – $6,400
cost = ft² × finish rate × small-job factor + reinforcement + extras
Calculated with BuildCalculators.com
Calculated with BuildCalculators.com · buildcalculators.com/concrete-patio-cost-calculator
Estimates are for planning only — confirm quantities with your supplier or contractor before ordering.
A concrete patio is priced per square foot of finished surface, and the finish is what moves the number most — from around $6 a foot for a broom finish to $30 for stamped work. This calculator takes the finish, adds the lines that quotes routinely leave out, and gives you a range rather than a single figure, because a single figure for this job would be false precision.
The range is wide for a reason worth understanding before you compare bids: access dominates. A truck that can chute straight into the forms is the bottom of the range. Wheelbarrowing through a side gate, or bringing in a pump, is the top of it — and that difference is larger than the gap between a broom finish and exposed aggregate.
ft² × finish rateft² × $1–$3existing ft² × $2–$62 × (length + width)Excavation, forming, the gravel base, the concrete, placing, finishing and stripping — the whole job, delivered. It does not cover removing something that is already there, permits where they apply, or a pump. Those are separate lines here because they are separate lines on a real quote, and because two bids that look different are usually two bids that included different ones.
A broom finish is the workhorse: cheap, grippy underfoot when wet, and easy to repair. Exposed aggregate is harder wearing and hides staining well. Stamped concrete looks like stone at a fraction of stone's price, but it is sealed rather than integrally coloured, which means resealing every two to three years — an ongoing cost that never appears in the installation quote and that people are consistently surprised by.
Forming and edging are sold by the linear foot. An 8 by 8 patio carries half a foot of edge for every square foot of surface; a 20 by 20 carries a fifth of a foot. The crew also charges for showing up. Below about 150 square feet a per-square-foot price stops describing what you will be charged and a minimum charge takes over — so ask what the minimum is before comparing quotes on a small job.
One to three dollars a square foot for mesh or bar. It does not stop a patio cracking — nothing does, concrete shrinks as it cures — but it decides what the crack does afterwards. A reinforced slab holds the crack tight and level. An unreinforced one lets the two sides settle differently, and a crack that has stepped is a trip hazard and a repair. On a 400 square foot patio this is $400 to $1,200 against a $2,400 to $5,200 job.
Four inches of compacted aggregate under the slab is a genuine cost and it is invisible the moment the concrete goes down. It is also the first thing removed from a bid that needs to be the lowest. Ask every contractor what base depth they have allowed and what they will do on soft ground — the answer separates quotes far better than the headline number does.
Four inches is standard for a patio and adequate for foot traffic. Control joints go in at roughly 8 to 10 feet, cut within the first day, and they are what decides where the slab cracks — a patio without them cracks somewhere of its own choosing. Neither shows up in a per-square-foot comparison, and both are worth confirming.
New patio on open ground, reinforced, no permit.
$2,800–$6,400, or $7–$16 a square foot
Where a quote lands in that range is mostly about access. Ask whether the truck can reach the forms before you assume the low end.
Stamped and coloured instead of broom finished.
$4,000–$13,200
Plus resealing every two to three years at $1–$2 a square foot — $400 to $800 a time, indefinitely. Worth pricing over ten years, not just at installation.
Tear out the old slab, pour a new broom-finished one.
$1,296–$3,168
Tear-out is a fifth to a quarter of the job and is the line most often missing from a replacement quote. Reinforced old slabs cost more to remove, because the steel has to be cut.
2026 ranges, per square foot, covering the whole job.
| Finish | Per ft² | A 400 ft² patio |
|---|---|---|
| Broom | $6–$13 | $2,400–$5,200 |
| Exposed aggregate | $7–$18 | $2,800–$7,200 |
| Stained | $8–$25 | $3,200–$10,000 |
| Stamped | $9–$30 | $3,600–$12,000 |
Edge per ft² is what makes small patios dearer per foot.
| Size | Area | Edge per ft² | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 × 8 ft | 64 ft² | 0.500 | $384–$832 |
| 10 × 10 ft | 100 ft² | 0.400 | $600–$1300 |
| 12 × 12 ft | 144 ft² | 0.333 | $864–$1872 |
| 15 × 15 ft | 225 ft² | 0.267 | $1350–$2925 |
| 20 × 20 ft | 400 ft² | 0.200 | $2400–$5200 |
| 20 × 30 ft | 600 ft² | 0.167 | $3600–$7800 |
The lines above are the whole installed job. What follows is where the range actually comes from, and what to ask each contractor so that two quotes become comparable.
Chuting straight from the truck is the cheapest concrete you will ever buy. Wheelbarrowing adds labour by the hour across the whole pour. A pump is $800–$1,500 for the day regardless of volume, which on a 400 square foot patio is a fifth of the job appearing from nowhere. Establish this before you take bids, because a contractor who has walked the site and priced a pump will look expensive next to one who has not.
Base depth. Reinforcement type. Slab thickness. Control joint spacing. Whether tear-out and disposal are included. Whether a pump is priced. Six questions, and they explain almost every gap between two numbers on the same job.
A broom finish wants sealing every few years if you want it to stay clean, and is perfectly serviceable if you never do. Stamped concrete must be resealed every two to three years at $1–$2 a square foot or the colour fades and the surface starts to wear through. Over a decade that is a meaningful share of the installation price, and it belongs in the comparison.
Two bids on the same patio routinely include different base depths, different reinforcement, and one of them may or may not include removing what is there. Compare the inclusions first; the price difference usually explains itself.
The bottom of every per-square-foot figure is a large, simple, truck-accessible pour. A small patio behind a house with a narrow gate is not that job, and no finish choice will move it there.
It is the cheapest line on the estimate and it decides whether the inevitable crack stays tight or opens into a step. On a patio you walk on barefoot, that distinction matters.
Resealing every two to three years is part of owning it. Ten years of stamped concrete costs meaningfully more than ten years of broom finish, and the difference is not in the first invoice.
Removing and disposing of an old slab is $2–$6 a square foot, more if it is reinforced. On a replacement it is routinely a quarter of the job.
Below about 150 square feet, a minimum charge governs. Ask what it is rather than working from a rate that assumes a much bigger pour.
$6–$13 per square foot for a broom finish installed in 2026, rising to $9–$30 for stamped. A 20 by 20 ft broom-finished patio is roughly $2,400–$5,200 before reinforcement, and $2,800–$6,400 with it.
Access dominates. A truck that can chute straight into the forms is the bottom of the range; wheelbarrowing through a side gate, or bringing in a pump at $800–$1,500 for the day, is the top. That difference is larger than the gap between a broom finish and exposed aggregate.
Yes. Forming and edging are sold by the linear foot and a crew charges for the day regardless. An 8 by 8 patio carries half a foot of edge per square foot of surface against a fifth for a 20 by 20. Below about 150 square feet a minimum charge takes over, so ask what it is rather than working from a rate.
Roughly $9–$30 per square foot against $6–$13. The bigger difference is ongoing: stamped concrete needs resealing every two to three years at $1–$2 per square foot, which never appears in the installation quote.
Mesh or bar at $1–$3 per square foot is the cheapest line on the estimate. It does not stop the slab cracking — nothing does — but it decides whether the crack stays tight and level or the two sides settle differently into a step you can trip on.
$2–$6 per square foot including disposal, more where the old slab is reinforced because the steel has to be cut. On a replacement it is routinely a fifth to a quarter of the total, and it is the line most often missing from a quote.
Base depth, reinforcement type, slab thickness, control joint spacing, whether tear-out and disposal are included, and whether a pump is priced. Those six answers explain almost every difference between two quotes on the same job.
Installed cost by finish, material shown separately
Slabs, footings and columns in cubic yards and bags
New or replacement driveway, installed and itemised
Step volume and riser layout
Grid bar counts, length and weight by size
Bag counts for base, finish and lath
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It is a planning estimate. It does not replace an engineer, a site visit or a written quote — confirm quantities with your supplier before ordering.