Concrete slab cost, itemized

A 12 × 10 ft slab, 4 in thick on 4 in of gravel, takes 1.56 cubic yards of ready-mix and 1.93 yards of base stone: $400 at today’s posted prices, a small-load charge included. Each day one concrete finisher works adds about $471 to the price, overhead and profit included (U.S. median wage). Enter your slab, patio or driveway, your city and the crew’s time, or type a quote to see how many hours of work it pays for.

Your slab at today’s prices

Each figure says where it comes from: the concrete at a ready-mix plant’s posted price, the gravel base at a stone yard’s, the crew’s time at what a concrete finisher costs an employer where you live, and the share of the price contractors spend on overhead and keep as profit. Every one of them is yours to change.

Filled in as an example: a 12 × 10 ft slab, 4 in thick, on 4 in of gravel, with the concrete at Gehring Construction & Ready-Mix’s posted price and the crew’s time not yet typed. Type over any of it with your own slab and figures.

Length (ft) Width (ft)For an L-shape or a curve, the concrete calculator adds up the parts; enter a rectangle of the same area here. Thickness (in)Your plan or your city sets it. Patios and walks are often 4 in; some towns ask more for a driveway. What you’re pouringSets the contractors’ overhead share: the Census Bureau counts patio, driveway and sidewalk work in a group of its own. Reinforcement When it’s pouredGehring Construction & Ready-Mix adds a winter charge to every yard poured from December 1 through March 15. Where you liveSets the concrete finisher’s wage. Crew’s time (worker-hours)Ask how many people for how many days, from forms to finishing: two people for one 8-hour day is 16 worker-hours. Leave it empty and the estimate shows what each day adds. A quote’s total ($), if you have one

Your plant’s prices, the gravel base and the overhead share

Who orders the concrete Extra concrete (%)For spillage and an uneven base, as on the concrete calculator. Concrete price ($ a cubic yard)The example: Ready-mix concrete, 3,000 psi sand and gravel mix (SG-3000, 6 bag), Gehring Construction & Ready-Mix, Columbus, NE. Call a plant near you: prices change from town to town. Small-load charge ($ a truckload) Charged on loads under (cu yd)Gehring Construction & Ready-Mix charges $50 a load under 4 yards. Type 0 if your plant has no such charge. Fibers ($ a cubic yard) Winter charge ($ a cubic yard) Gravel base, compacted (in)Type 0 if the slab goes straight on firm ground. Extra loose stone (%)Loose stone packs down: Washington State DOT weighs a yard of crushed base at 2,950 lb in the truck and 3,700 lb compacted, about 25% more, and 5% covers uneven ground. Base stone price ($ a cubic yard)The example: Whiz-Q Stone, Fort Worth, TX. Overhead and profit (% of the price)The contractors’ average in 2022, from the Census Bureau: 33% for poured concrete contractors, 42% for the group that paves patios and driveways.

The materials priced here, at today’s prices: $400. Each day one concrete finisher works adds about $471.

Your slab: 12 × 10 ft, 4 in thick
Part	Cost	Where the figure comes from
Ready-mix concrete: 1.56 cu yd	$230	Ready-mix concrete, 3,000 psi sand and gravel mix (SG-3000, 6 bag) at $148 a cubic yard, Gehring Construction & Ready-Mix in Columbus, NE, Nov 4, 2026: one plant’s posted price, delivered within 20 miles. 12 × 10 ft at 4 in thick is 1.48 cu yd, with 5% extra.
Small-load charge: under 4 cu yd	$50	$50 a truckload under 4 cubic yards, Gehring Construction & Ready-Mix in Columbus, NE, Nov 4, 2026.
Wire mesh or rebar	Not priced	Whether the slab needs it, and how much, is for your plan or your building department. No store price is held for it here, so it is named, not priced. The reinforcement planner counts the bars or sheets.
Gravel base: 1.93 cu yd	$119	Base material, 1-1/2 in to fines at $62 a cubic yard, Whiz-Q Stone in Fort Worth, TX, Oct 19, 2026. 4 in compacted is 1.48 cu yd; 30% more loose stone fills it once compacted (Washington State DOT’s weights, and 5% for uneven ground).
Form boards and stakes	Not priced	Lumber along every edge, set at the slab’s finished height and staked. No price is counted for it here, so it is named, not priced.
Labor	Not added	Type the concrete finisher’s time above. Each worker-day adds about $471 to the price, overhead and profit included.
Materials at today’s prices	$400	$3.33 a sq ft of slab. Not yet the job’s price: the labor and the concrete finisher’s overhead and profit come in when you type the concrete finisher’s time. Not priced, so not in this total: wire mesh or rebar and form boards and stakes. Not counted: digging out, grading and hauling away soil or an old slab, a concrete pump, a permit, a vapor retarder under a floor slab, mileage more than 20 miles from the plant, waiting time at the truck, and sales tax.

What an hour costs: no concrete maker or public body publishes how long a slab takes to form, pour and finish, so the estimate counts the time you type and no other. Cement masons and concrete finishers in the U.S. earn a median $27.41 an hour (BLS, May 2025). Benefits make up 30.5% of what construction employers spend an hour on pay and benefits (all trades, BLS, June 2026), so an hour of a concrete finisher at that wage costs an employer about $39, and an 8-hour day about $316.

Got a quote? Type its total above: the estimate shows how many hours of work it pays for.

What moves the price

The size of the load. Ready-mix is priced by the yard, but a small slab pays a fee for the truck too: Gehring Construction & Ready-Mix charges $50 on a load under 4 yards, so a 2-yard pad pays $173 a yard against $148 for a load of 4 yards or more.
Distance from the plant. The same list charges by the mile past 20 miles, one way, on every load. Ask your plant where its free delivery ends.
Cold weather. From December 1 through March 15 the plant adds $5 a yard, and hot water or an accelerator in the mix costs more again. The crew may also need blankets to keep a new slab from freezing: the curing calculator shows how long it needs.
Waiting at the truck. The same plant may charge by the hour when a truck is held more than an hour on site, so the forms, the base and the crew have to be ready when it arrives.
Getting the concrete there. Where the truck’s chute cannot reach, the concrete goes in by wheelbarrow or by a pump, which is a line of its own.
Digging out and the old slab. Removing soil or an old slab and hauling it away is often a large part of a replacement, and it is not in this estimate.
The finish. A broom finish is the plain one; a stamped or colored slab takes more labor and more material.

Why two overhead shares

The Census Bureau files the contractors who pour slabs, floors and footings as poured concrete contractors, and in 2022 their overhead and profit came to 32.7% of their receipts. Concrete patios, driveways and sidewalks it files with all other specialty trade contractors, a group that also builds fences and pools, and their share was 42.1%. Choose what you are pouring, and the estimate takes that group’s share. Neither is your contractor’s: type theirs if they tell you.

Whose wage this is

The crew’s wage is the one BLS publishes for cement masons and concrete finishers, the trade that places, levels and finishes concrete. The estimate takes the median for your area and raises it to what an hour costs the employer.

What owners paid

When owners hired someone for a driveway or walkway in about 2021–2023, the middle half paid $1,900 to $7,400 and the typical job cost $3,900 (Census Bureau). That survey counts every material and size together, asphalt and pavers too, so use it as a check on a whole project, not as the price of a concrete slab: driveway and walkway costs by metro.

Before you compare quotes

Ask every contractor to price the same slab, in writing: the size and thickness, the base and how it is compacted, the reinforcement, the concrete’s strength and who orders it, the finish and the control joints, how the concrete reaches the forms, and how long before you can walk and drive on it. Then put the quotes side by side in the slab quote worksheet, or keep every price for the project in a budget worksheet.