Concrete Patio Cost: Bagged, Ready-Mix and Installed Prices by Size

Concrete patio cost pages tend to give one rate per square foot for a job that is really four: the base, the concrete, the reinforcing and the work of forming and finishing it. They rarely say what is in the rate, so two quotes for the same patio can look very far apart and both be fair.

This guide prices the concrete, the gravel base and the reinforcing for five common patio sizes at named stores on named dates, and puts the installed ranges from two named cost sites next to them, so you can hold a bid against both. We are not a contractor and we do not quote labor. Where a figure is ours it comes from our rules and a dated shelf price, and where we have no number we say so.

Concrete Patio Cost per Square Foot

There are two numbers, and they answer different questions. One is what the materials cost if you pour it yourself. The other is what a contractor charges to deliver a finished slab. They are not the same number and neither includes the other’s lines.

Materials from our list

The concrete is the easiest line to price. A 4 in slab holds 0.33 cu ft of concrete per sq ft, and we order 10% over for an uneven subgrade, spillage and forms that bow. Quikrete’s data sheet for its Concrete Mix 1101 (revised October 2022) gives an 80 lb bag a yield of about 0.60 cu ft. At $6.47 a bag (Home Depot, Hamilton Mill store, read October 13, 2026, before tax and delivery), that is about $3.95 to $4.01 per sq ft for the concrete in the sizes below.

That is a floor, not a patio price. It leaves out the gravel base, the mesh or rebar, the forms, tools, the saw cut for the joints, tax and delivery. We priced the gravel in bags, the rebar and the mesh on November 6, 2026, in the size section below.

Installed ranges by source

An installed price adds the labor, the equipment, the finishing and the contractor’s margin to the materials. Two cost sites publish ranges for a plain slab, and we opened both on November 6, 2026:

• HomeGuide (written July 10, 2025) lists $4 to $12 per sq ft installed for plain concrete, $6 to $13 for a broom finish, and $8 to $30 for stained or stamped concrete. It puts materials at $2 to $12 and labor at $2 to $18 per sq ft, and says labor is roughly 50% to 60% of the job.
• HomeAdvisor (updated June 17, 2026) gives an average of $10 per sq ft, with most patios between $6 and $15 and a full spread of $4 to $30. A slab with no design is $4 to $7 per sq ft, and labor is $50 to $75 an hour, about $5 to $15 per sq ft. Its average job is $3,557, with most between $1,919 and $5,392.

Read each range as a statement about jobs we cannot see. Check three things before you hold one against a bid: the year, whether it is per square foot or for the job, and whether it includes demolition, grading, base and finishing.

Why they differ

Four things move an installed price more than the concrete does:

• Access. A truck that cannot reach the back yard means a pump or wheelbarrows. HomeAdvisor says labor runs about twice as much when the truck cannot get to the site.
• Site work. Removing old concrete or sod, cutting back a slope, and hauling the spoil are separate jobs on a bid. HomeAdvisor lists concrete removal at $550 to $1,700.
• Finish. A broom finish is the base case. Stamped, colored or exposed aggregate costs more, and our stamped concrete patio cost guide covers that.
• Your market. Labor and concrete prices vary by metro area, which is why a national range tells you little about your bid.

Concrete Patio Cost by Size

Here are five common footprints, with our bagged concrete next to the installed ranges each site prints for that size. Every bag count is a 4 in slab with a 10% allowance, using the rules below (HS-SLAB-01, HS-SLAB-02, HS-SLAB-03) and a 27 cu ft cubic yard (HS-UNIT-01). The bag price is Quikrete 80 lb concrete mix at $6.47, Home Depot Hamilton Mill, read October 13, 2026, before tax and delivery.

HomeGuide is from its July 10, 2025 page and HomeAdvisor from its June 17, 2026 page, both read November 6, 2026. Where a site prints no row for a size we leave it empty rather than stretch its figures.

The rest of the slab, with the lines we could price at the same store on November 6, 2026, before tax and delivery. Gravel is Pavestone paver base (model 98001), a crushed base sold at $6.47 per 0.5 cu ft bag. Rebar is the No. 3 (3/8 in) bar our rule counts, $5.98 per 10 ft stick at Lowe’s Atlanta-Edgewood, read the same day.

The gravel is the compacted base volume plus 10% (HS-PAVER-05) at about 1.4 tons per cu yd (HS-DENS-01), so ask your yard for the weight of the product you order. Rebar is a 24 in grid each way with 10% for laps (HS-SLAB-07). Welded wire mesh, the other option (HS-SLAB-06), is not on Home Depot’s site, so we read it at Lowe’s (near Chamblee, Georgia) on November 6, 2026: a 3.5 x 7 ft steel mesh sheet at $10.88, or a 5 x 150 ft roll at $179.00. With the same 6 in lap, the five sizes take 5, 7, 9, 15 and 19 sheets, $54.40, $76.16, $97.92, $163.20 and $206.72, and on the 20x20 one roll costs less than the sheets. Home Depot shows a lower price from 64 bags of base ($5.82).

Bagged gravel is the line to question. On a 20x20 it costs more than the concrete, and a bulk delivery of crushed stone from a yard is the usual way to buy that much. Gravelshop, a bulk stone seller, listed 1/2 to 3/4 in crushed stone delivered at $64.17 to $86.38 per ton across four cities on November 6, 2026, but for full truckloads of 18 to 24 tons, about $1,354 to $1,540 a load. A 20x20 base is 7.60 tons, so ask a local yard for its small-load price and delivery fee. Our concrete, gravel and rebar for a 20x20, $3,750.45, already sits inside the installed ranges above, which tells you those ranges assume bulk materials and an easy site.

For your own size and thickness, use our concrete slab calculator, or price the whole patio with the patio cost calculator.

Small patios on bags

Bags make sense on a small slab. There is no delivery fee, no truck deadline, and you can stop for a rain shower. One cubic yard is 45 bags of 80 lb mix (27 cu ft at 0.60 cu ft a bag), and mixing that by hand or in a drum mixer is a long day. As the slab grows, the mixing time grows with it, and a slab poured in two sessions can show a cold joint where the batches meet.

The 10x10 in the table is 62 bags. That is about 4,960 lb of dry mix to carry and mix, so plan the logistics before the price. Note too that our bagged concrete for a 10x10, $401.14, already sits at the bottom of HomeGuide’s installed range for the same size, before any gravel, mesh or labor. Read that low end as a very simple job.

When ready-mix makes sense

From about 1 cu yd, which is 45 bags, a truck is worth pricing. Every size in our table is above that line. A ready-mix plant charges per cubic yard, and some add a delivery fee or a short load fee for small orders. Fixr (updated January 31, 2025, read November 6, 2026) lists concrete at $125 to $133 per cu yd before delivery, and a short load delivery, for 1 to 5 cu yd, at $15 to $17 per cu yd. On those figures the truck beats the bags at every size in our table:

Plants set their own minimum order, so a 10x10 may be under it. Call two local plants, ask for the price per yard for a patio mix, the delivery charge and any short load charge, and compare the total with these rows.

Truck concrete also sets the clock. You need forms, base, mesh and a crew ready before it arrives.

What Goes Into the Price

A slab is more than concrete. Each layer below is a line on a bid, and a bid that skips one is cheaper for a reason.

Base gravel

We start with a compacted gravel base 4 in deep under a patio slab (HS-SLAB-04), a common practice, and go thicker on clay or where water collects. On a 12x12 that is about 2.74 tons including the 10% allowance, or 106 bags of paver base at $6.47, $685.82 at Home Depot Hamilton Mill on November 6, 2026. Bulk stone by the ton is the number to compare it with, so ask each yard for the delivery fee as well as the price per ton.

Thickness

A patio slab on foot traffic is usually 4 in thick (HS-SLAB-01). Where a vehicle will drive or park on it, 5 to 6 in is the usual figure. Thickness is the cost lever with the biggest effect on the concrete line: going from 4 in to 5 in adds a quarter to the concrete. A thin slab saves money until it cracks, so do not go below 4 in on a patio people will walk and sit on, and ask your building department if a driveway use is possible.

Mesh or rebar

Reinforcing helps hold cracks tight. It does not stop them. We list two options: 6 x 6 in welded wire mesh in 5 x 10 ft sheets, held mid-depth on chairs and not left on the gravel (HS-SLAB-06), and No. 3 rebar on a 24 in grid each way, in 10 ft sticks, with 10% added for laps and cuts and bars 3 in in from the edges (HS-SLAB-07). Your local rules may ask for one of them. HomeAdvisor notes that almost every slab it prices includes rebar, mesh or fiber in the price, so ask which one a bid uses.

Control joints

Concrete cracks as it dries and shrinks, and control joints decide where. We space them at 2 to 3 ft per inch of thickness, so a 4 in slab gets a joint every 8 to 12 ft, with panels no longer than 1.5 times their width, cut to a depth of one quarter of the slab (HS-SLAB-05). On a 20x20 that means a few cuts each way. A saw and blades are a rental or a line on the bid.

Forms, finishing and haul-off

Forms are usually 2x4 lumber staked around the perimeter. A 12x12 has 48 ft of edge, which is six 8 ft boards, and our listed 8 ft pressure-treated 2x4 is $4.88 (Home Depot Hamilton Mill, October 8, 2026). You can often reuse form boards, so the real cost is lower than the price of the lumber. Finishing is the skilled part: screeding, floating, edging and a broom finish. Add a curing plan, since a slab that dries too fast cracks. Haul-off applies if you are removing an old slab or sod, and many bids list it separately.

DIY vs Installed

On HomeGuide’s split, labor is about half the installed price or more. On our numbers, the concrete for a 20x20 is $1,585.15 in bags, against an installed plain slab of $1,600 to $4,800 (HomeGuide) or $2,400 to $6,400 (HomeAdvisor). The gap is the labor, the base, the reinforcing and the finishing, and the low end of each range is a simple, easy-to-reach job.

What you need to rent

For a pour you will want a drum mixer (for bags), a plate compactor for the base, a concrete saw or groover for the joints, a screed board, a bull float or magnesium float, an edger and a broom. If you also order a truck, you will want a second pair of hands for the screed and a wheelbarrow. Countbricks, a rental cost planning site, gives 2026 day rates for the three machines that matter: a gas drum mixer of 5 to 6 cu ft at $60 to $110 a day (Louisville, March 21, 2026), a standard 18 to 20 in plate compactor at $65 to $110 a day (Louisville, July 26, 2026), and a 14 in handheld cut-off saw at $85 to $160 a day, before the blade (Charlotte, March 23, 2026). Ask your local store for its own day rate, the deposit and the blade charge, and add them to the materials.

Reading a contractor bid

A good bid is itemized. Look for these lines, and ask about any that are missing:

• Demolition and haul-off, if there is an old surface
• Excavation and grading, with the depth
• Base gravel, with the depth and the compaction
• Forms
• Reinforcing, mesh or rebar
• Concrete, with the thickness and the strength
• Control joints
• Finish and sealing
• Cleanup and permit, if one is needed

If the bid gives only a total, ask for it split. The same total can hide a 3 in slab or a 4 in slab, and a base or no base. Hold the concrete line against the quantity in our table for your size, and the total against the two installed ranges.

Concrete or Pavers

On the installed figures, concrete is the cheaper surface. HomeGuide’s comparison table lists plain concrete at $4 to $12 per sq ft and paver patios at $10 to $30, labor and materials included. Pavers are the easier surface to repair. They have no cracks to patch and no pour deadline, and you can lift a section for a pipe repair. Concrete is one solid surface, and it holds up well when it is poured on a good base.

We list the paver side the same way, with quantities and named installed ranges, in our paver patio cost guide, and natural stone in the flagstone patio cost guide. For quantities of pavers, sand and base, use the paver calculator.

Permits and Utility Lines

Before you dig for the base or the footings of anything on the slab, call 811 to have buried utility lines marked. Do it before you start, and leave time for the markings to arrive.

A patio slab at grade may or may not need a permit, and it depends on your city or county, on the size and on whether the patio sits in a setback or drainage easement. We never say a permit is not needed. Ask your building department, and ask your HOA if you have one, before you order the concrete.

What to Put on the Slab

A slab is the floor for the next project. A roof over it changes the loads, the footings and the drawings, and that is a different price from the concrete. If you plan to cover it, read our covered patio cost guide first.

Footings for posts on a finished slab are a separate question from the slab itself. HomeAdvisor makes the same point: a roof over a patio usually gets its own footings for the supports. A post that carries a roof needs a footing below the slab or cut through it, so plan the post locations before you pour, and sleeve or box them out. Our pergola cost guide shows how the structure above prices.