Paver patio cost dataset
This is the complete dataset behind the paver calculator, at national rates, and it carries two things a price list cannot. The comparison against a poured concrete slab of exactly the same size, computed from our own model of each. And the share of the money that sits under the surface, which on a normal patio is about a third and is the part that decides whether it is still flat in ten years. Last reviewed 2026-08-23.
Pavers against poured concrete
National figures on the same 20 by 20 rectangle, same excavation. The concrete side comes from our concrete slab calculator at four inches with mesh and control joints.
| Surface | Cost | Per sq ft | What you get for it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard concrete pavers | $8,806 | $22 | No cracks, because it is already in pieces. A settled corner can be lifted and relaid, a stained unit swapped. Every joint is a place for weeds and ants, and the jointing sand needs topping up every few years. |
| Poured concrete, broom finish | $4,271 | $11 | Half the price and nothing to maintain. It will crack somewhere — the control joints decide where — and a crack stays for the life of the slab. |
| Poured concrete, stamped | $5,649 | $14 | The finish that imitates pavers, at about two thirds of their price. It needs resealing every few years to keep the colour, and when it cracks the crack runs straight through the pattern. |
Pavers are 206% of a broom-finished slab and 156% of a stamped one. Concrete wins on price and it is not close, so anybody presenting pavers as the economical choice is selling. What pavers actually buy is repairability, and whether that is worth roughly double is a real question rather than a rhetorical one.
Cost by size
National figures, standard concrete pavers, running bond, five-inch base, edge restraint and polymeric sand.
| Size | Area | Paver to buy | Cost | Per sq ft | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 × 10 ft | 100 sq ft | 105 sq ft | $2,588 | $26 | A seating corner |
| 12 × 12 ft | 144 sq ft | 151.2 sq ft | $3,515 | $24 | A small table and chairs |
| 20 × 10 ft | 200 sq ft | 210 sq ft | $4,702 | $24 | A long strip along the back of the house |
| 16 × 16 ft | 256 sq ft | 268.8 sq ft | $5,840 | $23 | Table, chairs and room to walk around them |
| 20 × 20 ft | 400 sq ft | 420 sq ft | $8,806 | $22 | The size most quotes are for |
| 40 × 25 ft | 1000 sq ft | 1050 sq ft | $21,055 | $21 | A large entertaining space |
The rate falls from $26 to $21 a square foot across that range, because getting a machine to your street, digging out and hauling the spoil cost the same whatever the area. If you were thinking of doing it in two phases, one visit is materially cheaper than two.
The five paver types
| Paver | Hours per sq ft | Total | Per sq ft | What you are choosing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard concrete paver | 0.13 | $8,806 | $22 | Moulded concrete in a handful of shapes and colours. The default, the cheapest and the easiest to get more of in five years when a corner needs lifting. |
| Tumbled or textured concrete paver | 0.15 | $11,324 | $28 | The same material with the edges knocked off and a face that imitates stone. It looks better from a distance and identical from underneath, and it is the commonest upgrade people actually take. |
| Permeable paver | 0.16 | $12,006 | $30 | Laid with wide joints filled with clean stone so rain goes through rather than off. It needs a deeper open-graded base, which is why it costs more than the paver alone suggests, and some jurisdictions now require it above a certain lot coverage. |
| Clay brick | 0.17 | $12,100 | $30 | Fired clay, so the colour goes all the way through and never fades — a hundred-year-old brick path still looks like brick. Smaller units mean more of them to lay, which is where the extra hours go. |
| Natural stone | 0.24 | $17,459 | $44 | Bluestone, travertine or flagstone. Every piece is a slightly different thickness, so each one is bedded individually rather than screeded flat, and that is most of the labour difference. |
Permeable pavers cost more than the unit price alone suggests, because they need a deeper open-graded base underneath — EPA, Soak Up the Rain: Permeable Pavement sets out why they work. Some jurisdictions now require them above a certain lot coverage, which is where the price stops being a choice. Retrieved 2026-08-22.
The pattern, paid for in cuts
| Pattern | Waste | Paver to buy | Adds | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Running bond or stack | 5% | 420 sq ft | — | Straight courses, cuts only at the edges. Fastest to lay, least waste, and perfectly good for a rectangular patio nobody drives on. |
| Herringbone at 45 degrees | 12% | 448 sq ft | +$1,335 | The strongest pattern there is, because every unit locks against its neighbours in two directions. It is also the one that cuts every single edge piece, which is where both the waste and the extra hours come from. |
| Circular or fan | 18% | 472 sq ft | +$2,410 | A feature rather than a floor. Almost every piece around it is cut on a curve, and the waste is the highest of the three by a wide margin. |
The base, which is most of the job
On the default patio, 32% of the money is excavation, 7.41 cubic yards of compacted aggregate and an inch of bedding sand — none of which is ever seen again.
| Base depth | Aggregate | Total | When it is right |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 in | 0 cu yd | $7,953 | Never, on soil. It is here to show what the base is worth rather than as an option. |
| 4 in | 5.93 cu yd | $8,635 | Enough for a patio nobody drives on, over ground that drains. |
| 6 in | 8.89 cu yd | $8,976 | Right over clay, or anywhere the ground freezes and heaves. |
| 8 in | 11.85 cu yd | $9,317 | Deep base for poor ground, or the open-graded base a permeable system needs. |
The aggregate goes in in two-inch lifts with a plate compactor over each one, which is slow and is the entire point. A base tipped in and rolled once looks identical on the day and settles unevenly within two winters, and there is no way to tell from the finished surface which one you paid for. It is the single line worth asking a contractor about by name.
Line items
| Line item | Unit | Material | Equipment / hr | Trade | Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Break out what is there now (conditional)4 h + 0.01 h per sq ft where an existing surface comes out | hour | — | — | Construction Laborers | sourced |
| Excavate to base level (conditional)3 h + 0.022 h per sq ft where the ground is dug out | hour | — | — | Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators | sourced |
| Haul the spoil away (conditional)cubic yards of loose spoil where the ground is dug out | cu yd | $28 – $72 | — | — | estimated±44% |
| Compacted aggregate basearea × base depth ÷ 27, plus 20% for compaction | cu yd | $38 – $88 | — | — | estimated±40% |
| Spread and compact the base in lifts2 h + 0.045 h per sq ft | hour | — | — | Construction Laborers | sourced |
| Bedding sand and geotextilearea × 1 inch ÷ 27, plus 15% | cu yd | $52 – $120 | — | — | estimated±40% |
| Standard concrete pavers, supplied (conditional)area plus pattern waste where the paver is concrete-standard | sq ft | $2.60 – $6.80 | — | — | estimated±45% |
| Tumbled or textured concrete pavers, supplied (conditional)area plus pattern waste where the paver is concrete-premium | sq ft | $5.60 – $14 | — | — | estimated±41% |
| Permeable pavers, supplied (conditional)area plus pattern waste where the paver is permeable | sq ft | $6.20 – $15 | — | — | estimated±42% |
| Clay bricks, supplied (conditional)area plus pattern waste where the paver is clay-brick | sq ft | $6.00 – $15 | — | — | estimated±41% |
| Natural stones, supplied (conditional)area plus pattern waste where the paver is natural-stone | sq ft | $9.00 – $29 | — | — | estimated±53% |
| Lay, cut and compact the paversarea × (hours per sq ft for the unit + pattern surcharge) | hour | — | — | Brickmasons and Blockmasons | sourced |
| Edge restraint and spikes (conditional)perimeter where an edge restraint is fitted | linear ft | $3.40 – $9.00 | — | — | estimated±45% |
| Polymeric jointing sand (conditional)area where polymeric sand is used | sq ft | $0.45 – $1.15 | — | — | estimated±44% |
| Step down from the house (conditional)one per riser | step | $180 – $520 | — | — | estimated±49% |
| Build the steps (conditional)3.5 hours per riser | hour | — | — | Brickmasons and Blockmasons | sourced |
| Final compaction, sanding and clean1 per job | job | $40 – $130 | — | — | estimated±53% |
The reasoning behind each figure
Written out so a hardscape contractor can point at the exact assumption that is wrong.
- Break out what is there now
- Four hours plus a hundredth of an hour per square foot: lifting an old slab, a gravel bed or a rotten deck and getting it out.
- ⚠️ Breaking concrete is respirable crystalline silica work under OSHA 1926.1153, which means wet cutting and a written exposure control plan. It is also the reason this line is often quoted separately.
- Excavate to base level
- Three hours plus 0.022 hours per square foot with a compact machine, digging out the base depth plus three inches for the pavers and the bedding sand.
- The dig has to fall away from the house at about an eighth of an inch per foot. A patio that drains back towards the wall is the single commonest defect in this trade and it cannot be fixed afterwards without lifting it.
- Haul the spoil awayestimated, ±44%
- Excavated soil bulks up about a quarter once it is loose, and a 400 square foot patio at five inches of base produces several cubic yards of it.
- Spreading it somewhere else on the property is free and is worth asking about before paying to remove it.
- Compacted aggregate baseestimated, ±40%
- Crushed aggregate delivered, ordered 20% over the hole because it loses that much volume when it is compacted. Four inches is enough for a patio nobody drives on; six is right over clay or where the ground freezes.
- This is the layer that decides whether the patio is still flat in ten years, and it is invisible the day after it is laid. Every failure in this trade is a base failure.
- Spread and compact the base in lifts
- Two hours plus 0.045 hours per square foot. The aggregate goes in in two-inch lifts and each one is run over with a plate compactor before the next, which is slow and is the whole point.
- A base tipped in and compacted once looks identical on the day and settles unevenly within two winters. There is no way to tell from the finished surface which of the two you paid for, which is why this line is worth asking about explicitly.
- Bedding sand and geotextileestimated, ±40%
- One inch of coarse bedding sand screeded flat over the compacted base, plus the geotextile between the soil and the aggregate that stops the two mixing.
- One inch, not two. A thick sand bed feels forgiving to lay on and it is exactly what makes a patio rut under a chair leg, because sand moves and aggregate does not.
- Standard concrete pavers, suppliedestimated, ±45%
- Moulded concrete in a handful of shapes and colours. The default, the cheapest and the easiest to get more of in five years when a corner needs lifting.
- Priced on the area you have to buy, not the area you cover: the pattern wastes between 5% and 18% in cuts, and that waste is inside this quantity rather than hidden in a note.
- Tumbled or textured concrete pavers, suppliedestimated, ±41%
- The same material with the edges knocked off and a face that imitates stone. It looks better from a distance and identical from underneath, and it is the commonest upgrade people actually take.
- Priced on the area you have to buy, not the area you cover: the pattern wastes between 5% and 18% in cuts, and that waste is inside this quantity rather than hidden in a note.
- Permeable pavers, suppliedestimated, ±42%
- Laid with wide joints filled with clean stone so rain goes through rather than off. It needs a deeper open-graded base, which is why it costs more than the paver alone suggests, and some jurisdictions now require it above a certain lot coverage.
- Priced on the area you have to buy, not the area you cover: the pattern wastes between 5% and 18% in cuts, and that waste is inside this quantity rather than hidden in a note.
- EPA covers permeable pavement as a way of letting rain soak in where it falls rather than running off. The open-graded base underneath it is deeper than a normal one, so this option costs more than the price per square foot alone suggests.
- Clay bricks, suppliedestimated, ±41%
- Fired clay, so the colour goes all the way through and never fades — a hundred-year-old brick path still looks like brick. Smaller units mean more of them to lay, which is where the extra hours go.
- Priced on the area you have to buy, not the area you cover: the pattern wastes between 5% and 18% in cuts, and that waste is inside this quantity rather than hidden in a note.
- Natural stones, suppliedestimated, ±53%
- Bluestone, travertine or flagstone. Every piece is a slightly different thickness, so each one is bedded individually rather than screeded flat, and that is most of the labour difference.
- Priced on the area you have to buy, not the area you cover: the pattern wastes between 5% and 18% in cuts, and that waste is inside this quantity rather than hidden in a note.
- Lay, cut and compact the pavers
- Between 0.13 and 0.24 hours per square foot depending on the unit, plus the pattern surcharge: nothing extra for running bond, 0.05 for herringbone, 0.09 for a circular feature.
- ⚠️ Cutting pavers with a saw is respirable crystalline silica work under OSHA 1926.1153. Wet cutting is the control, and a crew cutting dry in a cloud is telling you what the rest of the job will be like.
- ⚠️ The wage is official BLS data for brickmasons and blockmasons adjusted to your area, and that occupation is published for only 208 of the 530 areas in our index. Outside those, this hour comes from the broader construction group for the same area — a real approximation on the largest labour line here.
- Edge restraint and spikesestimated, ±45%
- A plastic or aluminium edge spiked into the base around the whole perimeter. It is the cheapest line here and it is what holds the field together.
- ⚠️ Without it the outer course creeps outward every year and the joints open behind it, and by then the only fix is lifting the edge and starting again. A patio quoted without an edge restraint is not cheaper, it is unfinished.
- Polymeric jointing sandestimated, ±44%
- Swept into the joints and then wetted so it sets slightly. It holds the units against each other, keeps most weeds out and stops ants excavating the joints.
- It is not permanent. Expect to top it up every few years at the edges and wherever water runs, which is normal maintenance rather than a failure.
- Step down from the houseestimated, ±49%
- A step built in block and faced with matching units, per riser. Almost every patio at a back door needs at least one, because the finished surface has to sit below the threshold.
- Risers have to be equal. A set of steps where one is an inch different from the others is the thing people trip on, and it is decided at the excavation stage rather than at the end.
- Build the steps
- Three and a half hours a riser: footing, block, backfill and the facing. It is the slowest part of a patio per square foot of finished surface by a wide margin.
- Final compaction, sanding and cleanestimated, ±53%
- The whole field run over with a plate compactor on a rubber pad to bed the units into the sand, then the joints filled and the surface washed off.
- It is the step that turns a laid patio into a finished one, and it is skipped often enough that a surface which feels loose underfoot is usually a surface nobody compacted at the end.
Not included in this dataset
- Drainage beyond the fall of the surface
- The excavation falls away from the house, which is enough for most patios. A patio at the bottom of a slope, or one that dams water against a wall, needs a channel drain or a French drain behind it — separate work, and our French drain calculator prices it.
- Anything structural the patio touches
- Retaining walls, raised patios above about a foot, and anything bearing on a foundation are engineering rather than paving. A retaining wall over four feet needs a design in most jurisdictions.
- Roots, and what happens after
- Paving over the root zone of a mature tree compacts the ground it breathes through and the roots eventually lift the units anyway. This model prices a flat surface on open ground, not the arboriculture of building next to a tree.
- Lighting, fire pits and outdoor kitchens
- Every one of those needs its conduit or its gas line laid before the base goes in, and none is priced here. They are also the reason to decide the whole design before the first machine arrives: retrofitting a cable under a finished patio means lifting it.
- Permits and lot coverage
- Many jurisdictions count a patio towards impervious lot coverage and some require a permit above a certain area, which is precisely where permeable pavers start to earn their price. It varies completely by locality and any figure would be invented.
Use the calculator, price the poured alternative at concrete slab cost, or read the full method.