Concrete Pad Calculator

Thickness is one of the biggest levers on the cost to pour a concrete slab, together with the pad's footprint. Concrete volume scales directly with depth, so a thicker pour always uses more material. The setup fee, labor, and subbase in this estimate stay the same at every thickness, so only the material line grows.

Going from a 4 in slab to a 6 in slab adds 50% more concrete volume for the same footprint. The total price for that same pad rises by only about 8% over the same change, since only the material line grows.

The gravel subbase priced on this page is separate from slab thickness and does not change when you adjust it.

Reinforcement adds steel so a slab resists cracking as the ground underneath it shifts. This calculator prices two options on top of plain concrete: welded wire mesh and a rebar grid.

Wire mesh adds $0.37 to $0.73 per sq ft, or $147 to $293 on the pad priced elsewhere on this page. That rate is our assumption, since no public pricing source breaks out mesh as its own line item. See the parameter levels page for how every number here is graded.

A rebar grid costs more: $0.90 to $1.80 for each square foot, or $361 to $719 on the same pad. That rate is also our assumption, for the same reason. Homeowners who already know they want one and need to size the bars and spacing can use the rebar calculator instead.

Adding mesh brings this pad's total to $3,160 to $6,280. Adding rebar instead brings it to $3,370 to $6,710.

Wire mesh is a lighter option meant to control shrinkage cracking in a typical residential slab. Rebar is a heavier option often used where the slab carries more load, such as a vehicle or a structure built on top of it. Local building codes sometimes require one or the other, so check local requirements before choosing.

None of these figures change the labor line, and neither does slab thickness. This model prices labor by area alone, using one productivity rate for the whole job regardless of thickness or what goes inside the slab. See this model's known limitations for what that leaves out.

A concrete pump moves the mix from the truck to the forms when the truck cannot get close enough to pour directly. This calculator prices it as an optional add-on, separate from the base slab.

A pump is typically needed when a fence, a house, or a slope blocks the truck from backing up to the pour site. It is also common when the pour is on a second story, behind a gate, or reachable only by a long hose run. Most single-story slabs poured next to a driveway or an open yard do not need one. A general contractor or ready-mix supplier usually arranges the pump truck directly, so it is worth confirming before the pour date whether one is included.

This calculator prices a pump at $435 to $865, a flat fee added once per job regardless of size. That rate is our assumption, since public pricing sources do not break out pump costs on their own. See the parameter levels page for how every number on this site is graded.

A flat pump fee weighs much more heavily on a small job than a large one. On a 10×10 ft pad, the pump adds about 30% to the total price. On a 30×30 ft pad, the same flat fee adds only about 8%.

For the pad priced elsewhere on this page, a pump adds about 14% to the total, in between those two examples. Unlike reinforcement or a finish upgrade, which scale with area, a pump is a flat fee, so its share of the price shrinks fastest as a job gets bigger.

If a job will need a pump, add it in the calculator above to see the price with your metro area's wages and material costs. The pump fee stays flat everywhere, while the mobilization, labor, and material lines around it still shift by location.

This is our estimate for this pad, at the standard 4 in thickness, in the Columbus, OH area. A contractor's written quote can come in above or below it.

Cement mason wages here run about 12% above the national average, the bigger of the two factors moving this estimate. The Midwest material rate adds a smaller 8% above the national material baseline.

Both ends differ from the national $3,010 to $5,990: the low end is about 4% higher and the high end about 8% higher. This range is wider than the national one because local cement mason wages have a wider spread than wages nationwide, per BLS OEWS wage percentiles.

Switch the location above to price this for your own area.