How to Price a Concrete Job: Materials, Labor, and Markup

Calculating cubic yards is only the first step in pricing a concrete job. The bid a customer sees needs to cover your material costs, labor, equipment, subcontractors, overhead, and profit — and do it accurately enough that you don't lose money, but competitively enough that you win the work. This guide walks through each cost component so you can build a bid you can stand behind.

Step 1: Material Costs

Concrete is your biggest material line item, but it's rarely the only one.

Ready-mix concrete

Prices vary by region and mix design, but a general range for standard 4,000 PSI ready-mix is $140–$180 per cubic yard delivered, as of early 2026. Call your local plant for current pricing — concrete prices track closely with fuel costs and aggregate availability, so stale numbers will hurt you.

Multiply your cubic yard estimate (including waste factor) by the per-yard price to get your concrete material cost.

Other materials to include

• Rebar and wire mesh: Typically $0.10–$0.20 per square foot of slab, depending on reinforcement spec
• Fiber additives: ~$4–$8 per yard if spec'd
• Form lumber: Calculate by linear feet of edge form; 2×6 lumber at current prices
• Curing compound or blankets: Don't forget curing materials, especially in cold or hot weather
• Saw cutting: Control joints on large slabs require a concrete saw; include rental or sub cost
• Base material: Crushed stone or compacted fill under the slab

Step 2: Labor Costs

Labor is often where contractors under-bid the most. The temptation is to estimate a "best case" pour with no delays, but bids need to cover real-world conditions.

Estimating crew time

A rough rule of thumb for residential flatwork: a 3-person crew can place, screed, and finish about 500–800 square feet per day for a standard broom-finish slab. Complex shapes, decorative finishes, tight access, or large pours with multiple trucks will reduce that rate significantly.

Common labor line items

• Forming and layout
• Subgrade prep and compaction
• Rebar or mesh placement
• Concrete placement and screeding
• Finishing (bull float, troweling, broom finish)
• Curing and form stripping
• Cleanup

For each phase, estimate hours × your all-in labor rate (wages + burden — taxes, insurance, benefits — typically 25–35% on top of the wage rate).

Step 3: Equipment and Overhead

Equipment costs are easy to forget when building a bid but impossible to ignore when they show up on your P&L.

• Pump truck: $800–$1,500 per day depending on size and distance. Required on most jobs without direct truck access.
• Power screed or laser screed: Rental or depreciation on owned equipment
• Vibrators, finishers, saws: Include rental or depreciation
• Vehicles and fuel: Trips to the site, material runs

Overhead — your shop rent, insurance, office, vehicle depreciation, and other fixed costs — needs to be allocated across your jobs. A simple method: divide your monthly fixed overhead by your monthly billable hours to get an overhead rate per hour, then apply it to the crew hours on this job.

Step 4: Markup for Profit

Markup is not profit — it's how you get to profit. After covering all your costs, you need to mark up the total to generate a margin that accounts for risk, growth, and your own compensation.

Industry benchmark for residential concrete contractors: 15–25% net margin on a well-run operation. Specialty or decorative work commands higher margins; commodity flatwork is more competitive.

Putting It Together: Example Bid

A 600 sq ft driveway, 4 inches thick, standard broom finish:

The Fastest Way to Get From Volume to Bid

Building out a full cost sheet by hand on every job takes time. ConCal's cost sheet feature lets you enter your local concrete price, labor rate, and markup percentage, and it generates a complete line-item estimate automatically once you've drawn the slab. The result is a customer-ready bid number in the same tool where you calculated the volume.