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Concrete cost calculator.

What the concrete for a pour really costs, using your plant's price, not somebody's average. Short-load fee and pump included.

TAKEOFF · SLAB · PRICE PER YARD · FEES NO SIGNUP · IMPERIAL
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Pricing the whole job?

ConCal takes the slab, footings, steel and labor from one drawing and turns them into a bid your customer can sign.

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How to figure what the concrete costs

Work out the yards, round up to what the plant will sell you, then multiply by your price per yard. Then add the charges that are not in the yard price. Those are the ones that turn a good bid into a thin one.

Cost = yards ordered × price per yard + short-load fee + other charges + pump

Worked example. A 24 by 30 garage slab at 4 inches is 8.89 yards. Add 10% waste and it is 9.78, so you order 10. At a placeholder price of $165 a yard that is $1,650 for the concrete, or about $2.29 a square foot.

Now a small one. A 10 by 12 patio at 4 inches is 1.48 yards, 1.63 with waste, so you order 1.75. Say your plant charges $150 under 5 yards (made up numbers, use yours). The concrete is $288.75, the fee is $150, and the yard you paid for now costs about $251 all in. That is why small pours need their own price.

What is not in the yard price

Every plant does this a little differently, so ask yours for the full list. The usual extras are:

  • Short-load fee when you order under the plant's minimum. More on that in What is a short load fee?
  • Fuel or environmental charges added to every load.
  • Mix extras: higher PSI, air, fiber, color, accelerator in the cold, retarder in the heat, hot water in winter.
  • Time: Saturday or after-hours delivery, and wait time once the truck runs past its free unload time.
  • The pump, which is usually its own company and its own bill.

This page does not guess a price for you. A national average is wrong for almost everybody, and your plant will give you the real number with one phone call.

Common questions

It depends on your plant, the mix and the time of year, so call your plant for the real number. This calculator does not guess one, because an average is wrong for almost everyone. Put your price in the box and it does the rest.
Multiply length by width by thickness in feet and divide by 27 for yards. Add waste, round up to the quarter yard, and multiply by your price per yard. Then add the short-load fee, plant charges and pump. A 24 by 30 slab at 4 inches is 10 yards to order with 10% waste. Multiply that by the price your plant quotes you.
A charge the plant adds when you order fewer yards than its minimum, because the truck costs the same to send either way. It can make a small pour cost far more per yard than a big one.
No, this is the concrete only. For the whole job you also need labor, base, steel, forms and your margin. ConCal figures all of those from one drawing and puts them on one bid.

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