Paving contractor rates 2026

Paving contractor rate guide (ballpark, 2026): laying block paving £18–45/m² depending on scope, sub-base preparation £22–32/m², kerbs £14–22/m, cutting £10–15/m. Set your own rates based on your area, how fiddly the job is and your own costs.

These figures are ballpark, gathered from published UK price lists — don't treat them as a fixed rate, use them as a frame when you build your own quote.

The range in the table is the market, not your price. Your rate comes from how much a working day costs you and how many square metres you actually lay in that day. It's a three-step exercise and takes about an hour once a year:

1. Add up your annual costs. Tax and National Insurance, insurance, your van including depreciation, tools and their upkeep, diamond blades and consumables, phone, your accountant, and yard rent if you have one. This is money that goes out even in a month when you don't lay a single metre.
2. Estimate your billable days. A year has around 250 working days. Take off holidays, days lost to rain or frost, site visits, ordering materials and paperwork. The real figure tends to be much lower than you'd guess, and this step decides the rate more than any other.
3. Divide, then add profit. Costs divided by billable days gives you what a day needs to earn just to break even. Margin only starts above that number.

The day rate then converts to a rate per m² based on output. If you and a labourer lay 20 m² a day and the day needs to earn £600, laying alone works out at £30/m². Manage 40 m² a day and the same figure drops to about £15/m². That's why the same job costs twice as much from one firm as another, without either one ripping anyone off.

You don't need to guess your output — measure it once. Note the area and hours worked on three jobs and you'll have your own figure instead of a borrowed one.

A rate per m² covers laying, not everything around it. These items belong in the quote as their own line, or you'll pay for them out of your margin:

• Cutting. Charged by the actual length of cuts, not by area. With curves and herringbone that's not metres, it's tens of metres.
• Spoil removal. At 50 m² and a 30 cm dig you're taking away around 15 m³. Skip hire and haulage are a separate line.
• Delivery and hand-carrying. When a wagon can't reverse up to the site, packs get barrowed in — time nobody sees on the invoice.
• Small-job surcharge. Moving kit and setup cost about the same on a 15 m² job as on a 60 m² one. Set either a minimum job price or a higher rate per m².
• Complex patterns. Herringbone and basketweave slow down laying and produce more waste. The app allows for an 8% margin; for angled patterns, budget 10%.

Start from your real costs (materials, haulage, plant, time) and add a margin. For small or fiddly areas, use a higher rate per m² or a fixed price — they carry more cuts and overhead. In the app you save your own rates once and every future quote picks them up automatically.

This page covers rates from your side of the table. If you need something else: the full pricing walkthrough takes you from measurements to margin, how much block paving costs the customer shows the price from the other side of the table, the differences between a garden, path and driveway explain why the price per m² varies by area type, and a sample quote shows the finished document.