Question 1

How much does a concrete pad cost in 2026?

Accepted Answer

Our model prices an installed concrete pad at $4 to $12 per square foot, covering concrete, forming, base preparation, placement, finishing and labour. The low end is a plain broom-finish 4-inch pad with no reinforcement; the high end is a 6-inch pad with a rebar grid. That per-square-foot rate only tells the whole story above roughly 100 sq ft, though. Below that, the contractor's mobilisation minimum of $200 to $500 (charged whatever the pad size, because the crew, truck and short-load fee are the same for 9 sq ft as for 90) sets the floor. A 3×3 AC pad is 9 sq ft, which is $36 to $108 of concrete and labour by the square-foot rate and $200 to $500 in practice.

Question 2

Why do small concrete pads cost so much per square foot?

Accepted Answer

Because almost none of the cost is the concrete. A crew has to travel, set forms, prepare a base, place, finish and clean up whether the pad is 9 sq ft or 900, and ready-mix suppliers add a short-load fee on deliveries under about 3 to 4 cubic yards. Those fixed costs are what the $200 to $500 mobilisation minimum represents. The practical consequence is worth planning around: if you need an AC pad and a shed pad in the same year, pouring them on one visit means paying that minimum once rather than twice. It is the single biggest saving available on small pad work.

Question 3

Is a concrete pad the same thing as a concrete slab?

Accepted Answer

In everyday use, yes, and contractors will quote either word without blinking. "Pad" tends to describe a small, free-standing, single-purpose pour such as an AC condenser base, a generator base, a shed floor or a hot tub base. "Slab" tends to describe larger structural work such as a garage floor, a driveway or a house foundation. The construction is the same in both cases: compacted base, forms, concrete, optional reinforcement, finish. The building code does not distinguish between them either. IRC R506.1 applies one prescriptive minimum, 3.5 inches, to every concrete floor on ground.

Question 4

How thick should a concrete pad be?

Accepted Answer

4 inches for anything carrying foot traffic, equipment or a static load: shed pads, AC and generator bases, hot tub bases, patios and walkways. 6 inches with a rebar grid for anything a vehicle drives onto: driveways, garage floors, RV pads and carports. The code floor underneath both of those is IRC R506.1's 3.5-inch minimum for a slab on ground, and the IRC adds no thicker requirement for vehicle loads. The 6-inch vehicle spec is engineering practice, plus a local amendment in some jurisdictions, rather than a model-code rule.

Question 5

Do I need a gravel base under a concrete pad?

Accepted Answer

Yes for almost every pad, and the code is specific about when it is mandatory. IRC R506.2.2 calls for a 4-inch base course of clean graded sand, gravel, crushed stone, crushed concrete or crushed blast-furnace slag where the slab sits below grade, with an exception for well-drained sand and gravel soils. Beyond the code case, a compacted base is what stops differential settlement and frost heave, and it adds only $1 to $2 per square foot. Use clean crushed stone rather than pea gravel, and compact it in 2-inch layers.

Pad Size	Sq Ft	Modelled Low	Modelled Mid	Realistic Quote	Typical Use
3×3	9	$36	$68	$200–$500	AC condenser, mini-split
4×4	16	$64	$120	$200–$500	Generator, pool pump
6×6	36	$144	$270	$200–$500	Large generator, BBQ station
8×8	64	$256	$480	$256–$768	Small shed, equipment pad
8×10	80	$320	$600	$320–$960	Shed pad
10×10	100	$400	$750	$400–$1,200	Shed, hot tub base
10×12	120	$480	$900	$480–$1,440	Standard shed pad
12×12	144	$576	$1,080	$576–$1,728	Garden shed, hot tub
12×16	192	$768	$1,440	$768–$2,304	Workshop shed
12×20	240	$960	$1,800	$960–$2,880	Large shed, 1-car parking
16×20	320	$1,280	$2,400	$1,280–$3,840	Small patio, carport
20×20	400	$1,600	$3,000	$1,600–$4,800	Patio, tight 2-car garage

Pad Type	Typical Cost	What Drives It
AC condenser and generator pad	$100–$600	Smallest pads on the site. Pre-cast composite often beats a poured pad on price.
Shed pad	$480–$1,440 for a 10×12	The best DIY candidate. Under about 150 sq ft you can mix from bags.
Hot tub pad	$400–$1,500	4-inch with wire mesh carries a filled tub comfortably. Swim spas are the exception.
Garage floor	$3,456–$10,368 for a 24×24	Normally 6-inch with a rebar grid, which is why it costs more per sq ft than a patio.
RV pad	$1,800–$7,200	6 to 8 inches depending on RV class. Class A diesel pushers need the thicker spec.
Pool deck	$6–$18 / sq ft	Chloride-resistant mix and a non-slip finish drive the premium.
Patio	$4–$10 / sq ft plain	Stamped and decorative finishes run $8–$18 / sq ft.
Driveway	$6–$15 / sq ft	Vehicle loads push the spec to 6-inch with reinforcement.

Concrete Pad Cost in 2026

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