Updated October 2026

Concrete Patio Cost 2026: 12×20 Patio $1,490 to $4,160

Q: How much does a 12×12 concrete patio cost?

A 12×12 ft patio (144 sq ft) costs $1,030 to $3,330 with wire mesh, typically $1,710, and $970 to $3,190 plain. It costs more per square foot than a bigger patio ($11.88 against $8.41 for a 20×20, typical) because set-up, the truck and any short-load fee cost the same however small the pour.

Q: What does it cost to tear out an old patio and pour a new one?

For a 12×20, removal adds $240 to $732 at $1.00 to $3.05 a sq ft, the eight bids the Village of River Forest, Illinois received in December 2025 for concrete removal. With a new 4-inch mesh patio the job comes to $1,730 to $4,892. City bids carry no small-job minimum, so a single patio tear-out often prices higher; ask for removal and haul-off as separate lines.

Q: How thick should a concrete patio be?

Four inches is the usual patio thickness. The IRC's 3.5-inch minimum in R506.1 is written for concrete floors on ground; a detached patio is often outside it, so check what your local code says about flatwork. Go to 6 inches with rebar where the slab will carry a hot tub, an outdoor kitchen or a roof structure, and follow the manufacturer's or engineer's figure where one is given.

Q: Do I need a permit for a concrete patio?

It depends on where you live. The model International Residential Code lists sidewalks and driveways among the work exempt from a building permit (R105.2) but does not name patios, and cities amend that list. Setback, drainage and lot-coverage rules can also limit where you pour. If the slab will carry a roof, an enclosure or a structure, it becomes part of a building, which needs a permit under R105.1. Ask your local building department before you book the pour.

Q: Is it cheaper to pour a small patio myself?

On a small patio, yes, if you have help and a mixer. A 10×10 at 4 inches is 33.3 cubic feet: 56 bags of 80 lb mix at QUIKRETE's stated 0.60 cubic feet a bag, or about $559 at the $9.99 one Ace Hardware store showed in October 2026, before stone, forms, mesh and tool hire. A contractor's 10×10 is $830 to $2,880. Above about a cubic yard, ready-mix delivery is easier than hand-mixing that many bags.

A 12×20 concrete patio, 4 inches thick with wire mesh on a stone base, costs $1,490 to $4,160 installed, typically $2,370, at prices read in October 2026. A 12×12 is $1,030 to $3,330; a 20×20 is $2,180 to $5,620. Every figure comes from published ready-mix and materials prices and BLS wages, shown line by line below.

$1,030–$3,330

12×12 patio

$1,490–$4,160

12×20 patio

$2,180–$5,620

20×20 patio

$6.20–$17.32

Per sq ft (12×20)

Concrete Patio Cost Calculator

Width (ft)Length (ft)ThicknessReinforcementFinishRegion (labour)

Remove an existing concrete slab first

low

$1,490

typical

$2,370

high

$4,160

12 x 20 ft = 240 sq ft at 4 inches: $6.20 to $17.32 per sq ft installed.

Line and source	Low	Typical	High
Ready-mix concrete 2.96 cu yd plus 5 to 10% overage, 3,000 PSI at Supreme Concrete $127.05, Minimix Concrete $136.00, Gehring Construction & Ready-Mix $148.00, Scenic City Ready Mix $165.00 a yard	$395	$452	$538
Delivery and small-load fees Per-truck and short-load charges on the same four price lists	$50	$110	$519
Crushed-stone base, 4 in Crusher run from D & L Supply, JMJ Companies, Golden Landscaping Supply, Yard Works Landscape Supply	$156	$195	$266
Wire mesh (6x6 10-gauge) Menards online price, read 13 Oct 2026	$58	$58	$58
Form boards Menards lumber, shared across reuses	$24	$36	$49
Crew labour Crew hours (our estimate) x BLS OEWS national wages, May 2025 x BLS employer costs (June 2026): $29.60 to $43.77 a crew hour	$557	$972	$1,541
Overhead and margin Our estimate: 20% to 40% of direct cost	$248	$547	$1,188

Low uses the cheapest published price and our lowest assumption on every line, high the dearest. The region changes crew wages only: no state-level ready-mix price is published, so concrete and materials stay at the four price lists. Not included: excavation, permits, pumping, sealing. Totals are rounded to the nearest $10.

Concrete Patio Cost by Size

Size	Sq Ft	With mesh, typical	With mesh, low to high	Plain, low to high	Fits
10×10	100	$1,410	$830 to $2,880	$780 to $2,790	Bistro set, grill pad
10×20	200	$2,100	$1,300 to $3,760	$1,210 to $3,570	Narrow patio along a wall
12×12	144	$1,710	$1,030 to $3,330	$970 to $3,190	Small patio, table for four
12×16	192	$2,040	$1,260 to $3,670	$1,170 to $3,490	Small to medium patio
12×20	240	$2,370	$1,490 to $4,160	$1,380 to $3,930	Standard patio, table and grill
16×20	320	$2,920	$1,800 to $4,960	$1,650 to $4,660	Medium patio, dining and lounge
20×20	400	$3,360	$2,180 to $5,620	$1,990 to $5,240	Large patio
20×30	600	$4,730	$3,120 to $7,630	$2,840 to $7,060	Very large patio

Every row: 4-inch slab, 3,000 PSI ready-mix, 4-inch crushed-stone base, broom finish, forms, crew, overhead and margin, national prices. “With mesh” adds 6x6 10-gauge wire mesh. Excludes excavation, removal of an old patio, permits, steps and sealing.

Which Patio Spec Do You Need? (12×20 Prices)

Spec	Typical	Low to high	Choose it when
4-inch, no reinforcement	$2,210	$1,380 to $3,930	Small patio on firm, well-drained ground; more visible cracking
4-inch with wire mesh (our patio spec)	$2,370	$1,490 to $4,160	The usual patio: keeps shrinkage cracks tight
4-inch with a rebar grid	$2,670	$1,720 to $4,550	Clay or expansive soil, or a patio that may later carry a roof
6-inch, 4,000 PSI, rebar	$3,070	$2,020 to $5,250	Heavy point loads such as a hot tub or outdoor kitchen
Tear out an old patio, pour 4-inch with mesh	$2,850	$1,730 to $4,892	Removal at $1.00 to $3.05 a sq ft (River Forest, IL bids, Dec 2025); a single job often prices higher

Finishes, Steps and Sealing

Decorative finishes are quoted separately

Stamped, exposed-aggregate and stained finishes cost more than a broom finish, but we found no supplier price list or public bid that prices the extra, so we do not put a number on it. Get the finish priced as its own line, per square foot, so you can compare it with the plain-patio price above. See the stamped concrete page for what the published guides say.

Also ask about

Excavation and haul-off of the soil the base replaces.
Steps down from a door, priced as their own pour.
Sealer: whether it is applied, and when to re-apply.
Patio against pavers or a deck: see concrete vs alternatives.

Why Other Patio Prices Look Different

Lawn Love (page dated 5 October 2026) puts the average concrete patio at $2,925 and the typical range at $1,580 to $4,465, without naming a source or a size. Concrete Network (dated 14 July 2026) quotes $5 to $18 per sq ft for patios. Both ranges mix plain and decorative work. Our 12×20 with mesh, typically $2,370, is a plain broom-finish patio priced from its inputs, so a stamped or stained patio will quote above it.

The full comparison, with HomeAdvisor and Homewyse, is on the homepage.

Method / How We Price

How We Price a Slab

Every installed price on this site comes from one model: published ready-mix and materials prices, plus crew hours priced at Bureau of Labor Statistics wages, plus overhead and margin. The low figure uses the lowest published input and our lowest assumption at every step; the high figure uses the highest. The crew hours, overage and margin are our own estimates, not published figures, and are listed below so you can check them against your quote. Worked example: a 12 x 20 ft patio (4-inch, 3,000 PSI, wire mesh, broom finish, 4-inch stone base).

Line	Low	Typical	High	Basis
Ready-mix concrete	$395	$452	$538	2.96 cu yd plus 5 to 10% overage, at published per-yard prices
Delivery and small-load charges	$50	$110	$519	Per-truck charges from the same price lists (10 yd per truck)
Crushed-stone base	$156	$195	$266	4 in compacted crusher run
Reinforcement	$58	$58	$58	6x6 10-gauge mesh panels, lapped
Form lumber	$24	$36	$49	Perimeter boards, shared across reuses
Crew labour	$557	$972	$1,541	Crew hours x BLS wages x employer costs
Overhead and margin	$248	$547	$1,188	20% to 40% on direct cost
Installed total	$1,490	$2,370	$4,160	Rounded to the nearest $10

Not included: excavation and soil haul-off, removing an old slab, permits, pumping, decorative finishes and sealing. Totals are national; the calculators’ state option swaps in that state’s BLS wages and leaves concrete and materials at the published lists.

Published inputs (read 13 October 2026)

Ready-mix, per cubic yard: 3,000 PSI $127.05 to $165.00, 4,000 PSI $132.00 to $175.00, from Supreme Concrete (Los Angeles, CA), Minimix Concrete (Pequannock, NJ), Gehring Construction & Ready-Mix (Columbus, NE, list dated 2026-01-01), Scenic City Ready Mix (Tennessee, list dated 2024-08-03).
Small orders and trucks: short-load charge $50 under 4 yd (Gehring) or $100 at 5 yd or less, plus $100 more at 2 yd or less (Scenic City); per truck, no charge within 20 miles (Gehring), a $35 surcharge (Scenic City), or $363.88 Zone A delivery plus a $55 environmental fee (Supreme).
Crushed-stone base: $44.00 to $74.75 per cubic yard from D & L Supply (Central New York, $44.00/yd), JMJ Companies (Lynchburg, VA, $39.50/ton), Golden Landscaping Supply (Cumming, GA, $50.00/ton), Yard Works Landscape Supply (Fort Mill, SC, $74.75/yd); per-ton prices converted at 2,450 lb per yard.
Steel, forms, poly: #4 rebar 20 ft $8.99, 6x6 10-gauge mesh 4x8 panel $6.99, 2x6x12 $14.32, 2x4x16 $12.13, 6-mil poly 8 ft 4 in x 100 ft $59.99, rebar chair $0.33 (Menards online prices; Home Depot and Lowe’s pages could not be read that day). That works out to $0.24 per sq ft for mesh and $0.74 per sq ft for a rebar grid, materials only.
Wages: BLS OEWS 47-2051 cement masons (May 2025) 25th percentile $22.60, median $27.41, 75th $32.15 an hour; 47-2061 construction laborers $18.57, $22.66, $28.72. Employer costs from BLS ECEC June 2026, construction industry ($51.96 total compensation per $36.13 of wages, x1.44): a crew hour costs $29.60 to $43.77.

Our assumptions (estimates, not published figures)

Crew: half cement masons, half laborers.
Setup per job: 8 to 16 crew hours (layout, stripping, cleanup).
Per 100 sq ft: 4-inch 4 to 7 crew hours, 6-inch 5 to 8.5, 8-inch 6 to 10; add 0.5 to 1 for mesh or 1.5 to 2.5 for rebar.
Concrete overage 5% to 10%; base stone ordered at 1.2x its compacted volume; form boards charged at half to all of their price.
Overhead and margin 20% to 40% of direct cost.
6-inch and thicker slabs use 4,000 PSI mix; thinner slabs 3,000 PSI.

Sources: BLS OEWS 47-2051 cement masons (May 2025), BLS OEWS 47-2061 construction laborers (May 2025), BLS ECEC, construction (June 2026), ready-mix price lists from Supreme Concrete, Minimix Concrete, Gehring Construction & Ready-Mix, Scenic City Ready Mix, crusher-run prices from D & L Supply, JMJ Companies, Golden Landscaping Supply, Yard Works Landscape Supply, Menards mesh, rebar, lumber and poly prices, Village of River Forest, IL bid tabulation (3 December 2025), Ace Hardware 80 lb Quikrete price, IRC R105.1, R105.2 and R506.1. Model inputs read 13 October 2026; removal bids and other publishers' pages read 14 October 2026. Crew hours, overage, overhead and margin are our estimates and are listed in the method above.

Concrete Patio FAQ

How much does a 12×20 concrete patio cost?

A 12×20 ft concrete patio (240 sq ft), 4 inches thick with wire mesh on a 4-inch crushed-stone base and a broom finish, costs $1,490 to $4,160 installed in our cost model, typically $2,370, or $6.20 to $17.32 a sq ft. Without mesh it is $1,380 to $3,930. Low uses the cheapest published ready-mix and stone prices and 25th-percentile BLS wages; high uses the dearest and 75th-percentile wages.

How much does a 12×12 concrete patio cost?

What does it cost to tear out an old patio and pour a new one?

How thick should a concrete patio be?

Do I need a permit for a concrete patio?

Is it cheaper to pour a small patio myself?

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