What a Concrete Estimate Should Itemize

An Estimate and a Quote Are Not the Same Document

Our instant estimate is a ballpark. You pick the type of work, type in a length and a width, tell it whether there is old concrete to come out and whether you want rebar or fiber, and it returns a price range built from square footage. It is deliberately labelled as an estimate and not a formal quote, because the final number is set at a free on-site visit where soil, access and site prep can all move it.

A quote is the document you sign. It should be specific enough that a second contractor could read it and build the same slab. If it is one line and one number, there is nothing in it to compare.

What our estimate tool actually asks

• The type of work: driveway, patio or walkway, stamped and decorative, foundation or slab, repair and leveling, or light commercial flatwork.
• Length and width in feet, which it multiplies into square feet.
• Whether existing concrete has to come out first.
• Whether to include rebar or fiber reinforcement — it is ticked by default, because we do not treat reinforcement as an upsell.
• Optional photos, then your name, phone, project address and an optional email.

What no online estimate can see

Everything that is actually under the slab. How deep the old concrete goes and what is beneath it. Whether the subgrade drains or holds water. How the ground falls between the garage and the street. Whether a truck can reach the pour or whether it has to be wheeled. Whether there is a sinkhole, a culvert or a right-of-way in the way. Those are the items that separate a cheap estimate from an accurate one, and all of them are found by standing on the site.

The Lines That Should Be on the Page

Here is what we expect a concrete estimate to state, in numbers rather than adjectives. Use it as a checklist against anything you are handed, including ours.

1. Area and thickness

Square footage is the easy half; thickness is the half that gets left off. TDOT's standard drawing for a concrete driveway calls for a uniform 6 inches unless the plans say otherwise^[1], and residential flatwork is commonly poured thinner than that. Neither is automatically wrong — but you should know which one you are buying, because it is a direct multiplier on the concrete in the truck.

2. Base preparation

Under that slab TDOT's drawing calls for at least 4 inches of mineral aggregate base^[1]. The estimate should say what base material goes down, how deep, and that it will be compacted. This line is where corners get cut invisibly, and it is also where Montgomery County ground punishes you for it: the county soil survey warns that soils with high shrink-swell potential damage foundations, roads and other structures as they wet and dry^[2], and the smoother uplands here are typically 2 to 3 feet of wind-blown silt over reddish clay^[3].

3. The mix

A psi figure and an air content, not the word "quality". NRMCA recommends 4,000 psi for exterior slabs exposed to moisture, freezing and deicers^[4], and 6% total air for mixes with 3/4-inch or 1-inch coarse aggregate^[5]. Air entrainment is invisible on the finished surface and is the main thing standing between your slab and surface flaking after a hard winter.

4. Reinforcement

Rebar, fiber, both, or none — stated, with spacing if it is rebar. Our quote tool carries this as its own line so it shows up in the breakdown rather than hiding inside a square-foot rate. If an estimate does not mention reinforcement at all, assume it is not in the price.

5. Joints

Control joints are not decoration; they decide where the slab cracks. NRMCA puts the spacing at no more than 24 to 36 times the slab thickness — roughly 10 feet for a 4-inch slab — and never more than 15 feet^[6], with cuts at least a quarter of the slab depth and conventional saw cuts made 4 to 12 hours after finishing^[7]. A good estimate says the spacing. A great one says when the crew comes back to cut them.

6. Tear-out and haul-off

If there is old concrete, the estimate should say how thick it is believed to be, whether reinforcement is expected inside it, who hauls it away and who pays the disposal. This is the single most common source of a mid-job change order, which is why our tool asks about it before it shows you a number.

7. Grade and drainage

Which way the water goes, and where it ends up. New concrete turns ground that soaked up rain into a surface that sheds it. On karst ground that matters more than usual: county stormwater rules call for a 60-foot undisturbed buffer around sinkhole throats, cave entrances and Class V injection wells^[8], and the county's own building department calls sinkholes a common feature of the area^[9].

8. Permits and the right-of-way

The estimate should name which office the job answers to and say plainly who is responsible for the application — that is a line item, not an assumption. Inside the city, the Street Department has to approve an access plan and issue an access permit before any curb cut or right-of-way paving, and before a building permit is issued^[10]. On a county road, the County Highway Department decides whether a culvert is needed; a driveway needing a culvert carries a bond deposit and one that does not pays a $250 frontage fee^[11]. Those are real dollars and real weeks. Our Clarksville and Montgomery County driveway permit guide walks the whole decision tree.

9. Schedule, including the cure window

A pour date is only half of it. Ask when the joints get cut, when you can walk on it and when you can park on it, and get the answer in writing. Our guide to driving on new concrete explains why that window moves with the weather rather than sitting on a fixed date.

10. Payment terms and change orders

What is due when, and what happens if the crew opens the ground and finds something nobody could see. Our own rule is line-item estimates before the pour and no change orders the customer has not signed. Whoever you hire, the change-order rule should be written down before work starts, not negotiated from the driveway.

Numbers That Should Be Numbers

A useful test: read the estimate and circle every figure. Thickness in inches. Base depth in inches. Square feet. Psi. Joint spacing in feet. Days. If the only number on the page is the total, the document is a price, not a scope — and a price with no scope cannot be compared to anything.

• "Heavy-duty" is not a thickness.
• "Properly reinforced" is not a bar size or a spacing.
• "Prepped base" is not a depth or a material.
• "Commercial grade concrete" is not a psi.
• "Weather permitting" is not a schedule.

Comparing Two Estimates Without Guessing

Put them side by side and compare the eight items above in order. In our experience the gap between a low number and a high number for the same driveway almost always lands on one of four lines: slab thickness, base depth, reinforcement, or whether tear-out and disposal are really included. Find which one moved and you will know whether you are looking at a better price or a smaller slab.

If one estimate is silent on a line and the other is specific, that is not a tie. Ask the silent one to put a number on it and watch what happens to the total.

Our Ranges, and What They Are

These are the ballpark ranges our estimate tool works from. Final pricing is confirmed at a free on-site visit, because the lines above are what actually set it.

• Driveways: $9-$13 per square foot.
• Patios and walkways: $10-$14 per square foot.
• Stamped and decorative: $14-$20 per square foot.
• Foundations and slabs: $10-$16 per square foot.
• Repair and leveling: $6-$10 per square foot — see repair and leveling for when that is the honest answer instead of a replacement.
• Light commercial flatwork: $9-$13 per square foot.