Patios are where finish options earn their keep. A plain broom patio and a stamped, colored patio can be the same square footage and a completely different invoice. The calculator above lets you flip between finishes and watch the number move, which is exactly the conversation you have with a customer in their backyard.
What drives a patio quote
- Square footage. Length times width. Curves and cutouts add forming time, so round up rather than down.
- Finish. Broom is the baseline. Colored, stamped, and exposed aggregate carry higher rates because of material cost and skilled labor at the trowel. The example rates above ($9 to $16 per square foot) are placeholders; your market sets the real spread.
- Thickness. Most patios pour at 4 inches. No vehicle load means you don’t need driveway thickness, and your price should reflect that.
- Site prep. Grading, base rock, and drainage matter more on patios than people think. Water needs somewhere to go that is not the back door.
The patio math, straight
A 12 by 15 patio is 180 square feet. At the example broom rate of $9 that’s $1,620. The same patio stamped at $16 is $2,880. That gap is why you want the finish conversation to happen with numbers in front of the customer, not after you get home to the calculator.
Stop redoing this math on a legal pad
These are example rates. With PriceDesk, the same calculator runs your rates and your add-ons, and it lives on your phone. Quote the patio standing on the spot where it’s going.