Last updated October 28, 2026

How to bid concrete jobs

What a concrete bid has to say, a worked driveway replacement price from tear-out to cure, the line about hairline cracks that saves the callback, and the deposit terms concrete contractors use.

Concrete is unforgiving. Once it is poured, every argument about thickness, finish, and cracks is an argument you cannot fix with a do-over. So the bid does the arguing in advance: the square footage, the thickness, the base, the reinforcement, the finish, the control joints, and the sentence about hairline cracking that every concrete contractor needs on every bid.

What a concrete bid has to answer

Square footage and thickness. "640 square feet at 4 inches" sets the yards and the price.
What comes out, and where it goes: demo of the old slab, hauling, and whether the driveway approach is included.
Base and reinforcement: inches of compacted base, rebar or mesh, by size and spacing.
Finish and joints: broom, smooth, or exposed aggregate, and the control joint layout.
Cure time before use, and the sentence about normal hairline cracking.
Whether a permit is required for the approach and who pulls it.

How to price it

Example numbers for a 640-square-foot driveway replacement, 4 inches, broom finish, in a typical market. Yours will differ.

Demo and haul: breaking out the old slab, loading, dump fees, a day and a half, $1,900.
Base: 4 inches of compacted gravel, 8 yards delivered and compacted, $650.
Concrete: 640 feet at 4 inches is about 8 yards; order 9. At $175 a yard delivered, $1,575.
Rebar or mesh, forms, stakes, expansion material, cure compound: $700.
Labor: three people for the pour day plus a day of forming and a return for joints and strip, $2,800.
Permit for the approach where required: $200.
Total: about $7,825. $9,600 is a common landing once overhead, pump or short-load fees, and the margin for a weather delay are in it.

Patios, sidewalks, and walls follow the same math with their own thickness and their own finish. Stamped and colored work carries a large multiplier and its own line for sealer.

Where concrete bids go wrong

No sentence about cracks. A hairline crack at 30 days became a demand for a new driveway.
The thickness was not written, and the customer measured 3.5 inches at the edge and called it short.
The approach needed a city permit nobody mentioned, and the inspector stopped the pour.
Rain was not in the bid as a reason the date can move, and the customer took the day off work.

A finished concrete bid, line by line

Four sample concrete estimates: driveway replacement, patio slab, sidewalk replacement, and retaining wall. The concrete proposal template is the blank version with the cracking line already on it.

Deposit and payment terms

Half at signing is standard on concrete. The demo happens before any money is visible to the customer, and the mix is ordered against the deposit. Balance on completion, the day the forms come off. Say on the bid that the pour date depends on weather and that the slab is not for vehicles until it has cured the number of days you specify. The deposit calculator gives the dollar figure for the bid.

Getting more concrete jobs

Concrete customers are nervous about the one trade where mistakes are permanent. A bid with thickness, base, reinforcement, finish, joints, and the cracking sentence reads as the contractor who has poured a thousand of these. Measure and text the bid the same day. Follow up at three days and at a week. Ask for the review when the cure is done and the cars are back on it, with a photo.

BidWriter Pro writes the bid from your measurements with every spec as its own line, and the customer signs and pays the deposit from their phone. $29 a month, 30 days free.

Questions contractors ask

How much should I charge per square foot for a concrete driveway?

Build it from demo, base, yards of mix, reinforcement, labor, and the permit, then check it against your market per-foot number. Many markets land between $10 and $18 a square foot for a 4-inch broom-finish replacement including tear-out. Stamped and colored work is well above that.

What do I say about cracks on a concrete bid?

That hairline cracking is normal in cured concrete, that control joints are placed to manage it, and that cracks under a stated width are not a defect. One sentence, every bid.

How much deposit for concrete work?

Half at signing. The tear-out and the mix order both happen before the customer sees anything finished.

Write a concrete / masonry bid from your notes

Type the job the way you would text it. It comes back as a finished estimate in about five seconds, in your words. No account.

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