Slab Calculator

To do an apples to apples comparison of any building project, you have to include all of the costs.  One element of cost that many people don't factor in is the cost of the concrete slab.  Many of our customers are building small backyard shops or backyard sheds.  Some will set their backyard shop or shed on a concrete slab, while other won't.  Most customers who do elect to support their backyard shop or backyard shed on concrete, will elect to pour a monolithic slab.

Costs for a typical monolithic slab will vary between regions so our starting numbers in the model below may not reflect your region.  Talk to several contractors about time and material requirements and then plug your numbers in to our model.  This will help you set a baseline for comparison.

Let's literally start at the ground up with some things to consider and develop a guide for gathering information.

Site Preparation - You'll want to clear and level the area where you plan to pour your slab.  How much time will be required for this step of the project.  That will be driven by how much and what type of vegetation needs to be removed, the topography of the job site and the size of the size of your project area.  You'll need to get an estimate of how many hours of effort will be needed and the rate per hour.

Base Course - You don't want to just dump some concrete on the ground and call it a slab.  You'll need to prepare the pour area and put down a base course of gravel or other suitable material.  You'll need to obtain an estimate of this material on a per cubic yard basis.

Labor - Unless you got a crew of friends willing to bust their butts for you, plan on labor cost for things like building forms, working the pour and doing finish work.  You will need to get a cost estimate for this labor and plug it in to our model.

Rebar - While you're doing that pre-pour prep work and considering that labor cost, don't forget to factor in some rebar or other reinforcing material for your slab.  The same guys that built your forms will probably do your reinforcement work.

Lastly, don't forget the cost of the concrete.  What is the cost per cubic yard in your area?

Got all the numbers?  Great, plug them in to the model and see what the cost per foot comes out to.  Then, depending on your reason for using this calculator, either add the cost per square foot or deduct it.

'width' is a duplicate attribute name. Line 1, position 36.