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For concrete work: the square feet, the yards and the quote

Driveways, patios, sidewalks, slabs, footings and steps: a concrete job is sized by its square feet and poured by its cubic yards. TailGateBid puts both on a quote your customer signs on their phone, and its AI tool, Bid Partner, drafts that quote from a few photos of the job.

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The work

Flatwork: a driveway, a patio, a sidewalk, the slab for a garage or a shop. And what goes around it: footings, steps, a curb, a pad for an air conditioner. When old concrete is in the way, breaking it out and hauling it off is a line of its own.

How a pour is measured

  1. Length times width is the square feet.
  2. Square feet times the thickness in inches, divided by 12, is the cubic feet.
  3. Cubic feet divided by 27 is the cubic yards: 27 cubic feet make 1 cubic yard.
  4. Add the extra you order. The ready mixed concrete producers' association says to order 4% to 10% more than the plan dimensions give: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, CIP 31: Ordering Ready Mixed Concrete.
  5. Ready-mix is sold by volume, in cubic yards, the same sheet says. For a small pour from bags, QUIKRETE's data sheet gives about 0.60 cubic feet from an 80 lb bag of its concrete mix.

An example with made-up numbers, not a going rate

Say the patio is 16 by 20 feet and the customer wants it 4 inches thick. That is 320 square feet and 106.67 cubic feet, which is 3.95 cubic yards. Say you add 10%: 4.35 yards, so 4.5 go on the quote. From 80 lb bags at 0.6 cubic feet a bag, the same patio would be 178 bags.

A patio quote, worked through

Sample

Sample Concrete Co.

New back patio, 16 by 20 feet

  • Old patio broken out and hauled awayQty 2 loads$650.00
  • Forms, pour and broom finishQty 320 square feet$1,920.00
  • Ready-mix concrete, deliveredQty 4.5 cubic yards$945.00
Subtotal
$3,515.00
Sales tax (7.25%)
$68.51
Total
$3,583.51

Deposit due on approval: $358.35

Before you ask for a deposit on work at a home, check what your state or province allows.

Only you see this part. Your customer never does.

What it costs you
$2,210.50
What is left for you
$1,304.50

You keep about $37 of every $100

A sample, with prices made up for the example. They are not a going rate: TailGateBid has no price data. The tear-out is charged by the load, the forming, pouring and finishing by the square foot, and the concrete by the cubic yard, so every line grows with the job. Sales tax is charged only on the line ticked as taxed: 7.25% of $945.00 is $68.51. At these made-up costs the job leaves $1,304.50 of the $3,515.00: about $37 of every $100.

From the pour to the invoice

  • A quote they sign on their phone

    Your customer opens a link, picks an option and signs with a finger. Broom finish or stamped? Put both on as options and let them choose. A deposit can be due when they approve, and its invoice is made for you. How a quote is built and signed.

  • Bid Partner drafts it from photos

    Stand where the pour will go, take a few photos and say in a sentence or two what the customer wants. Bid Partner, the AI tool in TailGateBid, hands back a draft quote with a price on each line, priced from your own rates. Where you have not set one, it puts in a typical price and marks it "Typical". Type what you really charge and every quote after that uses it. Nothing goes to the customer until you press Send. What Bid Partner does, and what it does not.

  • The pour day and the invoice

    The approved quote becomes a job waiting for a day on the schedule. When it is done, one tap makes the invoice, with the deposit already taken off.

  • A website for a concrete business

    Every account comes with a website, hosted at no extra cost. It lists your services in your own words, shows a driveway before and after once that customer has agreed, carries the reviews you approve, and has a form where a visitor asks for a quote and can add photos of the spot. What is on the website.

And what to charge?

The sum above gives you the quantities. What to charge for them comes from your own costs: the job price calculator works a price out from your hours and your materials, and the hour calculator shows what an hour really costs you.

Then put the price on paper: what goes on an estimate, in order, with one filled in.

This page is about one trade. TailGateBid works the same way for any other, and Bid Partner is built to price a job in any of them: how it works for your trade.

Sources

Related

Measure the next pour and send the quote before you leave.

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30 days free. No card needed.