Tool 1 of the Get Paid Kit · For concrete finishers

Concrete Finisher Hourly Rate Calculator

This free calculator works out the hourly rate a self-employed concrete finisher should charge for their time, starting from the income you need, then builds the pour-day, driveway and slab prices clients actually pay out of the hours the work really holds. Clients rarely buy “an hour of finishing”; they buy a driveway that drains to the road, a garage floor flat enough for everything that follows, and a finish that still looks right in five winters. The concrete, the pump and the mesh are materials, billed as their own line, and a labourer hired for pour day is a cost of that job, named on it — the rate prices your timing, your eye and your hours, in the one trade where the clock is a material too: the mix sets on its schedule, not yours. With the honest presets below the rate lands near $92 an hour, $733 for a full day — and the jobs built from it: a 50-square-metre driveway pour-and-finish at about six hours of your finishing labour, $550 — a two-day slab section at $1,467 of labour — with the concrete itself never inside either figure.

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The pricing reality for concrete finishers

A concrete job is bought by the pour and earned against a clock no other trade has. Inside the price sit the formwork check, the pour itself, the screeding, the floating and the trowel passes that follow for hours — then the curing, the joint cutting and the strip the next day. Finish too early and the surface tears; too late and it will not close. A rate copied from the finisher across town carries all of that judgement whether it covers it or not. Price the hour first, and pours, driveways and slabs become assemblies of the same honest number.

Materials and help are separate honesties. Concrete, pump hire, mesh and formwork timber are bought for the job and billed as their own line — at cost or with a stated mark-up, agreed up front. Day help is the same: on a pour you may need a second pair of hands, and that labourer’s day is a cost of the job, stated on the quote — not buried inside your rate, where it would quietly tax every small job to subsidise the big ones. Your rate prices your day: your timing, your eye and your hours on the tools.

The numbers below are starting presets, not a survey: a $58,000 target income, $14,000 a year of expenses — vehicle and fuel leads, with power trowel, screeds and finishing tools, liability insurance, curing compounds, blades and consumables, phone, quoting and admin, and training and tickets — a 25% tax estimate, four weeks of vacation, a 40-hour week and 60% billable time. With those starting numbers the calculator lands near $92 an hour.

Your numbers — concrete finisher presets

Your recommended rate

$0 / hour
$0Day rate (8 hours)
0Billable hours per year
Income + expenses needed$0
Grossed up for tax$0
With profit margin$0
Working weeks0
Total working hours0
Billable hours0

Your rate is saved on this device only, so the Proposal Generator can show it when you price a project.

Easy to miss

Costs concrete finishers forget to put in the rate

  • The weather day that eats the pour. A pour postponed by rain or frost still consumed the slot in your diary — and the client rarely offers to pay for the empty day. The billable share and the margin are how the rate pre-pays the weather you cannot invoice.
  • The trowel passes nobody sees. The second and third passes happen hours after the pour, often as an evening return on your own. That return is inside the job’s hours or it is donated — count it when you quote, not when you are driving back in the dark.
  • The next-day work. Control joints are cut, forms are stripped and curing is checked the day after the pour, when the job already feels finished to the client. It is a real return visit with real hours; price it inside the pour, every time.
  • Blades, floats and the power trowel’s appetite. Finishing eats wear parts — blades, pans, screed boards — and the machine that makes the heavy passes needs fuel, servicing and eventual replacement. The rate pays for them or the driveway does not.
  • The helper who falls through. A pour cannot wait for a labourer who does not show. Reliable day help costs what it costs, booked properly and stated on the quote; the cheap version is the pour you finish alone, badly, at dusk.
The maths

How this calculator works

Start with the hours you can genuinely sell. Take 52 weeks, subtract your vacation weeks, multiply by your hours per week, then multiply by your billable percentage. With the concrete finisher presets — four weeks off, 40 hours a week, 60% billable — that is 1,152 billable hours a year: the pouring, finishing, cutting and stripping clients can pay for, once quoting, travel, weather days and paperwork have taken theirs.

Next, work out what those hours must bring in. Add your desired income and your annual business expenses together — $72,000 on the presets — gross the total up for tax by dividing by one minus your tax rate — at a 25% estimate, divide by 0.75 to get $96,000 — then add your profit margin to reach $105,600 and divide by your billable hours. That final number, $92, is the rate below which the year stops adding up.

Now translate the hour into the prices clients actually buy. A full day is the day rate, $733 — your day, with any day help added as its own stated line. A 50-square-metre driveway pour-and-finish is about six hours of your finishing labour — $550 — which is $11 a square metre of labour, with the concrete, pump and mesh billed separately. A two-day slab section is $1,467 of labour. Quoted per metre, those numbers are only safe because they were built from hours first: area prices hide edges, thickness and access. What never works is copying the per-metre price from the finisher across town: their patch, their weather and their diary are not yours.

Disclaimer: This is a planning estimate, not tax advice. Tax rates, deductions and allowances vary by country, state and business structure. Enter the rate you expect to pay, and check significant decisions with a qualified accountant.
Next: build a proposal with this rate Use the general rate calculator
Questions

Concrete Finisher rate questions

No — keep all three visible. The concrete, pump hire and mesh are materials, billed as their own line at cost or with a stated mark-up. A labourer hired for pour day is a cost of that job, named on the quote. Buried inside a rate, they make small jobs look dear and big pours quietly loss-making. The rate stays for what it should price: your timing, your judgement and your hours.
Build the metre from the hour, never the other way round. Time yourself honestly on a known area — on these presets, 50 square metres takes about six hours of finishing labour, $550, so the labour inside the metre is $11 — then quote the metre with the materials separate. And hold a minimum for small work: on a six-metre patch the metre price pays for the pour and forgets the setup, the travel and the return, so small jobs are priced by the half day or day instead.
That belongs in your terms, stated at booking: a weather postponement is a rebooking, not a cancellation, and the deposit holds the next workable date. Concrete is the rare trade where the material itself refuses bad weather, so clients accept the clause when it is explained once, early. What you cannot do is absorb every lost slot silently — the margin in your rate exists partly because the sky gets a vote.

Rates differ by trade — the same maths runs with different presets for graphic designer rates, freelance writer rates, web developer rates, marketing consultant rates, photographer rates, video editor rates, virtual assistant rates, social media manager rates, bookkeeper rates, translator rates, business coach rates, illustrator rates, copywriter rates, UX designer rates, SEO consultant rates, data analyst rates, motion designer rates, technical writer rates, podcast editor rates, email marketer rates, life coach rates, proofreader rates, event planner rates, voice actor rates, online tutor rates, personal trainer rates, interior designer rates, music producer rates, grant writer rates, UX researcher rates, book editor rates, transcriptionist rates, presentation designer rates, brand strategist rates, video producer rates, art director rates, WordPress developer rates, mobile app developer rates, 3D artist rates, game developer rates, Shopify developer rates, online business manager rates, podcast producer rates, data entry specialist rates, UX writer rates, copy editor rates, wedding photographer rates, resume writer rates, data scientist rates, instructional designer rates, business analyst rates, email designer rates, interpreter rates, audiobook narrator rates, landscape designer rates, wedding planner rates, wedding videographer rates, personal chef rates, dog trainer rates, music teacher rates, florist rates, cake baker rates, tour guide rates, pet groomer rates, house painter rates, handyman rates, locksmith rates, home organizer rates, pressure washer rates, carpet cleaner rates, chimney sweep rates, pool cleaner rates, window cleaner rates, tattoo artist rates, massage therapist rates, barber rates, makeup artist rates, hairstylist rates, nail technician rates, tailor rates, house cleaner rates, electrician rates, plumber rates, pest control technician rates, ppc specialist rates, content strategist rates, wedding DJ rates, dog walker rates, audio engineer rates, caterer rates, mover rates, appliance repair technician rates, nanny rates, piano tuner rates, garage door technician rates, bicycle mechanic rates, house sitter rates, upholsterer rates, jeweller rates, cobbler rates, blacksmith rates, sign writer rates, farrier rates, mobile car detailer rates, genealogist rates, saddler rates, arborist rates, travel agent rates, watch repairer rates, doula rates, sleep consultant rates, home stager rates, wedding officiant rates, college admissions consultant rates, mobile notary rates, personal shopper rates, welder rates, carpenter rates, glazier rates, plasterer rates, tiler rates, roofer rates, bricklayer rates, HVAC technician rates, dressmaker rates, drywall installer rates, flooring installer rates, gardener rates, fence installer rates, gutter installer rates, solar installer rates, stonemason rates, deck builder rates, insulation installer rates, cabinet maker rates, paving installer rates, furniture restorer rates, blind installer rates, driving instructor rates, picture framer rates, aerial installer rates, car mechanic rates, clock repairer rates, oven cleaner rates, smart home installer rates, alarm installer rates, drain cleaner rates, curtain installer rates, irrigation installer rates, shutter installer rates, artificial grass installer rates, fireplace installer rates, bathtub refinisher rates, snow removal professional rates, landscape lighting installer rates and radon mitigation specialist rates, or start from the general freelance hourly rate calculator.