Crew hours per square foot of patio, from dig-out to sweep-in
The labour box is the one that decides whether a patio pays. In the example, 0.214 crew hours a square foot covers digging out 9 inches, laying fabric, compacting base in lifts, screeding, laying and cutting pavers, sanding and sodding the edges. It also covers the drive in each day, loading and unloading and a rain-day buffer.
Dig conditions move this number more than anything else. If the same patio sits on clay with roots and takes 0.28 hours a square foot, the price goes from $13,547.76 to $15,416.88, or $38.54 a square foot. Two crews quoting the same yard can both be right at very different prices.
The example also spreads the seat wall's footing, block and caps across the patio area. If you price walls by the square foot of face instead, pull the wall out and lower both per-foot boxes.
Spoil, stone deliveries and machine hours on a paver job
Three costs land on every patio, whatever its size: getting the dirt out, getting the stone in and running the machines. In the example they are $650 of spoil disposal for about two loads, $280 of stone yard deliveries and $619 of loader, mini excavator, compactor and saw time.
They go in once per job, not per foot, so leave them in when you change the size. A patio on a tight lot that needs four loads of spoil instead of two should get a higher disposal number, not a higher per-foot price.
100, 400 and 600 sq ft patios side by side
Because those job costs do not shrink, the price per square foot drops as the patio grows:
| Patio | Crew hours | Price | Per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 sq ft walkway | 21.4 | $4,781.04 | $47.81 |
| 400 sq ft, example | 85.6 | $13,547.76 | $33.87 |
| 600 sq ft | 128.4 | $19,392.24 | $32.32 |
That is the trouble with one round per-foot number for every job. Quote the walkway at the big-patio rate and it loses money. On a real walkway you would also trim the spoil and machine boxes, since a 100 sq ft dig rarely needs two loads.
What the full hardscape spreadsheet adds to reach $16,095
The $59 rate comes from the example landscaping company, and a short season is baked into it. Months off still cost money, so put your own crew, trucks, insurance and working months into the hourly rate tool, or see how the example reaches $59.47 on the paver crew hourly rate page.
The spreadsheet prices each machine by its own running hours, adds waste on pavers and base, a markup on deliveries and dump fees, blade wear, the part bundle of pavers you cannot return and a reserve for patios that settle. It also prints a customer quote and logs whether the patio made money. That is why its version of the same job comes to $16,095 instead of $13,547.76. The paver patio pricing guide walks through that quote.