As a landscape professional often the first question I get when a potential client contacts my company for installing interlocking concrete pavers is “how much per square foot”? How I answer this question is by trying to help educate that person about proper paver installation and business practice.

• First I start off with explaining that many factors affect the price before we even discuss the pavers or the square footage.
• How far is the job site from my yard and my paver supplier? The further away it is the more travel time we must charge.
• Do we have to remove an existing walkway or path? I have spent days jack hammering old concrete patios, it even takes time to pull up those old stepping stones.
• Does the grade require steps? Just because the old walk sloped doesn’t make it right. It may need steps.
• Is there good access onsite to operate machinery or must we hand excavate? Hand labor is very time consuming and much more costly.
• Does the soil type require a geo textile fabric for base stabilization? Most soil types in central and northern NJ need this important fabric installed.
• Is there any downspout liters that must be piped away from the proposed paver area or other drainage requirements? Standing water can ruin a well done job. It is much better to solve these issues first than after the paver job fails.
• Can the excavated fill dirt be left on site or must it be trucked out. Trucking costs money and the fill doesn’t move itself. Mature trees must be noted so root zones are not disturbed if possible. Tree roots can ruin a paver job as they heave the surface over time and the installation of pavers can hurt mature trees by cutting major roots and or by the act of compacting the soils.

After these things are considered then the actual design and pavers are figured. Will the paver job require a lot of diamond saw cutting. Curved designs usually need more cuts and diamond blades are very expensive and the work time consuming with skilled personnel. Is the paver area for pedestrian or vehicular traffic? Different base depths are required. What kind of paver are we installing? There are so many choices! Basically there are generation I pavers. Standard pavers we have seen since the 1980s. Tumbled pavers that are manufactured to look like old cobble stone. Slab pavers, that are usually tumbled but in “jumbo” sizes. Modular pavers, that runs in random multi directional patterns. All these pavers vary, some greatly, in price.

Some jobs may blend colors of several pavers or have a band or soldier course of a different paver and or color. Options like this may affect price. Many times circle kits are added for accent. Although circle kits generally come pre cut there is still time in cutting the pavers around the circle. Yet there are more things to consider! All paver installations get concrete sand swept in the joints. There is now available a joint stabilizing sand that after it’s applied and watered in it hardens almost like a grout. This helps reduce weeds and sand wash out but again does ad to the over all cost. Then after the sand we can apply a paver sealer. This gives the pavers the “wet” look and also reduces weeds.

I think you can see that there should be no direct answer for the “how much per square foot” question. Yes I know there are many installers that will quote by the square foot. That practice certainly is not an accurate way of bidding and estimating as I have just proven. After reading this article one would be leery of an off the cuff quote of by the square foot. I would also think you would be concerned that all your options were not explored and possibly to produce this usually low per square foot price maybe a few corners will be cut.

When you do decide to have pavers installed, spend some time reviewing all the options available to you. Manufacturers of pavers spend a lot of money on full color brochures that are usually educational as well. Most will have a website that you can visit. The interlocking concrete paver institute has a certification program and a very informative web site at www.icpi.org. Paver manufacturers will also have authorized contractor programs that authorize the best local installers in certain areas. All these tools will help insure that you can get the most professional job that will last you for many years to come.