Estimate how much ready-mix concrete may cost from the cubic yards you need or calculate yardage from common project dimensions. Add your own price per cubic yard, waste allowance, delivery or short-load charges, and sales tax.
Enter known cubic yards directly, or calculate the concrete volume for a slab, footing or round column before applying your price per yard.
Enter your measurements and local price per cubic yard.
The total estimate combines the ordered cubic yards with your local concrete rate, then adds optional fees and tax.
See the base quantity, waste-adjusted quantity and final rounded order volume.
Use the exact ready-mix rate from your local supplier instead of relying on a fixed national average.
Add delivery, fuel, short-load or other concrete-related charges to build a more useful budget.
A concrete cost per yard calculator helps turn a concrete quantity into a practical material budget. Ready-mix concrete is commonly sold by the cubic yard in the United States, so the most important inputs are the number of cubic yards required and the supplier's price per cubic yard. The calculator on this page can also derive the cubic yards for a rectangular slab, a continuous footing or trench, or round columns.
Start with accurate dimensions. For a slab, multiply length by width by thickness after converting the thickness from inches to feet. That gives cubic feet. Divide cubic feet by 27 to convert to cubic yards. Footings use the same volume principle. Round columns use the area of a circle multiplied by height.
Concrete Material Cost = Final Cubic Yards × Price Per Cubic YardThe calculator intentionally starts the price field at zero. Concrete prices can change by market, mix design, strength, aggregate, admixtures, delivery distance, fuel conditions and order size. Entering the actual supplier quote gives a more meaningful result than building a budget around a hard-coded rate.
A waste or contingency allowance can help cover small differences between drawings and site conditions, uneven subgrade, form movement, spillage and measurement variation. The appropriate percentage depends on the job. The calculator leaves this value at zero by default so it never silently adds extra concrete.
Some quotes include delivery in the per-yard price while others show delivery, environmental, fuel or short-load charges separately. Use the two fee fields only when those charges are separate. This prevents accidental double counting.
Suppose a project needs 8 cubic yards after waste and rounding. If the quoted concrete rate is $160 per cubic yard, the material portion is $1,280. If delivery and other charges total $250, the subtotal becomes $1,530 before any sales tax. Your actual numbers can be entered directly in the calculator above.
| Cost Component | How It Is Calculated | Included In This Tool? |
|---|---|---|
| Ready-Mix Concrete | Ordered yd³ × price/yd³ | Yes |
| Waste Allowance | Base yd³ × waste % | Yes |
| Delivery / Fuel Fee | User-entered fixed charge | Yes |
| Short-Load / Other Fee | User-entered fixed charge | Yes |
| Sales Tax | Tax rate applied to material + entered fees | Yes |
| Concrete Pump | Separate equipment/service cost | No |
| Labour & Finishing | Contractor pricing | No |
| Forms & Reinforcement | Separate material/labour costs | No |
One cubic yard contains 27 cubic feet. This is why a slab measured in feet is converted to cubic yards by dividing its cubic-foot volume by 27. When slab thickness is measured in inches, divide the thickness by 12 before calculating cubic feet.
Cubic Yards = Length(ft) × Width(ft) × [Thickness(in) ÷ 12] ÷ 27Convert the footing width and depth from inches to feet, multiply by total footing length, then divide by 27. If several identical footing runs are required, multiply by the quantity before converting to cubic yards.
For cylindrical columns, convert diameter from inches to feet, divide by two to get radius, square the radius, multiply by π and height, then multiply by the number of columns. Divide the final cubic-foot volume by 27.
Concrete plants may use order increments or minimum quantities. The calculator offers optional 0.25, 0.50 and 1.00 cubic-yard rounding. The default is No Extra Rounding, so the tool does not change your calculated quantity unless you choose an increment.
For quantity-first planning, use the Concrete Quantity Calculator or Concrete Volume Calculator. For common flatwork, compare the Concrete Slab Calculator, Concrete Driveway Calculator and Concrete Garage Floor Calculator. If your quote uses metric rates, use the Total Concrete Cost Calculator and enter the units used by your local supplier.
Multiply the final cubic yards you plan to order by the supplier price per cubic yard, then add separate delivery, short-load or other fees and applicable tax.
One cubic yard equals 27 cubic feet.
Yes. Waste is optional and starts at 0%. Enter the percentage you want to add.
No. No Extra Rounding is the default. You can choose to round up to 0.25, 0.50 or 1.00 cubic-yard increments.
Yes. Choose Known Yardage, enter the cubic yards from the quote, then enter the quoted price per yard and any separate fees.
No. Labour, excavation, forms, reinforcement, pumping and finishing are separate unless you intentionally include them in the Other Fee field.
Zero provides a clean reset state. When you focus a zero-valued numeric field, the zero clears so your new number replaces it instead of being appended to it.
Yes. Select Slab and enter length and width in feet, thickness in inches, and the number of identical slabs.
Use a dedicated volume calculator when you want to calculate quantity before pricing.
Open Volume CalculatorEstimate concrete requirements for common project shapes and compare ordering quantities.
Open Quantity CalculatorCalculate slab concrete from length, width and thickness.
Open Slab CalculatorBuild a broader concrete material budget from your own rate and project quantity.
Open Cost Calculator