Paver vs Concrete: Cost, Drainage, and Repairs

Concrete pavers cost $8 to $15 per square foot installed, and a poured concrete slab runs roughly $6 to $12. The slab wins on day one by $800 to $1,200 on a 400-square-foot patio. Pavers win later, because a failed unit is a one-hour repair and a failed slab is usually a demolition.

Two Different Ways to Build a Surface

Concrete pavers are individual units laid on a compacted aggregate base and bedding sand, with sand in the joints and an edge restraint holding the field tight. The surface is flexible: each unit carries load, and the joints absorb small movements.

A concrete slab is a continuous plate, usually 4 inches thick for pedestrian use, poured over a prepared subgrade and often reinforced with mesh. It carries load in one piece and cracks when it cannot.

That single difference explains almost every cost, drainage, and repair question that follows. A flexible surface distributes movement across thousands of joints. A rigid surface concentrates it into a crack.

Cost per Square Foot, Side by Side

The arithmetic is area × rate. On 400 square feet the gap is 400 × $8 = $3,200 against 400 × $6 = $2,400 at the low end, and 400 × $15 = $6,000 against 400 × $12 = $4,800 at the high end. The difference is $800 to $1,200, or about $2 to $3 per square foot.

What the slab price does not include is the finish. Broom-finished concrete is the cheapest version. Stamped, colored, or exposed-aggregate slabs add cost per square foot and often land in paver territory, which is why the two surfaces are compared at all.

Where the Paver Money Goes

A paver quote breaks into four visible parts:

• Excavation and disposal of the old surface, where one exists
• Four to six inches of compacted aggregate base, placed in lifts
• One inch of bedding sand, screeded to grade
• Units, edge restraint, joint sand, cutting, and labor

The base is the part homeowners underestimate. It is also the part that decides whether the surface stays flat. A paver patio on a shallow, poorly compacted base fails the same way a slab on a bad subgrade does. The paver base preparation guide covers depth and compaction in detail.

Drainage: Joints Versus Slope

Pavers drain two ways. Water runs off the surface on the slope the installer builds, typically a fall of about 1 inch per 4 feet away from the house, and a small amount infiltrates the joints and bedding before moving through the base.

A slab drains one way: across the surface to a low point or a drain. That works until the slab settles or a control joint opens. Water that reaches the subgrade under a slab has nowhere to leave, and in a freeze-thaw climate it expands there.

Neither surface tolerates a slope toward the house. If the grade is wrong, pavers can be lifted and re-screeded in a section. A slab has to be mudjacked or replaced. Our drainage and pooling guide covers how the fall is checked before a patio is built.

Repairs: Unit Work Versus Slab Work

Paver repair is priced at roughly $2 to $5 per square foot for resetting and joint sand, plus $4 to $8 per square foot where the base has failed. On a 40-square-foot section that is $80 to $200 for the surface work, or $240 to $520 with base repair included. A 400-square-foot slab replacement at $6 to $12 per square foot is $2,400 to $4,800.

That asymmetry is the whole financial argument for pavers. The paver repair cost guide shows the same arithmetic at more repair scopes.

Where Concrete Wins

Concrete is the right answer in four situations.

1. Budget is the binding constraint. At $6 to $12 per square foot it is the cheapest hard surface, and a broom finish is serviceable.
2. The area is small and simple. A 10-foot by 10-foot pad with no curves and no drainage complications is quick to pour.
3. The surface is structural. Shed floors, equipment pads, and garage aprons want a slab, not pavers.
4. Nothing heavy will cross it and nothing will shift under it. On stable soil with no trees, a slab can sit for decades without a problem.

The counterargument is the one thing a slab cannot do: give back a single square foot. Once a slab cracks through, patching is cosmetic and the crack returns. Pavers are designed to be taken apart.

What to Check in Either Quote

1. Ask for the base specification in writing: depth, aggregate type, and compaction method.
2. Confirm the slope and where water leaves the surface.
3. Ask what thickness is specified. Pavers should be 60 mm for foot traffic and 80 mm for vehicles.
4. Confirm edge restraint. Pavers without it spread at the perimeter.
5. For a slab, ask the thickness, whether mesh is included, and where the control joints will be cut.
6. Ask for the disposal line separately. Hauling away an old surface is often the difference between two quotes.

If you want the patio-specific version of this comparison, including lifespan expectations and resale, see paver patio versus concrete patio. For the installed paver rate in more detail, see concrete pavers cost.

The Decision in Practice

Choose concrete when the area is simple, the soil is stable, the budget is tight, and you accept that a structural crack means replacement. Choose pavers when the surface has to be repairable, when the grade is complicated, when frost or tree roots are present, or when the patio will be lifted for utilities or drainage work at some point.

The up-front difference is $2 to $3 per square foot on a typical patio. Over twenty years, one slab replacement costs more than that difference, and one paver reset costs less than either.