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Reference

How Much Does a Yard of Concrete Cost?

The quoted yard price is rarely what lands on the invoice.

Short answer

Ready-mix concrete costs $140–200 per cubic yard delivered in mid-2026. On small pours the surcharges dominate: most plants add $100–200 for a short load under 8–10 yards, so a single-yard delivery commonly totals $250–400. Bagged concrete works out at $225–360 per yard in 80 lb bags, which is why the two are genuinely close below about half a yard and not close at all above it.

Run it on your own numbers

Concrete needed
2.72 yd³
Cost
$500 – $800

Measure these

For a round column this is the diameter.

4 in residential slab, 5–6 in driveway, 6 in+ for heavy vehicles.

Sensible defaults are already applied — open only if you need to change them.

4″20′10′VOLUME · LENGTH × WIDTH × DEPTH
Concrete needed
2.72 yd³
2.47 yd³ measured + 10% · 66.7 ft³
Material cost
$500 – $800
Bags of 80 lb
123

each yields 0.6 ft³ · 2.73 yd³ equivalent

Order this much
2.75 yd³

Plants sell in quarter-yard increments

Placed weight
5.5 tons

≈ 4,050 lb per yd³

Bagged cost
$800

123 bags — compare against the truck price below

Ready-mix $140–200/yd³ plus short-load fee, or bags at retail. The lower of the two is shown as the floor.

At 2.72 yd³ you are a short load. Plants charge a surcharge under 8–10 yd³ — usually $100–200 — so budget for it and ask what their minimum is before you book.

123 bags is roughly 2.7 yards mixed by hand. Past about half a yard a truck is cheaper and vastly faster — and hand-mixing a slab in batches risks a cold joint through the middle of it.

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What actually appears on the invoice

Line itemUnitTypical 2026 cost
Ready-mix, standard 3000 psicommonper yd³$140–180
4000 psi mixper yd³$155–200
Short-load surchargeper load$100–200
Waiting time past the free windowper minute$2–4
Saturday or after-hoursper load$75–200
Fibre reinforcementper yd³$8–14
Cold-weather acceleratorper yd³$8–15
Concrete pumpper day$700–1,600
Placing and finishing labourper sq ft$2–6

Most plants allow 5–7 minutes per yard on site before waiting time starts. A 10-yard load gives you about an hour.

Small pours are priced differently

Below 8–10 yards you are a short load, and the surcharge does not scale — it is the same $100–200 whether you take 1 yard or 7. That makes the effective price per yard wildly different at the small end: 1 yard can cost $300 all in, while 8 yards costs about $150 each.

The practical move is to combine. If you have a slab, a couple of footings and a pad to pour, do them the same morning off one load. Two separate short loads is two surcharges for the same concrete.

For genuinely small volumes some plants sell trailer-mounted mixers by the yard, and some areas have volumetric trucks that batch on site and charge only for what you use. Both sidestep the short-load fee and are worth a phone call for anything in the 1–3 yard range.

Total installed cost, common jobs

JobSizeConcreteInstalled total
Patio, 4 in12 × 12 ft1.8 yd³$1,000–2,000
Driveway, 5 in20 × 24 ft7.4 yd³$3,000–7,000
Garage slab, 5 in24 × 24 ft8.9 yd³$3,500–8,000
Sidewalk, 4 in3 × 50 ft1.9 yd³$900–1,800
Shed pad, 4 in10 × 12 ft1.5 yd³$700–1,600

Material is usually a quarter to a third of the installed price. Forms, prep, reinforcement, finishing and cutting joints are the rest.

Frequently asked questions

How much is a yard of concrete delivered?

$140–200 for the concrete itself, plus a short-load surcharge of $100–200 on anything under about 8–10 yards. A one-yard delivery typically totals $250–400.

How much does a truckload of concrete cost?

A full 10-yard load runs roughly $1,400–2,000 delivered with no short-load fee, which is why the per-yard price drops sharply once you fill the truck.

Is bagged concrete cheaper than ready-mix?

Only below about half a yard. Bags work out at $225–360 per cubic yard, so once the short-load fee is spread over more than a yard or two the truck wins on price and on quality.

Why is my small concrete order so expensive per yard?

The short-load surcharge is flat, not proportional. It costs the plant nearly as much to send a truck with one yard as with ten, so the fee makes small orders disproportionately expensive.