How much does a patio cost in the UK?
A patio costs £70 to £220 per m² supplied and laid in the UK. Concrete slabs are £70 to £110 per m², Indian sandstone £90 to £150, and porcelain or other premium stone £110 to £220. A 20 m² porcelain patio therefore has a guide budget of £2,200 to £4,400 before unusual site work. Prices reviewed September 2026.
Patio cost calculator
Use the calculator to price your patio in 2026. Adjust the options and area for a UK cost range. Nothing is sent anywhere.
A patio is priced by the square metre, and the paving material is the biggest lever: budget concrete slabs at one end, porcelain and natural stone at the other.
Choose a paving material to use its supplied-and-laid rate. Standard ground preparation is included. Steps, retaining walls, major level changes and unusually difficult access need a separate site quote; do not add a second material surcharge.
Need to know how much material to order? Try the concrete calculator or gravel calculator. To price the whole job, use the block paving cost calculator.
Patio cost breakdown
Typical patio costs, by the unit:
| What | Typical UK cost |
|---|---|
| Per m², supplied and fitted | £70 to £220 per m² |
| 10 m² | £700 to £2,200 |
| 20 m² (typical) | £1,400 to £4,400 |
| 40 m² | £2,800 to £8,800 |
Patio cost by paving material
The slab is the biggest lever on a patio's price. These rows come from UK landscaping firms' own published prices, checked in September 2026. Limestone, slate and granite are folded into the top row, because too few firms price them on their own.
| Paving material | Cost per m² supplied and laid | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Concrete slabs | £70 to £110 | The cheapest paving, from plain slabs to textured, stone-effect ones |
| Indian sandstone | £90 to £150 | Natural stone, and cheaper than porcelain at every firm here that prices both |
| Porcelain or natural stone | £110 to £220 | The dearest paving. Large-format slabs cost more, and limestone, slate and granite sit alongside it |
Supplied and laid, per m². From the published prices of 17 UK landscaping firms, September 2026. Not quotes.
What's included in the price?
Typical patio prices include:
- Ground preparation and sub-base
- Bedding mortar and laying
- Paving supplied and pointed
- Spoil removal and clean-up
What changes the price?
The things that move patio prices most:
Total area in square metres
Material: concrete slabs are cheapest, porcelain and natural stone cost more
Ground levels, steps and any retaining walls
Access to the garden
How the price is built up
The material rates above include standard excavation, sub-base, bedding, paving, laying and pointing. Select the material once: the concrete, sandstone and porcelain rows are complete alternative rates, not a base price plus a premium. Steps, retaining walls, major changes in level and difficult access need an itemised site allowance. Labour and groundworks are usually the larger share, often around 55 to 65 percent of the total, with the slabs and bedding materials making up the rest. The split tilts further towards materials once you choose porcelain or natural stone.
Ways to keep the cost down
- Compare concrete slabs, sandstone and porcelain at the same area and groundwork specification. For 20 m², the published concrete range is £1,400 to £2,200 and the porcelain range is £2,200 to £4,400.
- Keep the shape simple and the levels flat. Steps, retaining walls and sloping ground all add labour, and a straightforward rectangle on level ground sits nearer the £70 per m² floor.
- Clear the old patio and cart away the waste yourself before the fitter starts, so you are only paying the trade rate for laying, not for site clearance.
- Get quotes from local firms outside London and the South East where you can. The same work simply costs more there.
Does where you live change the cost?
In London, a patio typically costs around £140 per m², about 20% above the UK average of £120. In the North, Scotland and Wales the guide figure is nearer £120.
| Region | From | Typical | Up to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midlands / East (UK average) | £70 | £120 | £220 |
| London | £85 | £140 | £260 |
| South East / South West | £75 | £130 | £230 |
| North / Scotland / Wales | £70 | £120 | £210 |
Guide prices per m², scaled with the same regional multipliers as the calculator. Not quotes.
Patio cost in major UK cities
| City | From | Typical | Up to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belfast | £65 | £110 | £210 |
| Birmingham | £70 | £120 | £220 |
| Bristol | £75 | £130 | £230 |
| Cardiff | £70 | £120 | £210 |
| Edinburgh | £70 | £120 | £210 |
| Glasgow | £70 | £120 | £210 |
| Leeds | £70 | £120 | £210 |
| Liverpool | £70 | £120 | £210 |
| London | £85 | £140 | £260 |
| Manchester | £70 | £120 | £210 |
| Newcastle | £70 | £120 | £210 |
| Sheffield | £70 | £120 | £210 |
City guide estimates, scaled by local labour costs. Indicative averages for patio, not quotes.
Common questions
How much does a patio cost for a typical garden?
A typical 20 square metre patio costs roughly £1,400 to £4,400, mostly depending on whether you choose concrete slabs or premium porcelain and natural stone.
What is the cheapest patio material?
Plain concrete or pressed-concrete slabs are the cheapest. Porcelain, sandstone and granite look better and last well but cost more per square metre, both to buy and to lay.
Do I need planning permission for a patio?
In England, almost never for a normal back-garden patio laid at ground level: it is permitted development. Check first if the house is listed or in a conservation area, or if you are significantly raising levels near a boundary. The front-garden drainage rules that catch driveways do not usually affect a rear patio.
Why do patio quotes vary so much for the same size?
First compare the paving material: our complete supplied-and-laid rates are £70 to £110 per m² for concrete, £90 to £150 for sandstone and £110 to £220 for porcelain or other premium stone. Then compare excavation, drainage, access, steps and waste removal. Do not add a material premium again to a rate that already includes that material.
Is it cheaper to lay a patio yourself?
Doing it yourself can save a large part of the bill, because labour and groundworks are usually around 55 to 65 percent of the total. On a 20m² job at the £70 to £220 per m² range, that is a real chunk. You still pay for slabs, sub-base and bedding, and the sub-base and levels are the hard part to get right. A patio that settles or ponds is expensive to relay, so it only pays off if you are confident with the groundwork.
How long does it take to lay a patio?
A straightforward patio of around 20m² usually takes a two-person team about three to four days: a day or so to dig out and lay the sub-base, then laying, cutting and pointing the slabs. Bigger areas, awkward access, steps or retaining walls all add time, and that extra labour is part of why the rate stretches towards £220 per m². Wet weather can also stretch the job out, as fresh bedding and joints need time to set.
Does an old patio need removing before a new one is laid?
Usually yes. A new patio needs a sound, well-compacted sub-base, so an old cracked or uneven surface normally comes up first, and that lifting and waste removal is part of the labour in the £70 to £220 per m² rate. Occasionally a solid, level existing base can be built on, but most fitters prefer to start fresh so the finished levels and drainage are right. Clearing it yourself first keeps the cost down.
Does a new patio add value to your home?
Rarely more than it costs. A patio runs £70 to £220 per m2, so a typical 20m2 job is a few thousand pounds, and while a tidy, level patio helps a garden show well to buyers, agents seldom add that full amount to the asking price. A neglected or cracked one can put buyers off, so it earns its keep most as something you enjoy while you live there.
Official guidance and sources
The rules and schemes referenced on this page come from these official UK sources. The price figures are Costwise's own; see how we price.
- Patio and driveway: planning permission Planning Portal · Planning Portal's guidance for England: there is no limit on hard surfacing at or near ground level away from the front garden, though significant embanking or terracing may need an application, and a listed building needs consent.
- General Permitted Development Order 2015, Schedule 2, Part 1, Class F legislation.gov.uk · The statutory rule: the drainage condition applies only to a new or replacement hard surface over 5 m² between the front wall of the house and a highway.
Cite this data
These figures are free to use in articles, reports and research under a CC BY 4.0 licence. All we ask is a credit to Costwise, and online a link. Where your style allows, please make "Costwise" the linked word so readers can check the figure for their own region.
Costwise (2026): A patio typically costs £120 per m² in the UK, ranging from £70 to £220 per m². Reviewed September 2026. costwiseuk.co.ukSource: Costwise (costwiseuk.co.uk)Costwise (2026). Patio cost. Costwise UK cost data, version 2026-10-23. https://costwiseuk.co.uk/patio-cost/2026-10-23 (158 jobs)Dataset DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21159943 · also on Kaggle, Hugging Face and Figshare. Method: how we price. Downloadable CSV.
These are independent guide prices based on typical UK jobs in 2026. Your actual cost depends on your property, spec, access and where you live. Always get at least three written quotes before committing.