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The number a homeowner wants is a published “$4.50 per square foot” or “$75 per hole” special. That number is not a takeoff. An 80-square-foot sidewalk with a one-inch void and the truck parked at the curb is not the same job as a 400-square-foot driveway with a four-inch void, polyurethane, a backyard hose run, six extra holes, and joint seal. The trip is the same. The cubic feet are not.
Open the free bid calculatorConcrete-pour calculators price cubic yards of new mix. A lift is a different job: the method, the void volume, the access path, the extra holes, and the extras that are not in the coupon. Quoting all of that from a published per-square-foot special is how the first extra hole eats the field margin.
Each inch of void is fill that never appears on the coupon. Extra holes, joint seal, and a backyard hose run are billed as their own hours. Polyurethane is an adder that gets forgotten on a mudjacking special. On the sample rates a 400-square-foot driveway with a four-inch void, poly, a backyard hose, six extra holes, and joint seal prices about $13,562.80 (19.2 crew-hours, $33.91 / sf). The same shop’s 80-square-foot sidewalk hang prices about $897.77 (4.0 hours, walk-away $628.44, $11.22 / sf).
Matching the $4.50 / sf special already loses about $268 on the sidewalk hang ($360 against a $628 walk-away), and it loses about $7,694 on the poly backyard whose walk-away is already $9,493.96.
A 280-square-foot driveway with a two-inch void, mudjacking, street-side access, and joint seal is not the sidewalk special plus 15%. On the sample rates that driveway prices about $2,455.74 (12.3 crew-hours). An occupied 200-square-foot warehouse floor with a two-inch void, poly, four extra holes, and containment prices about $5,278.29 (12.9 hours). Treating either as a blended add-on is how the special that looked fine turns into a loss after the first extra hole.
A $42/h operator loaded at 32% payroll burden is $55.44. Margin is a share of the price you send, not a markup on cost. The walk-away price is total cost — below that the job makes nothing before you take a dollar home. Replace every rate with your invoices before you send either number. Zero void depth still prices: pump hours are the void, not an error.
This is not a structural design, a building-code determination, a permit, an engineering stamp, or a recommended market price. It is arithmetic on the numbers you type. The slab area, the void depth, the method, access, extra holes, and joint seal are yours to confirm. It does not price a new concrete pour, a basement waterproofing job, or an epoxy garage floor.
Charge from the trip, the lift setup, the void cubic feet (area times depth over 12), the method (mud or poly), the access path, extra holes, joint seal, loaded labor, overhead, and a margin that is a share of price. A default 80-square-foot sidewalk with a one-inch void, mudjacking, and street-side access, at the sample rates in this calculator, prices around $898 (4.0 crew-hours, $11.22 per square foot).
Homeowners count square feet of slab. Void volume, polyurethane versus slurry, backyard hose runs, extra holes, and occupied-building containment do not scale with that number. Matching a cheaper special written for a sidewalk is how a four-inch poly backyard job becomes a two-day loss. On the sample rates the $4.50 special ($360 on 80 sf) already loses about $268 against the $628 walk-away on the sidewalk hang, and it loses about $7,694 on the 400 sf poly backyard whose walk-away is already $9,494.
A 400-square-foot driveway with a four-inch void, polyurethane, a backyard hose run, six extra holes, and joint seal is not an 80-square-foot sidewalk. On the sample rates that job prices around $13,563 (19.2 crew-hours, $33.91 per square foot), while a sidewalk special hang prices around $898 (4.0 hours). The same shop's 280-square-foot two-inch mud driveway with joint seal prices around $2,456 (12.3 hours).