Pavers · contractor tools
Measure paver areas without pulling a tape
Trace the patio on satellite imagery, subtract the fire pit and the planters, and get square footage plus the paver count that follows from it.
- $0.15–$0.35
- Market rate per sq ft, paver cleaning
- 2.7
- 6 by 9 inch pavers to the square foot
- 1–3%
- Satellite area against a tape measurement
What a paver patio is worth
The same 592 sq ft patio, priced four ways. It is the clearest argument there is for putting sealing in front of every cleaning customer.
| Service | Rate per sq ftOn 592 sq ft | On 592 sq ft | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleaning, no sealingSurface cleaning only, joints left alone. The lower half of this band sits under the $150 minimum for a standalone paver clean. | $0.15–$0.35$89–$207 | $89–$207 | Surface cleaning only, joints left alone. The lower half of this band sits under the $150 minimum for a standalone paver clean. |
| Sealing, basic acrylicInstalled rate. Entry-level sealer, more forgiving to apply, and the easiest upsell to explain at the door. | $0.80–$1.10$474–$651 | $474–$651 | Installed rate. Entry-level sealer, more forgiving to apply, and the easiest upsell to explain at the door. |
| Sealing, polymeric or wet lookPremium sealers with a visible finish change. Sell the look, not the chemistry. | $1.10–$1.50$651–$888 | $651–$888 | Premium sealers with a visible finish change. Sell the look, not the chemistry. |
| Clean and seal togetherBundled, so it undercuts buying the two separately. This is where the trade actually makes its money. | $1.00–$1.80$592–$1,066 | $592–$1,066 | Bundled, so it undercuts buying the two separately. This is where the trade actually makes its money. |
Sealing rates are installed rates: material plus labor. Sealer cost moves with supplier pricing more often than labor does, so confirm current material pricing before quoting a large job. Full bands are on the contractor pricing reference.
An L-shaped patio with a fire pit in it
The shape nobody can eyeball. Two rectangles, a walkway and a circular cutout, measured without anyone leaving the shop.
The measurement
- Patio, main18 × 22 ft
- 396 sq ft
- Patio, return10 × 12 ft
- 120 sq ft
- Walkway4 × 26 ft
- 104 sq ft
- Fire pit6 ft across, traced and subtracted
- − 28 sq ft
- Net paver areaWhat both the quote and the order use
- 592 sq ft
The material, and the ticket
- Pavers, bare count592 sq ft at 6 by 9 inch, 0.375 sq ft each
- 1,579
- With 10% wasteRunning bond, simple grid, few border cuts
- 1,737
- Clean only592 sq ft at $0.25, under the $150 floor
- $175
- Clean and seal592 sq ft at $1.30 bundled
- $770
The cleaning job on its own prices at $148 before the minimum charge drags it up to $175. That is a half day of work, a machine, and a drive, for less than the sealer alone is worth. Sold as clean and seal it is $770 from the same measurement, and the only extra input was a number you already had.
Herringbone or a fan pattern instead of running bond pushes the waste factor to 15%, which takes the order to 1,816 pavers. Nothing about the area changes. Only the cutting does.
Note what the fire pit did. Twenty-eight square feet is under 5% of the job, small enough to feel like rounding. It is also $36 of sealing that is not there and about 80 pavers you would otherwise have ordered to cover a hole.
How the measurement is done
The patio is already photographed from above. You are drawing over it, not surveying it.
Search the address
The map flies to the property. Paver work sits in back yards more often than driveways, so zoom in until the joint pattern is visible before you start.
Trace the outline
Tap each corner of the patio, then keep going round the return and the walkway. An L-shape is one shape, not two, and a curved edge is just more points.
Subtract what is not paved
Draw the fire pit, the planter and the tree well as their own shapes. They come off the total automatically, so the net area is what you order and quote against.
A patio like the one above takes under 60 seconds, which is quick enough to do while the customer is telling you what they want done to it.
The order is only as good as the area
170 pavers
The gap between a measured 592 sq ft and an eyeballed 650, once the same 10% waste factor is applied to both. A tenth of the whole order, in whichever direction hurts.
Cleaning and sealing forgive a bad number. You lose margin, you do not lose the job. An installation does not forgive it, because the measurement leaves the office as a material order and comes back as physical stone on a physical truck.
Over-order and the surplus sits behind the shop until it no longer matches anything you would use it on. Under-order and the top-up comes from a different production run, and paver color lots do not match. A visible seam across a patio you just built is not a rounding error. It is a callback, and sometimes a rebuild.
This is exactly where eyeballing fails hardest. A plain rectangle is easy to guess within 5%. An L-shape with a fire pit, a curved edge and a walkway running off one corner is not, and those are the jobs worth having. Trace the outline and the awkward shape stops costing anything.
Calculators
Free, no account needed. Area, paver count and the rates behind the quote.
Pavers Square Footage Calculator
Add every section, subtract the cutouts, then convert the area into a paver count at your chosen size with a waste factor applied. Six common paver sizes built in.
- Paver Installation Cost CalculatorPavers with waste, tons of base, sand, edging and a price at your installed rate.
- Paver Cost Per Square Foot2026 installed rates by paver and use, and the material floor under them.
- Concrete Patio Square Footage CalculatorL-shapes, multi-section layouts and irregular patios.
- Driveway Square Footage CalculatorFor paver driveways and the aprons that come with them.
- Sidewalk Square Footage CalculatorLong, narrow runs where a tape is the slowest option.
- Pool Deck Square Footage CalculatorPaver pool surrounds, with the water subtracted.
- Contractor Pricing ReferenceCleaning, sealing and bundle rate bands in one table.
- Remote Measurement Tool for ContractorsWhat measuring from satellite actually replaces.
The reading behind the numbers
Longer form, with worked examples and reference tables.
Measuring
Quoting
Questions contractors ask
You trace it on the property's satellite image. Tap the corners of the patio, keep going round any return or walkway, and close the shape. Curved edges take a few more points and follow the real outline rather than a bounding box. The square footage appears as you draw, and that same number drives your cleaning rate, your sealing rate and your paver count.
Yes, and this is most of what installation estimating is. You are not tracing paving, you are tracing the space it will go in: the lawn between the house and the fence, the run from the back door to the shed, the footprint the customer walked you round. Draw the area they described, and the square footage, the paver count and the base material all come off it. The imagery gives you the property boundary and the obstacles, which is what a first number needs.
Yes, and it is the reason to use it on paver work specifically. You draw the patio, then draw the fire pit as a second shape, and its area comes off the total. A 6 foot fire pit is 28 sq ft, which is small enough to feel like rounding and large enough to throw off a paver count and a sealer order. The same applies to planters, tree wells and pool surrounds.
Typically within 1–3% of a tape measurement where the edge of the paving is clearly visible. The imagery is orthorectified, so scale is real rather than perspective-distorted. Accuracy drops under heavy tree cover or where a lawn has grown across the border course. If the outline is not clearly readable, that is a job worth walking, and the tool will not pretend otherwise.
Yes. The measurement is identical for both; only what you multiply it by changes. Cleaning and sealing use a rate per square foot. Installation uses the area to drive a paver count, a base material volume and a labor figure. Because the area is traced once and saved with the job, an install quote and a later maintenance quote for the same property use the same number.
New accounts start with a 7-day free trial of Pro: a card is required, nothing is charged today, and nothing at all if you cancel before the trial ends. After that it is $29.99 a month, or $299 a year (the yearly plan has no trial). Pro includes unlimited measurements, saved job history and branded PDF quotes. One paver order that did not have to be topped up from a second color lot covers a year of it.
Trace the patio before you price the pallet
Pull up the address, draw the outline, subtract the fire pit, and order against a number instead of a guess. Card required, cancel anytime.
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