How many pavers do I need per square foot?

About 4.3 of the 4 by 8 inch brick, 2.6 of a 6 by 9 inch paver, and 0.98 of a 12 by 12 inch one, once a 1/8 inch joint is allowed for. Multiply by your area, add the wastage allowance, and round up. Manufacturers often print a rounder number such as 4.5 per square foot for the same brick, which is close enough for a quote but will leave you short on a large patio.

How deep should the paver base be?

Four inches of compacted crushed stone is the usual figure for a patio or footpath on firm ground, six for a driveway that takes a car, and more where the soil is clay or drains badly. Compacted depth is what counts, and loose stone compacts by about a quarter, so order five inches to finish at four. The bedding sand on top is one inch, which is not a variable.

How much sand goes under pavers?

One inch across the whole area, which is 0.31 cubic yards for a 100 square foot patio and 1.23 for a 400 square foot one. The sand is counted on the net area rather than the area with wastage, because a little extra sand is harmless and a truckload of it is not. Use coarse washed concrete sand rather than builder's sand, and screed it — the bedding layer is what keeps the surface flat.

Why is the paver count different from what the supplier's chart says?

Mostly the joint. This page works the coverage out from the nominal size plus a 1/8 inch joint, which is what a sand-set paver measures, while suppliers' charts often use a rounder figure per square foot and ignore cuts entirely. The other difference is the wastage allowance, which is a field here — 5% on a plain patio, 10% or more where there are curves, steps or a lot of cutting.

Does the sand or the gravel count the waste allowance too?

No — the pavers do, the sand and the gravel do not. Sand and stone are ordered by volume to a measured depth, so they are worked out on the net area: a few percent more of either changes nothing except how much is left over, while a few percent short of pavers stops the job. It also means the base figure is the one to check against the depth you actually intend to dig.

What does the weight figure include?

The base gravel only — for a 400 square foot patio on four inches of base, about 6.7 short tons of crushed stone. The bedding sand is not in that figure: a third of a cubic yard against nearly five of stone, and it is usually ordered from a different pile anyway. The pavers, the edging, and the fact that the material arrives loose and compacts on site are all on top of both, which is why the number is best read as a delivery estimate rather than a total for the job.

Paver Calculator

Result

452

Pavers needed

Bedding sand in cubic yards: 0.31 yd³
Bedding sand in cubic metres: 0.24 m³
Base gravel in cubic yards: 1.23 yd³
Base gravel in cubic metres: 0.94 m³
Weight in short tons (2,000 lb): 1.66 US ton
Weight in metric tonnes (1,000 kg): 1.51 t

Paver calculator: work out how many pavers a patio needs, and the two materials under them that people forget to order until the day they start digging. The paver count follows the area, the size of the paver and the joint between them — a 4 by 8 inch brick covers 0.233 square feet once a 1/8 inch joint is allowed for, which is about 4.3 pavers to the square foot, and a 12 by 12 inch paver covers 1.02 square feet, or a little under one per square foot. The bedding sand and the base gravel are the part that goes wrong: both are bought by volume, both depend on a depth you choose, and the base is typically four inches of compacted crushed stone with an inch of sand on top, which for a 100 square foot patio is 1.2 cubic yards of stone and a third of a yard of sand. Get the base depth wrong by an inch and you are 25% out on the largest single item in the job. The sand and the stone are counted on the net patio area, while the pavers are counted with the wastage allowance added, and that is deliberate — sand and stone are ordered by the truckload to a measured depth, and a few percent more of either is a nuisance rather than a saving. Below the calculator the reference chart lists what each paver size covers, in both metric and imperial, which is the fastest way to sanity-check a count before the order goes in.

What one paver covers

Paver	Coverage per paver (ft²)	Pavers per ft²	Pavers per m²
4 × 8 in brick paver	0.233	4.3	46.25
6 × 9 in paver	0.388	2.58	27.73
12 × 12 in paver	1.021	0.98	10.54
200 × 100 mm sidewalk brick	0.225	4.44	47.83
300 × 300 mm square paver	0.988	1.01	10.89

The coverage figures include a 1/8 inch joint for the imperial sizes and a 3 mm joint for the metric ones, because joints are how pavers actually occupy ground — a 12 by 12 inch paver takes up 1.02 square feet, not 1.00. Read the second column if you want to divide your own area, or the third and fourth if you want to multiply: 4.3 pavers per square foot for a 4 by 8 brick, or 10.5 per square metre for a 12 inch slab, are the fastest estimates on the chart. Suppliers' charts often round these off, so expect a small difference either way, and check the actual dimensions of the paver you have chosen if the count is close to a whole number of pallets.

Formula

Pavers = ceil( area × (1 + wastage ÷ 100) ÷ coverage per paver ); sand and gravel = area × depth

A: Area to be paved, in square feet
c: Coverage of one paver: (length + joint) × (width + joint), including the joint
w: Wastage allowance as a percentage of the paved area
d: Depth of the bedding sand or the base layer, in inches

Use it once you have chosen the paver and settled the sub-base, because the two depths are construction decisions rather than arithmetic ones. The bedding sand is almost always one inch and is not negotiable — a thicker bed compacts unevenly and the surface settles. The base depth is where the engineering lives: four inches of compacted crushed stone is the usual figure for a footpath or a patio on firm ground, six inches for a driveway that takes a car, and more where the ground is clay or the drainage is poor, with a geotextile membrane under it in soft ground. Compacted depth is what counts, and loose stone compacts by roughly a quarter, so order a little more than the finished depth suggests. For an area that is still being worked out, the square footage calculator in this section measures the patio first; for the concrete edging or the slab under a pergola, the concrete calculator is the one to use.

Worked examples

A 100 ft² patio in 4 by 8 inch pavers on 4 inches of base
1. Coverage of a 4 by 8 inch paver with a 1/8 inch joint: 4.125 × 8.125 inches = 33.52 in² = 0.2327 ft²
2. With 5% wastage: 100 × 1.05 = 105 square feet
3. Pavers: 105 ÷ 0.2327 = 451.1 → 452
4. Bedding sand on the net area: 100 ft² × 1 inch = 8.33 ft³ = 0.31 cubic yards (0.24 m³)
5. Base gravel: 100 ft² × 4 inches = 33.33 ft³ = 1.23 cubic yards (0.94 m³)
6. Weight: the base stone alone, 1.23 cubic yards of crushed stone, about 1.66 short tons
This is the page's default. The paver count is 452 against the 430 that the bare area suggests, and the difference is the 5% allowance — the cuts around the edge of a patio are real, and the last piece of every row is a cut. Sand at a third of a cubic yard is a small trailer load; the stone is the item that decides whether you are making one trip or three.
A 250 ft² patio in 6 by 9 inch pavers on 6 inches of base
1. Coverage of a 6 by 9 inch paver with a 1/8 inch joint: 6.125 × 9.125 inches = 55.89 in² = 0.3881 ft²
2. With 5% wastage: 262.5 square feet
3. Pavers: 262.5 ÷ 0.3881 = 676.3 → 677
4. Bedding sand: 250 × 1 inch = 20.83 ft³ = 0.77 cubic yards (0.59 m³)
5. Base gravel: 250 × 6 inches = 125 ft³ = 4.63 cubic yards (3.54 m³)
6. Weight: the 4.63 cubic yards of base stone, just over 6 short tons
Six inches of base makes the stone the job: 4.6 cubic yards is a bulk bag delivery twice over, and by weight it is four times the sand. This is the depth a driveway needs rather than a patio — if this surface is only ever walked on, four inches would cut the largest line item by a third.
A 400 ft² driveway apron in 12 by 12 inch pavers, 10% waste
1. Coverage of a 12 by 12 inch paver with a 1/8 inch joint: 12.125² inches = 147.02 in² = 1.0210 ft²
2. With 10% wastage: 440 square feet
3. Pavers: 440 ÷ 1.0210 = 430.9 → 431
4. Bedding sand: 400 × 1 inch = 33.33 ft³ = 1.23 cubic yards (0.94 m³)
5. Base gravel: 400 × 4 inches = 133.33 ft³ = 4.94 cubic yards (3.78 m³)
6. Weight: the 4.94 cubic yards of base stone, about 6.66 short tons
Big pavers, few of them: 431 pieces to cover 400 square feet, against the 1,800 it would take in 4 by 8 inch brick. The trade is weight — 12 by 12 inch pavers run around 15 pounds each, which is 3 tons of pavers on top of the 6.7 tons of aggregate underneath.

Limitations

The counts are estimates for ordering, and every number on the page rests on a depth or a coverage that is typical rather than specified. The coverage per paver is worked out from the nominal size plus a 1/8 inch joint, which is what a sand-set paver joint measures; a mortar-set job with wider joints covers less, a paver whose actual dimensions differ from its nominal name covers differently again, and manufacturers' own charts often list a rounder figure such as 4.5 pavers per square foot for a 4 by 8 — differences of a few percent that only matter at the scale of a whole driveway. The sand and the gravel are counted on the net area at the depth you typed, and the depth is the softest input on the page: it is a construction decision that depends on the soil, the drainage and what will be driven on the surface, and the figure here is a starting point rather than a specification. Both are ordered as loose material that compacts by roughly a quarter, so a finished four inch base needs five inches of loose stone delivered. The base is treated as a single layer of one material, where a real sub-base may be two layers of different grades with a geotextile between them. The intended surface is treated as a plain rectangle — steps, curves, borders, a soldier course around the edge and cuts around a drain or a manhole all add pavers and cuts that are not counted. And the weight figures are for the aggregate alone: pavers, edging, bedding sand and the compaction equipment are all on top of them, which matters if the delivery is going onto a driveway that has a weight limit.

Frequently asked questions

How many pavers do I need per square foot?: About 4.3 of the 4 by 8 inch brick, 2.6 of a 6 by 9 inch paver, and 0.98 of a 12 by 12 inch one, once a 1/8 inch joint is allowed for. Multiply by your area, add the wastage allowance, and round up. Manufacturers often print a rounder number such as 4.5 per square foot for the same brick, which is close enough for a quote but will leave you short on a large patio.
How deep should the paver base be?: Four inches of compacted crushed stone is the usual figure for a patio or footpath on firm ground, six for a driveway that takes a car, and more where the soil is clay or drains badly. Compacted depth is what counts, and loose stone compacts by about a quarter, so order five inches to finish at four. The bedding sand on top is one inch, which is not a variable.
How much sand goes under pavers?: One inch across the whole area, which is 0.31 cubic yards for a 100 square foot patio and 1.23 for a 400 square foot one. The sand is counted on the net area rather than the area with wastage, because a little extra sand is harmless and a truckload of it is not. Use coarse washed concrete sand rather than builder's sand, and screed it — the bedding layer is what keeps the surface flat.
Why is the paver count different from what the supplier's chart says?: Mostly the joint. This page works the coverage out from the nominal size plus a 1/8 inch joint, which is what a sand-set paver measures, while suppliers' charts often use a rounder figure per square foot and ignore cuts entirely. The other difference is the wastage allowance, which is a field here — 5% on a plain patio, 10% or more where there are curves, steps or a lot of cutting.
Does the sand or the gravel count the waste allowance too?: No — the pavers do, the sand and the gravel do not. Sand and stone are ordered by volume to a measured depth, so they are worked out on the net area: a few percent more of either changes nothing except how much is left over, while a few percent short of pavers stops the job. It also means the base figure is the one to check against the depth you actually intend to dig.
What does the weight figure include?: The base gravel only — for a 400 square foot patio on four inches of base, about 6.7 short tons of crushed stone. The bedding sand is not in that figure: a third of a cubic yard against nearly five of stone, and it is usually ordered from a different pile anyway. The pavers, the edging, and the fact that the material arrives loose and compacts on site are all on top of both, which is why the number is best read as a delivery estimate rather than a total for the job.

References

Approximate Conversions from U.S. Customary Measures to Metric — the chart behind the inches, square feet and cubic yards on this page — National Institute of Standards and Technology
The International System of Units (SI) brochure — the metre, square metre and cubic metre the metric figures are reported in — Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM)

Related calculators

Concrete CalculatorConcrete volume in cubic yards or metres, plus bags.Gravel Driveway CalculatorGravel tonnage and cost for a driveway, by depth.Square Footage CalculatorSquare footage of a room or an irregular floor plan.Flooring CalculatorFlooring needed for a room, with waste allowance.