Ground-Bearing Slab: C28/35, Mesh-Reinforced – cost per m² – UK 2026 Rate Guide

Budget rate for supply & lay · typical budget rate before your adjustments

Labour, plant, materials, outputs and waste — yours to edit, as an Excel. Three free.

Rates are UK national (non-London): central London and constrained urban sites typically run dearer — adjust the labour, plant and access lines in the build-up accordingly.

Ground-bearing slab (C28/35)

per m² · supply & lay

£40 – £69 / m²

What is it

The supply and laying of a 150 mm ground-bearing floor slab, priced per m² of slab: a 1200-gauge polythene damp-proof membrane, A193 steel-fabric reinforcement mesh and C28/35 ready-mixed structural concrete, placed, tamped, screeded and floated to level over a prepared sub-base — the standard ground floor of a UK building, the concrete element measured per m². The rate builds the slab as one gang operation:

Membrane & mesh — the 1200g DPM laid and lapped over the prepared formation, then A193 fabric mesh set on spacers to the design cover.
Placed & tamped — C28/35 ready-mixed concrete discharged, spread and compacted to a 150 mm slab, tamped down onto the mesh.
Floated to level — screeded to level and floated to receive a screed or floor finish (a power-float wearing finish is an upgrade option).

Rate range

Low£40 – £52 / m²

Standard£46 – £59 / m²

High£54 – £69 / m²

Budget rate per m².

3 key cost drivers

Concrete & reinforcement

The C28/35 ready-mixed concrete and the A193 steel-fabric mesh are the bulk of the rate. Because a ground-bearing slab is self-delivered groundworks, that bought-in material carries the main-contractor O&P only — not the full subcontract mark-up — so a richer mix or a heavier mesh lifts the rate less than it would on a sublet trade.

Slab thickness & mesh grade

This rate prices the standard 150 mm slab on A193 fabric mesh. A thinner 100 mm slab or the lighter A142 crack-control mesh reduces the material; a thicker slab or heavier mesh raises it — the concrete take-off scales with thickness.

Supply & quantity

Merchant prices for the bought-in materials move with supplier, account and load size, and the published band already spans that range. Rates are UK non-London; London & the South East typically run dearer — adjust the build-up.

Estimator

Budget rate generator

£46 – £59 / m²

Covers C28/35 concrete, A193 mesh, DPM, the laying gang & O&P, tamped & floated to level · excl. sub-base, excavation, edge formwork, prelims & VAT

Exclusions

Lifting & material distribution — telehandler / forklift, hoist and site-distribution labour (an attendance, in main-contractor prelims)
The sub-base, hardcore & blinding beneath the slab, excavation & formation preparation
Edge formwork / shuttering, floor insulation, DPC linking, movement / crack-inducing joints, a power-float wearing finish & the floor finish
Scaffold supply (usually in preliminaries)
Preliminaries — main-contractor site set-up, management & welfare
VAT