Reinforcement Bar: Supply & Fix, Loose High-Yield Bar – cost per tonne – UK 2026 Rate Guide

Budget rate for supply & fix · 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.

Rebar supply & fix (loose bar)

per tonne · supply & fix

£1888 – £3441 / tonne

What is it

The supply and fixing of loose high-yield steel reinforcement bar (BS 4449 grade B500B), cut, bent and delivered to a bending schedule, then placed, tied, lapped and supported on spacers and chairs to reinforce foundations and slabs, priced per tonne of bar supplied and fixed — the way a bill of quantities measures reinforcement. This headline prices a general foundations / ground-slab schedule (predominantly 12–25 mm bar). The rate carries two operations:

Cut, bent & delivered — the bar fabricated to a BS 8666 schedule and delivered loose to site.
Fixed — placed to the drawing, tied with wire, lapped and set on spacers and chairs to the design cover.

Rate range

Low£1888 – £2434 / tonne

Standard£2197 – £2831 / tonne

High£2669 – £3441 / tonne

Budget rate per m³.

3 key cost drivers

Bar size, element & schedule

Fixing output drives the rate. This headline is a general foundations / slab schedule of 12–25 mm bar (about 8–18 fixer-hours per tonne). Light 6–12 mm bar and mesh-like crack-control fix far slower per tonne (30–40 hr/t), and congested beams, columns and staircases slower still (20–55 hr/t) — a heavier, congested schedule lifts the rate per tonne.

Congestion & access

Open foundation and slab mats fix fastest. Congested cages, links and starter bars, heavy laps, restricted access and working at height slow the gang and lift the rate; the bar is priced cut and bent to a schedule, so on-site cutting is minimal.

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

£2197 – £2831 / tonne

Covers the loose high-yield bar cut, bent & fixed, the steel-fixing gang and O&P · excl. formwork, the concrete, fabric mesh, craneage / offloading, prelims & VAT

Exclusions

Formwork / shuttering to the concrete element — a separately measured item
The concrete itself — ready-mix supply & place (the concrete-grade / suspended-slab rates)
Fabric reinforcement mesh (a separate per-m² item, in the ground-bearing slab) and proprietary couplers, cast-in sockets & ancillaries
Craneage / tower-crane offloading & distribution of bar around site (an attendance, in main-contractor prelims)
Preliminaries, testing & inspection, and VAT
VAT