Suspended Slab Structural Concrete: C32/40 Pour & Finish – cost per m³ – 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.

Suspended slab concrete (C32/40)

per m³ · supply & lay

£235 – £394 / m³

What is it

The supply and placing of C32/40 (designated RC32/40) structural ready-mixed concrete to a SUSPENDED slab — pumped into prepared formwork, vibrated, tamped and floated to level, priced per m³ of concrete placed. This is a structural-FRAME element, not a groundworks pour: it is the concrete a QS prices for suspended floor slabs, transfer slabs and elevated decks, placed around the reinforcement in the formed slab and finished ready to receive a screed or floor finish. Formwork and reinforcement are separately measured items. It is a full pumped-pour rate; part loads, standing time and barrowed delivery are the variants below.

A note on the number, for estimators: this is a MAIN-CONTRACTOR budget rate for a SUBLET frame-package element, and the C32/40 ready-mixed concrete is around 74% of it. The delivered mix is validated at £114–£143/m³ ex-VAT (interpolated between the live C30/37 and C35/45 grades and corroborated by ConcreteMath’s direct national C32/40 range). Unlike the groundworks concrete grades — which the main contractor orders on its own account, so their ready-mix carries the main-contractor O&P only — a suspended structural slab is bought AND placed by a specialist concrete-frame subcontractor, so the whole rate (concrete included) carries the full fee-on-fee ladder: the +5% market, the +20% sub-contractor O&P and the +20% main-contractor O&P for sublet work. The nearest published supply-and-place reference is a domestic figure of £85–£120/m³ (small-job, no fee-on-fee and no floated finish); a sublet main-contractor budget rate for a suspended slab sits well above it — for the sublet fee-on-fee and the slower, finished, elevated placing. That is the expected relationship, not an error: it is where a QS pricing a concrete frame at main-contract level needs the rate to sit. The rate range, low to high:

Low — larger loads and competitive ready-mix supply.
Standard — a typical project and merchant price; the default rate.
High — smaller loads or higher-cost areas.

Rate range

Low£235 – £303 / m³

Standard£268 – £345 / m³

High£306 – £394 / m³

Budget rate per m³.

3 key cost drivers

Concrete mix & bought-in share

C32/40 (RC32/40) ready-mixed concrete is around 74% of the rate, so the mix grade and the delivered merchant price set most of it. A richer grade or a bigger pour lifts the material cost — and, because as a sublet frame-package rate the concrete carries the FULL fee-on-fee ladder (both the sub-contractor and the main-contractor O&P), the rate per m³ with it.

Pour size & delivery

The headline is a full pumped pour placed into the suspended slab — a line pump is the norm for elevated work and is priced as the standard delivery option; a small or part load adds a surcharge and standing time; barrowing or dumpering a low pour adds a third operative. The calculator prices the placing gang & concrete on the standard pumped case, with these as options.

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

£268 – £345 / m³

Covers C32/40 (RC32/40) structural ready-mixed concrete pump-placed into a suspended slab, tamped & floated to level, the placing gang & O&P · excl. formwork, reinforcement, propping, prelims & VAT

Exclusions

Formwork, soffit & edge shuttering, props & temporary works (a separately measured item)
Reinforcement — bar, mesh, chairs & spacers (a separately measured item)
The supporting structure — columns, beams, walls & their design
Power-trowel, granolithic & applied surface finishes beyond a tamped-and-floated-to-level finish
Part-load & standing-time surcharges where the pour is not a full pumped load
VAT