Project types
Concrete patios
The patio looks tired, has cracked, or no longer drains the way it should.
Patios carry almost no load compared with a driveway, which means the structural bar is lower and the appearance bar is higher. Homeowners look at their patios, sit on them, and entertain on them, so a surface that is functionally fine but looks bad is a legitimate reason to do something.
That makes patios the flatwork where resurfacing and decorative treatments most often make sense — provided the slab underneath is sound and has not moved.
The two patio problems
Movement: the patio has settled, often at the outer edge or the corner furthest from the house, and now water pools on it or runs back toward the building. That is a settlement question and resurfacing will not touch it.
Appearance: the surface has scaled, discoloured, stained or simply dated. The slab is fine. That is exactly what overlays and decorative systems are for.
Water on a patio
A patio that holds water after rain is either sloped wrong or has settled into a low spot. It matters more than it looks like it should: standing water accelerates surface deterioration, and a patio that has tilted back toward the house is sending water at the building.
Where the patio meets the house is worth particular attention. A patio that has settled away from the house leaves a gap; a patio that has tilted toward it creates a channel.
When replacement makes more sense
Where the slab has settled substantially, where cracking is wide and moving, or where the layout itself needs to change, replacement moves ahead — and a patio is a comparatively good candidate for it, because a patio is one of the cheaper large slabs to replace and one of the easiest places to change the design at the same time.
Losing the space while the work happens
A patio is somewhere you use rather than somewhere you park, and the disruption is different in kind. Replacement takes the space out of service for demolition, base work, the pour and then a cure period before furniture returns — and the cure period is the part homeowners routinely forget when planning around an occasion.
Resurfacing is shorter but not instant, and most systems need the surface kept clear and dry while they cure. Ask for the actual figure for the product being used rather than a general one.
Access is the other consideration. If equipment and material have to come through a side gate or across a lawn, ask what protection is put down and what the route looks like afterwards. Reinstating a lawn that has had a barrow run over it forty times is a real cost, and it is better agreed beforehand than discussed after.
What moves the price
We do not publish national dollar figures. A single average applied across every site, method and market gives you a confident-looking benchmark that is wrong for your job in an unknown direction. What does transfer between jobs is the structure of the price:
- Square footage.
- Resurfacing versus replacement — a substantial difference.
- Decorative treatment: stamping, colour, patterns.
- Access, which is often worse than a driveway's — back gardens are hard to get equipment into.
- Whether any grading or drainage work is included.
Local quotes decide actual pricing. If you want to compare two of them properly, the quote comparison guide covers how.
What to ask a contractor
- Is the slab sound enough to resurface, and how did you check?
- Which way does water run off this patio now, and which way will it run afterwards?
- What happens at the existing cracks under an overlay?
- How will a decorative system hold up to freeze–thaw here?
Common questions
Can I resurface a cracked patio?
It depends on whether the cracks are moving. Tight, stable cracks in a sound slab are usually workable with proper preparation and crack treatment. Cracks that are still opening will come through the overlay along the same lines, usually within a year or two.
My patio has pulled away from the house. Is that serious?
It usually means the patio has settled, not that the house has moved — exterior slabs sit on shallower, less-prepared ground than foundations do. It is worth sealing the gap so water does not run straight down it, and worth understanding why the settlement happened. If you are also seeing changes inside the house, that is a separate question for a different professional.
Work it out, or judge the quote
Related guides
Patio cost factors
Where access, finish and the resurface-or-replace choice move a patio price most.
Read more →Resurfacing and overlays
A new wearing surface over sound concrete — and the movement problems it cannot fix.
Read more →Replacement and new flatwork
Removing failed concrete and pouring new — plus what separates a good pour from one that fails early.
Read more →Poor drainage around concrete
Where water goes decides how long concrete lasts — and it is the most commonly skipped part of a quote.
Read more →Cracked concrete
Most concrete cracks. Reading what a crack is doing matters far more than finding one.
Read more →