Start a Concrete
Business: Costs
by Service Line

It depends on the services you open with. A core flatwork kit (36-inch power trowel, power screed, plate compactor, walk-behind saw and portable mixer) costs about $10,900 new at September 2026 retail prices, before forms, hand tools and a truck. Adding foam lifting means a rig that LevelRight Marketing puts at $50,000–$80,000 new. A floor-coating grinding kit is about $12,300. Budget insurance, licensing and a few months of marketing on top.

For flatwork: forms and hand tools, a power screed ($1,693–$2,999), a walk-behind power trowel ($2,498–$4,664), a plate compactor ($2,693–$2,825), a walk-behind saw with water feed for control joints ($2,469 and up) and a truck. Ready-mix suppliers deliver the concrete, so you don't need a mixer truck. Many new crews rent the compactor and mixer until the work is steady.

In most places, yes, but the rules are set by your state and often your city. California's C-8 Concrete classification covers forming, pouring, placing and finishing flatwork, and unlicensed jobs there are capped at $1,000 with no permit or employees. Arizona requires a license when labor and materials exceed $1,000 or a permit is needed. Check your state contractor board before you bid.

Start with general liability, add commercial auto for your truck and tools coverage for your equipment, and add workers' comp once you hire. We couldn't read a concrete-specific survey, but Insureon's August 2026 medians for flooring installers are a reasonable first budget: about $77 a month for general liability, $144 for workers' comp, $208 for commercial auto and $41 for tools and equipment. Get quotes for your state.

HomeGuide lists $6–$10 per sq ft for a standard concrete driveway and $5–$10 for a plain slab. Stamped concrete runs $8–$13 basic, $13–$19 mid-range and $19–$26+ high-end. Foam slab lifting typically runs $7–$17 per sq ft in our cost guide, with HomeGuide listing $8–$25. Sealing runs $1.35–$2.50 per sq ft installed, per Angi.

Flatwork is material-heavy: by our arithmetic from HomeGuide's breakdown, materials are roughly half the price of a driveway, so margin depends on labor efficiency and pricing. Use the bid formula: direct costs divided by one minus your overhead and profit percentage. Add-on services such as sealing, coatings and foam lifting sell for several times their material cost, though lifting carries rig payments and marketing costs.

It can be, especially added to an existing concrete company. Jobs are short, material is a small share of the price, and sunken slabs are common. The trade-offs are a $50,000–$80,000 rig and the marketing needed to keep it busy. Vendor projections vary widely: one equipment seller models a 70% net margin, while a marketing agency illustrates about $500 net on a $2,000 job.

A polyjacking rig usually includes an enclosed trailer or box truck, a 10 kW or larger generator, an air compressor, a proportioner pump, 100–200 ft of heated hose, an injection gun, transfer pumps and drill bits. LevelRight Marketing prices new complete rigs at $50,000–$80,000. Drilling lift holes falls under OSHA's silica rule, which calls for a shrouded drill with dust collection.

Mudjacking is cheaper for customers, about $3–$9 per sq ft, and uses cement slurry at 100–125 lb per cubic foot through 1½–2 inch holes. Polyjacking sells for more, about $7–$17 per sq ft, uses foam at 2.5–3.75 lb per cubic foot through holes about ⅝ inch wide, and slabs can take traffic within 30 minutes. Foam adds far less weight to the soil and gets the slab back in use faster.

Flatwork is weather-bound in cold climates, and ACI publishes a separate guide to cold-weather concreting. Adding lines helps: ArmorThane rates its Lift 300 foam for injection into cold, damp or wet ground, coating work is mostly indoors, and sealing customers come back every one to five years. LevelRight Marketing reports northern lifting crews work a six-to-eight-month heavy season.

It's a common next step because you already have the customers. Garage floor coatings sell for $4–$12 per sq ft with about $2 per sq ft in material for a polyurea, flake and polyaspartic system, and sealing and stamped resealing bring repeat work. ArmorThane trains and supplies independent applicators with no franchise fee, dealership fee or royalty.