The count is easy. The pattern is what costs you.
Pavers per square foot is division, and any paver calculator can do it.
What decides whether you make one trip or two is the lay pattern, because
that is what governs how much of each cut paver you throw away.
pavers = patio area ÷ paver area × (1 + waste)
200 ft² in 12 × 12 in pavers:
running bond, 5% waste 210 pavers
herringbone, 10% waste 220 pavers
A 45° lay cuts at every edge, and the
offcuts are mostly unusable.
A 200 ft² patio, by paver size
From this calculator. Smaller pavers mean more pieces but rarely more waste — the cut length round the perimeter is what changes, not the count.
Three orders, not one
A paver patio is a build-up, and each layer is bought separately:
- Compacted crushed stone base — carries the load. Usually 4 in for a patio, more under a drive. Sized by the gravel calculator.
- About 1 in of coarse bedding sand — levels only. The sand calculator works it out; for this 200 ft² example it is 0.62 yd³.
- The pavers — this page.
The commonest failure on a paver patio is not the pavers. It is a base
that was too thin or was never properly compacted, and no amount of sand
on top will save it.
Buy spares from the same pallet
Pavers are colour-matched within a production batch. A replacement bought
a year later for a cracked one will be visibly different. Ten spares off
the pallet you already have is the cheapest insurance available on the
job, and unopened stock normally goes back.
The rest of the job
The sand calculator and the
gravel calculator
cover the two layers underneath. For an edge restraint or a step, the
curb calculator handles poured
concrete and the
square footage calculator
measures a patio that is not a plain rectangle.
Common questions
How many pavers do I need?
Divide the patio area by the area of one paver, then add for cuts. A 200 square foot patio in 12 by 12 inch pavers needs 200 pavers plus waste — 210 at 5% for a straight running bond, or 220 at 10% for a diagonal or herringbone layout. The pattern matters more than the size does: a 45 degree lay cuts a paver at every single edge.
How much waste should I allow for pavers?
About 5% for a straight running bond or stack bond, where you only cut along two edges. Around 10% for a diagonal, herringbone or basketweave, where every perimeter paver is cut and the offcuts are mostly unusable. Add more for a curved or circular patio — a radius eats pavers, and there is no tidy figure for it because it depends entirely on the radius.
What goes under the pavers?
Two layers, and both are separate orders. A compacted crushed stone base carries the load — usually 4 inches for a patio and more for a driveway — and about 1 inch of coarse bedding sand levels the pavers on top of it. For this 200 square foot example the bedding sand alone is 0.62 cubic yards. The ticket links straight to both calculators.
Should I buy extra pavers?
Yes, beyond the waste allowance — a handful over. Pavers are made in batches and colour-matched within a batch, so a replacement bought next year for a cracked or stained one will not match. Keeping ten spares from the same pallet is the cheapest insurance on the whole job, and an unopened pallet usually goes back.
Does the joint width change the count?
Barely, for the sand-jointed pavers most patios use, because the joint is a couple of millimetres and pavers are sized to nest. It matters for wide-jointed or spaced layouts, where a 1/2 inch gap across a 200 square foot patio genuinely removes pavers from the order — in that case measure the module size including the joint and enter that as the paver size.
Is this the same as a patio slab calculator?
It is the same arithmetic — area divided by unit area, plus waste — so large slabs work here too; enter 24 by 24 inches and the count comes out right. What differs is the base: heavy slabs are often laid on a mortar bed or a thicker compacted base rather than sand, so take the base figure from your slab supplier rather than assuming the paver build-up.
Sources
- Default waste allowance
- 5%
- SOURCE REQUIRED — paver cutting and breakage allowance. These are trade estimating conventions rather than published constants, and no manufacturer or standards body publishes them. Every one is exposed as a waste percentage the user can overwrite
Awaiting verification against the published data sheet
The 5% allowance is the 1.05 multiplier given in the paver formula. Stored here so no waste factor is written into calculation code.
Unit conversions are exact by definition and need no source.
How we choose and cite these figures
