Guides · What it costs
What a terrace costs
The number that surprises people is not the stone. It is that laying it properly costs more than buying it.
A terrace is a small piece of civil engineering: 100 to 150 mm of compacted hardcore, a mortar bed, a fall of one to two per cent away from the house, and somewhere for that water to go. Skip any of it and the terrace moves, the joints open and the water runs at the wall. That is why the same 30 m² can be quoted at 2 000 € or 9 000 € — the difference is under the stone, where nobody looks.
These are the unit prices our own Budget uses: sawn stone paving on a mortar bed at 118 € per m² of materials, a linear drain at 38 € per metre, and skilled labour at 340 € a day for two people. Nothing here is rounded in our favour: a lower figure than these means a thinner sub-base.
| Terrace | Paving materials | Drainage | Labour | Built for you | You build it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 m² | 1 770 € | 152 € | 4 days · 1 360 € | 3 282 € | 2 126 € |
| 25 m² | 2 950 € | 152 € | 6 days · 2 040 € | 5 142 € | 3 408 € |
| 40 m² | 4 720 € | 152 € | 8 days · 2 720 € | 7 592 € | 5 280 € |
| 60 m² | 7 080 € | 152 € | 11 days · 3 740 € | 10 972 € | 7 793 € |
Materials at 2026 French retail. Self-build column keeps 15 % of the labour for the plant hire, the deliveries and the bit you will hand over. Excavation and spoil removal on a difficult access site are extra, and honest quotes say so.
Where a terrace budget goes wrong
- 01No drainage line: the cheapest omission and the one that damages the house.
- 02Dark porcelain on a south wall: 45 °C at six in the evening, on the one surface you bought to sit on.
- 03Buying stone before setting out the size on the ground with pegs and string. Most terraces are drawn too big and used at one end.
- 04Forgetting spoil removal. A 40 m² excavation is roughly six tonnes to take away.
Gravel is the cheap alternative and it is not a compromise: 24 € per m² in materials, laid on a membrane, drains itself, and takes a table and chairs perfectly well.