Starting and Growing a Concrete Contracting Business in the UK

1. Concrete Contracting Market Segments

Understanding which segments of the concrete market you want to operate in — and which you'll stay out of — is the first strategic decision for any concrete contractor. Each segment has very different customers, lead sources, equipment requirements and margins.

Domestic driveways and paths is the most accessible entry point for a new concrete contractor. Homeowners replacing a cracked tarmac or concrete driveway are a consistent source of enquiries year-round, with Google Ads and Checkatrade generating leads cost-effectively. Jobs are typically £2,000–£8,000, completed in 1–3 days and paid quickly. The margin is strong for efficient operations.

Groundworks and foundations for new-build housing is higher volume but operates in a subcontract chain — you're typically working under a main contractor or developer rather than selling directly to a homeowner. Payment terms are longer (30–60 days rather than on completion) but the jobs are larger and more predictable. Strip foundations, trench fill, pad foundations and slab pours are the core work.

Commercial and industrial floor screeds and slabs — warehouse floors, factory bases, retail units — requires specialist knowledge of floor flatness tolerances (TR34 specification for industrial floors), power floating and curing compounds. The jobs are larger, the clients are more demanding and the margins for those who can deliver are the best in the concrete trade.

Many concrete contractors start in domestic driveways, use those profits to invest in equipment, and gradually expand into groundworks subcontracting and eventually commercial floors as their reputation and capability grows.

2. Pricing Concrete Work per m²

Concrete pricing varies significantly by finish type, thickness, reinforcement specification and location. These are indicative 2026 rates for supply and lay including formwork, reinforcement and surface finish, but excluding skip hire and any excavation.

• Plain brushed concrete driveway (100mm RC35): £70–£95 per m² supply and lay. Strong margins for teams that can work quickly.
• Exposed aggregate driveway: £90–£125 per m². The seeding and exposing process adds time but commands a premium over plain concrete.
• Pattern imprinted concrete: £100–£145 per m². The most visual product — strong social media content and the highest domestic price point for concrete.
• Concrete floor screed (75mm sand:cement): £18–£35 per m² for domestic; commercial liquid screed contracts are typically higher-volume at £12–£22 per m².
• Strip foundation concrete (trench fill): Priced by linear metre (£85–£180/m) or by volume (£120–£180 per m³ placed and tamped).

Always quote excavation, disposal and groundwork preparation separately — these can exceed the concrete cost on difficult sites and are the most common source of under-quoting for new contractors.

3. Equipment: Buy vs Hire and Capital Planning

Concrete work is equipment-intensive, and the decision to hire versus buy each piece of kit has a direct impact on your day-rate costs and what jobs you can take on.

Concrete mixer: A 350-litre diesel site mixer costs £1,500–£3,000 to buy. Hire at £80–£120 per week. For a business doing fewer than 20 jobs per year, hiring makes sense. For contractors doing 1–2 jobs per week, buying pays back in 6–8 months. Many domestic driveway contractors move straight to ready-mix delivery (volumetric lorry or transit mix) and skip the mixer entirely for larger pours.

Vibrating poker (internal vibrator): Essential for eliminating voids in structural concrete. A petrol poker set costs £300–£600; hire is £25–£50 per day. This should be one of the first tools you buy — it's used on every structural pour and affects quality.

Screed bars and tamping beam: A 3m aluminium screed bar costs £30–£60. These are consumable — buy multiples, don't hire.

Power float (helicopter): For commercial floors and large slabs, a ride-on power float (£8,000–£25,000 new) or walk-behind (£2,500–£4,500 new) is needed to achieve a smooth burnished finish. Hire before you buy — it's £150–£400 per day and you need experience operating it before owning one makes sense.

Build a capital plan in year one: list every piece of equipment you need, its buy cost and hire cost, and calculate the break-even frequency. This stops you tying up cash in equipment you use rarely and lets you invest in the tools that have the fastest payback.

4. Working with House Builders and Groundwork Contractors

If you want consistent volume and are willing to accept longer payment terms, working as a subcontractor to groundwork contractors and house builders is the most reliable route to full order books.

Approaching groundwork contractors: Most groundwork companies subcontract their concrete pouring, especially for slab and foundation work during peak periods. Identify the leading groundwork contractors in your region (search Companies House for active groundwork companies, check LinkedIn, look at who has boards up on active housing sites) and make direct contact with the contracts manager or director. Offer to price a package on a current or upcoming site as a trial.

Developer supply chains: Regional housebuilders — not the volume national builders, where procurement is centralised — are approachable at site level. The site manager controls who gets invited to price groundwork packages. Show up professionally with your insurance, CSCS card and a one-page summary of what you've done on similar schemes.

Payment terms in the groundwork supply chain are typically 30 days from invoice or tied to main contractor payment. Build this into your cash flow forecast — a concrete contractor doing £30,000 of subcontract work per month may be waiting £30,000+ in outstanding payments at any time. Having a working capital buffer of at least one month's revenue is essential.

5. CITB Levy and CSCS Cards as Professional Differentiators

The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) levy applies to construction businesses with a wage bill above £120,000 per year. While smaller concrete contractors may not be liable, registering as a CITB-contributing employer unlocks training grants that can fund qualifications for you and your team — and signals professionalism to commercial clients.

CSCS cards (Construction Skills Certification Scheme) are increasingly mandatory on commercial and housing sites. Every operative working on a commercial site should have a valid CSCS card at the appropriate level. A Gold CSCS Card (Skilled Worker) requires an NVQ Level 2 or 3 in a relevant occupation — concrete operations or groundworks. Having a fully CSCS-carded team immediately differentiates you from informal competitors and opens doors to commercial site work that simply isn't available to uncarded contractors.

CPCS (Construction Plant Competence Scheme) cards are the equivalent for plant operators — mini-digger, dumper and concrete pump operators. If your team operates plant on site, CPCS is required for commercial work. Both CSCS and CPCS status are worth prominently featuring on your website, quote documents and Checkatrade profile.

6. Marketing Your Concrete Contracting Business

For domestic driveway work, the most effective marketing channels in 2026 are Google Ads, Checkatrade and social media before-and-after content.

Google Ads for “concrete driveway [city]”: Homeowners searching for a new concrete or imprinted driveway are high-intent buyers. A targeted Google Ads campaign with landing pages showing completed driveways in your area, clear pricing guidance and a quick contact form will typically generate enquiries at £15–£40 per lead. Budget £300–£600/month to start; scale up as you verify cost-per-booked-job.

Checkatrade: Works well for planned driveway replacements where the customer is collecting three quotes. A strong Checkatrade profile with 20+ recent reviews and clear photography of your work will generate 5–15 enquiries per month in most areas. The annual cost (£1,200–£2,500 depending on tier) is easily recovered if you convert 2–3 jobs from it.

Before-and-after social content: Imprinted concrete and exposed aggregate driveways are visually transformative. A 30-second video showing the before state, the pour, the stamping process and the finished sealed driveway gets consistent engagement on Facebook and Instagram. Tag your location on every post. This type of content builds local brand awareness at zero media cost.

7. Trade2Base for Concrete Contractors

Multi-day concrete pours require coordination that paper job sheets simply can't handle. When you have a driveway pour Monday, a foundation slab Wednesday and a crew starting a commercial floor Friday, keeping track of materials ordered, deliveries scheduled and invoices outstanding is a real operational challenge.

Job scheduling in Trade2Base lets you plan multi-day jobs with start and end dates, assign crew members and track job status in real time. When a ready-mix delivery is rescheduled, you can update the job in seconds and notify affected team members automatically.

Material cost tracking on each job means you can compare your actual material spend against your quoted allowance and see your true margin on every project — not just what you invoiced. Over time this data tells you which job types and which customers deliver the best margin per day on site.

Invoicing with Stripe payment links means customers can pay your invoice by card the day you finish the job, rather than waiting for a BACS transfer that takes three days and a reminder. For a domestic concrete contractor doing 3–4 jobs per month, faster payment is the single biggest cash flow improvement available.