My neighbour in Porirua rang me last winter in a right state. She’d had three quotes for a small concrete patio and they ranged from $4,000 to $11,000, and she couldn’t tell whether the expensive bloke was padding his numbers or the cheap one was about to cut corners. I’ve spent thirty-odd years pricing concrete jobs around Otago, so I told her what I tell everyone who asks: an honest quote isn’t the cheapest one, it’s the one you can actually follow line by line. Here’s the checklist I’d hand my own daughter before she signs anything with a regional tradie.
Nail the scope before anyone prices it
Most of the wild variation between quotes comes down to nobody agreeing on what the job actually is. Hand three tradies a vague brief like “I want a patio” and you’ll get three different patios priced against each other. Before you ring anyone, write the scope down yourself:
- Exact dimensions and finish — broom finish, exposed aggregate, or plain float.
- Who removes the spoil and old material, and where it’s going.
- Prep work: excavation, hardfill, reinforcing mesh, boxing.
- Access issues — a wheelbarrow-only site adds real labour cost.
Give every tradie that same written brief. Once you’ve done that, you’re comparing like with like, which is the entire point of getting multiple quotes in the first place.
What a quote you can trust looks like on paper
A quote worth trusting breaks the job into labour, materials, and prep, rather than handing you one number and a smile. A lump sum isn’t automatically dishonest, but it hides where the money’s going, which makes it easy for someone to cut a corner you’ll never see until the concrete’s already down.
| What to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Quote vs estimate | A quote is a fixed price; an estimate can drift once work starts. Know which one you’re holding. |
| Allowances | An honest tradie writes something like “allowance for hardfill — confirmed on excavation” instead of burying it. |
| GST treatment | Every figure should state whether it includes GST. Comparing a plus-GST quote against a GST-inclusive one is how people get a nasty surprise. |
| Exclusions list | What’s left out tells you more about a tradie’s honesty than what’s included. |
| Contract threshold | Jobs over $30,000 including GST legally require a written contract and disclosures. |
The Building Performance rules on residential building contracts spell out exactly what a tradie has to give you once you’re over that $30,000 mark, and a good one won’t blink when you bring it up.
A few checks before you hand over any money
Regional New Zealand runs on word of mouth, and that’s mostly a good thing, but do the basics anyway before you commit to a driveway concreting job or a patio replacement:
- Ask for two recent local references and actually ring them.
- Check they carry public liability insurance, and ask to see the certificate.
- For work needing sign-off, confirm they’re a Licensed Building Practitioner where that’s required.
- Look them up. A tradie who’s been quietly doing good work around Porirua for fifteen years has a trail you can follow.
Deposits, progress payments, and holding back the last cheque
A reasonable deposit for materials is fine. A request for most of the money up front is a red flag. I usually take a modest deposit and then progress payments tied to stages the customer can see for themselves — boxing and prep done, pour complete, finish applied. If you want the full detail on how that should be structured, our guide to deposits and progress payments for NZ contractors lays it out properly. Never pay the final chunk until the job’s finished and you’ve walked it together.
On price, use ranges as a sanity check rather than gospel:
| Job | Region | Typical cost (incl. GST) |
|---|---|---|
| Concrete patio, plain broom finish | Wellington region | $150–$220 per square metre |
| Concrete patio, exposed aggregate finish | Wellington region | Higher than plain finish — ask for an itemised breakdown |
If one quote comes in at half the others, the cheap bloke has either missed something in the scope or he’s planning to cut it once he’s on site. Ask him to walk you through his prep step by step — the answer tells you everything you need to know.
Questions I get asked about concrete quotes
How many quotes should I get for a regional tradie job? Three is the sweet spot. It’s enough to spot an outlier in either direction without dragging the job out for weeks — as long as you give each tradie the exact same written scope so the numbers are genuinely comparable.
How much should a concrete patio cost in the Wellington region? Expect somewhere around $150 to $220 per square metre including GST for a plain finish, with exposed aggregate running higher. Treat that as a sanity check on the quotes in front of you, not a fixed price — access, prep, and site conditions all move the number.
Should I resurface existing concrete or replace it outright? If the slab is sound underneath — no major cracking, no settling, no reinforcing failure — resurfacing or a new finish coat is usually cheaper and faster than a full tear-out and repour. Get a tradie to check the base before you commit either way; replacing a slab that only needed resurfacing is money you didn’t need to spend.
Is a big deposit a bad sign? A modest deposit for materials is normal. Being asked for most of the money before work starts is a warning sign. Fair practice is a small deposit followed by progress payments tied to visible stages, with the final payment held until completion.
Should the cheapest quote win? Not automatically. The cheapest quote often leaves out prep, spoil removal, or proper reinforcing, which shows up as problems later. Choose the quote you understand best and the tradie who explains their pricing clearly, not just the lowest number.