Stamped concrete price per m² in Mallorca

"How much does a square metre of stamped concrete cost?" is the question we are asked most and the one that can least be answered with a single number. Two 80 square metre terraces in Marratxí can cost very different amounts if one goes on a sound existing slab with the lorry at the gate and the other needs excavating, rubble carried out by hand and the concrete pumped over a wall. What can be explained is what the price depends on. The full system is on the page on stamped concrete.

What moves the price of stamped concrete

• Total area. Every job has fixed costs: moving the team and machinery, moulds, the minimum concrete order, cutting the joints. On a small area they are spread over few metres and the price per metre goes up; above a certain size it levels off.
• Shape and edges. A rectangular terrace has fewer linear metres of formwork and edging per square metre than a narrow, winding path, and edges are handwork.
• Sub-base preparation. The most variable item. It can range from compacting an area that is already level to breaking out an existing floor, digging out topsoil, removing rubble and bringing in 20 cm of aggregate. On clay soils or recent fill a geotextile is added.
• Access. If the mixer lorry can reach the site, the concrete is poured straight in. If not, a pump, a motorised barrow or carrying by hand is needed, and each has its own cost and time. The narrow streets of historic centres and fincas reached by dirt tracks are the usual cases.
• Thickness and reinforcement. Going from 8 to 10 cm with fibres for a terrace to 15 cm with mesh for a van driveway means almost twice as much concrete, plus a line for steel.
• Mould and colour. Some moulds take longer to stamp and need more hands; special colours and double release agents cost more than a standard sand colour.
• Joints and junctions. Expansion joints sealed with elastic sealant, junctions with pool copings, manholes, gratings and stamped steps.
• Sealing. The type of sealer, the number of coats and the anti-slip aggregate. It is the item most often trimmed in cheap quotes and the one that shows most after three years.
• Island logistics. Materials reach Mallorca by sea, and travel from Palma to Pollença, Santanyí or Andratx counts. It is not a large item, but it exists.

How a quote is put together

A serious stamped concrete quote measures each item separately: cubic metres of excavation, cubic metres or tonnes of aggregate, square metres of concrete with its thickness, kilos or square metres of mesh, square metres of stamping with the mould and colour stated, linear metres of joint and edging, and square metres of sealing with the type of sealer and the number of coats. A price per square metre comes out of the total, but that number is the result, not the starting point.

That is why at Solera Mallorca the quote arrives itemised. If an item surprises you, we can explain it; if you would prefer a different solution for the sub-base or the sealing, it is recalculated. And if there are two reasonable ways of doing the job, for example concreting the whole track or only the slopes, we quote both.

Why a cheap square metre usually turns out expensive

When an offer per square metre is far below the others, something is almost always missing, and what is missing is what cannot be seen on handover day:

• The sub-base. "On ground prepared by the client", or aggregate with no thickness stated. Stamped concrete on an inadequate sub-base cracks into slabs within the first two winters.
• The reinforcement. Fibres instead of mesh on a driveway, or nothing at all.
• The thickness. 8 cm where the use calls for 12.
• The joints. Not cut, or cut but not sealed, so water gets in and weeds grow.
• The sealer. A single coat, water-based and diluted, that disappears in one summer and leaves the colour exposed. The second coat and the anti-slip "can be added later" and never are.

Restoring stamped concrete with a poor sub-base is not possible without lifting it; resealing one that had a single coat of sealer is possible, but it costs more than doing it properly in the first place. A good part of our restoration work comes from cheap quotes of five years ago.

How to compare quotes

1. Check that they all measure the same area and the same shape.
2. Look for the sub-base: centimetres of aggregate, whether it is compacted and with what, and whether excavation and removing the soil are included.
3. Look for the thickness of the concrete and the type of reinforcement.
4. Look for the sealer: type, number of coats and whether it includes anti-slip where needed.
5. Look for the joints: whether they are cut, how far apart and whether they are sealed.
6. Ask who will carry out the work and whether the same team does the sub-base, the stamping and the sealing.
7. Ask about resealing: when they recommend it and whether they do it themselves.

With those seven answers, two quotes become comparable. We work through this method with examples in the guide to the stamped concrete price per m² in Mallorca.