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Six calculators built on the 2026 figures published on this site. Enter your area, material and site conditions, and see a realistic price range with every line broken out — no email, no sign-up, no waiting for a callback.
Size, material, pattern, base depth and access.
Open the calculatorPaver Driveway Cost CalculatorVehicle-rated base, removal, slope and the apron.
Open the calculatorPaver Walkway Cost CalculatorLength, width, curves, steps and edge restraint.
Open the calculatorPool Deck Paver Cost CalculatorCoping, drainage, slip resistance and surface heat.
Open the calculatorPaver Repair Cost CalculatorPrices from symptoms, then compares repair, relay and replace.
Open the calculatorPaver Design Cost CalculatorDesign fee by surfaces and deliverables, against the build.
Open the calculatorPeople price a paver project by looking at the paver. The unit itself is typically about a third of what you pay. The rest is excavation, spoil removal, imported aggregate base compacted in lifts, bedding sand, cutting, edge restraint and jointing — none of which is visible the day after it is finished. It is also why base depth is the single most useful question to ask a contractor: four to six inches under a patio or walkway, eight to twelve under a driveway. A quote that will not state it is telling you something.
A paver surface is meant to shed water, and almost every failure people call a paver problem is a water problem underneath it — fines washing out of the base, a subgrade softening, a downspout discharging onto the surface. In San Diego this is easy to ignore for most of the year and then obvious for two weeks in January. Falls, channel drains and a legitimate discharge point cost a fraction at design stage of what they cost after the surface is down.
| Calculator | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Paver Patio Cost Calculator | $17 – $30 / sq ft |
| Paver Driveway Cost Calculator | $20 – $34 / sq ft |
| Paver Walkway Cost Calculator | $16 – $27 / sq ft |
| Pool Deck Paver Cost Calculator | $19 – $32 / sq ft |
| Paver Repair Cost Calculator | $300 – $10,000+ |
| Paver Design Cost Calculator | $150 – $1,500 |
Per-square-foot figures are installed rates for the paved surface. Removal, drainage and add-ons are priced separately inside each calculator. Your project sits at a specific point inside its range — the calculators tell you where.
Uncovered, at-grade paving on private property generally falls under the residential building-permit exemptions in the California Residential Code and the California Building Code. That covers a straightforward patio, walkway or the private portion of a driveway. It does not cover covers, walls above a set height, electrical, or work that changes how water crosses a property line.
Where a driveway meets the street it crosses into City of San Diego right-of-way. Replacing or modifying a driveway apron or curb cut generally requires a right-of-way or encroachment permit, often with a maintenance agreement, and curb-cut width and placement are regulated under the San Diego Municipal Code. This is the item most driveway quotes leave out, and it moves start dates rather than budgets.
Steps, seat walls and retaining above a certain height stop being hardscape and start being structure, with footings, drainage behind the wall and — past a threshold — engineering. If your project has a real grade change, ask early whether it is being treated as a wall or as paving, because the two are priced very differently.
A great deal of Carmel Valley sits inside associations with design guidelines covering hardscape materials, colours and front-yard appearance, and those apply whether or not a building permit does. Review timelines are the most common reason a start date moves. Submit early, and design with the guidelines in hand rather than around them.
Codes and local requirements change. Confirm what applies to your address with the City of San Diego Development Services Department and your association before scheduling work.
The per-square-foot and per-project ranges published on our own service pages, corroborated against San Diego paver contractor pricing, plus California and City of San Diego permit rules. Where our own pages and an outside guide disagree, our pages win — a calculator that contradicts the page next to it is worse than no calculator.
Every result is a range, and contingency is shown as its own line rather than hidden in the total. When a configuration lands outside the per-square-foot band published on this site, the calculator says so and explains why rather than quietly printing a different number. Repair carries the widest range here, because nobody knows what the base looks like until the pavers come up.
No calculator can see your subgrade, your access, your existing falls or what is buried under the lawn. Those decide real prices. Treat every number here as a planning figure and get someone to walk the site before you commit.
We design, install and repair paver surfaces across Carmel Valley and North County San Diego. Every project starts with a free, no-pressure site visit, so you can see what your project actually needs — and what it costs — before committing to anything.
Get my free estimateThey are built from the 2026 cost figures published on this site's own service pages — the per-square-foot bands and the per-project tiers — corroborated against San Diego paver contractor pricing and checked against California and City of San Diego permit rules. They are accurate enough to plan and budget around. They are not accurate enough to sign a contract against, because no calculator can see your subgrade, your access or where your water currently goes.
Because square footage is only one of five drivers. Material can nearly double the per-foot rate between a standard concrete paver and porcelain. Pattern decides how much of that material becomes offcuts. What is on the ground now can add a demolition line instead of a saving. Ground conditions decide base depth. And access decides whether the material moves by machine or by wheelbarrow. Two 400-square-foot patios can legitimately be $8,000 apart.
Typically four to six inches of compacted aggregate base for a patio or walkway, and eight to twelve inches under a driveway, because a driveway carries vehicles. Soft, sandy or expansive soil pushes both deeper and often adds a geotextile separation fabric. The base is invisible once the pavers are down, which is exactly why it is the first thing a cheap quote thins out — always ask what depth is being priced.
At-grade paving on private property generally falls under the residential building-permit exemptions in the California Residential Code and California Building Code. Two things commonly fall outside that: work in the public right-of-way — a driveway apron or a curb cut — which typically needs a right-of-way or encroachment permit, and engineered elements such as retaining walls above a set height. Separately, many Carmel Valley neighbourhoods have HOA design review covering hardscape materials and colours regardless of the building code. Confirm current requirements with the City of San Diego Development Services Department.
They are different trade-offs. A poured slab is usually cheaper to install. Pavers cost more up front and are far easier to live with: a single unit can be lifted and reset or replaced, so a settled area or a stained paver is a repair rather than a demolition, and the jointed surface flexes with ground movement instead of cracking in one line. On a driveway the flexibility matters more; on a small simple patio, concrete deserves an honest comparison.
No. Every calculator on this site works without an email address, a phone number or a sign-up. Use them, note the number, and contact us only if you want a real quote.