This is the question we get asked most, and the honest answer is that both work. What decides it is our climate and how you want it to age.
The short version
- Concrete is cheaper up front and gives you a clean, continuous surface.
- Pavers cost more up front, handle freeze and thaw better, and can be repaired.
Freeze and thaw is the whole argument
A concrete slab is one rigid piece. Our ground moves through freeze and thaw, and heavy clay moves a lot. When a rigid slab is forced to move, it cracks. It is not a defect, it is physics, and it is why control joints exist. Control joints tell the crack where to go, they do not prevent it.
Pavers are hundreds of small pieces with joints between them. When the ground moves, the paver field flexes with it. That is the entire reason we lay so many of them here.
Repairs are where it really shows
If a paver gets stained, cracked or sinks, we pull that paver, fix the base underneath, and put it back. You cannot tell.
If a concrete slab cracks, you have a cracked slab. You can patch it and it will look patched, or you can tear it out. There is no third option.
What they cost
In Pennsylvania, concrete pavers typically run $18 to $25 per square foot installed, premium pavers $25 to $35, and natural flagstone $30 to $45. A 300 square foot paver patio generally lands around $5,400 to $7,500.
Poured concrete is less than that per square foot. If the up front number is the only thing that matters, concrete wins. If you plan to be in the house in fifteen years, we would think about it differently.
The part that matters more than either
Whichever you pick, it is sitting on a base. Every sunken, weedy, settled patio we tear out had a base that was too thin or was never compacted properly. Around here that means excavating, laying a proper depth of compacted stone, and dealing with the fact that clay does not drain.
A cheap paver patio on a bad base will fail faster than a good concrete slab. The material is the argument people have. The base is the thing that decides it.
Ranges for both are in our cost guide. To talk it through on your property, call (724) 605-4822, or see our patio page.