Concrete Foundation Cost Calculator
A concrete foundation costs $4–7 per square foot of footprint for a monolithic slab, $8–15 for a stem wall, $12–18 for a crawlspace, and $30–60 for a full basement. Enter your house, garage, or shed footprint and foundation type to price it, or compare all four side by side.
Estimated Stem Wall + Slab Cost
$12,000 – $22,500
1,500 sq ft footprint × $8.00–$15.00/sq ft installed
All Foundation Types — 1,500 sq ft Footprint
Cost Tips
- →Foundations are priced by footprint, not total living area
- →Monolithic slabs are cheapest but only work on flat lots without deep frost
- →Stem walls roughly double the cost of a monolithic slab
- →Get a soils report before choosing a foundation type
- →A house foundation always needs a permit and inspections
For general step-by-step instructions, read our complete Stem Wall Foundation Guide and Slab On Grade.
How Much Does a Concrete Foundation Cost?
A concrete foundation costs $4–7 per square foot of footprint for a monolithic slab, $8–15 for a stem wall with slab, $12–18 for a crawlspace, and $30–60 for a full basement, installed. For a 1,500 sq ft house that is roughly $6,000–10,500 on a monolithic slab, $12,000–22,500 on a stem wall, $18,000–27,000 over a crawlspace, and $45,000–90,000 for a full basement. The foundation type — decided mostly by your climate, soil, and lot slope — moves the price far more than the size of the house.
House Foundation Cost by Type and Size
All figures are installed cost per square foot of footprint, national average, from our stem wall foundation guide. Use the region setting above to shift them for low- or high-cost areas.
| Footprint | Monolithic Slab ($4–7) | Stem Wall + Slab ($8–15) | Crawlspace ($12–18) | Full Basement ($30–60) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 sq ft | $4,000–7,000 | $8,000–15,000 | $12,000–18,000 | $30,000–60,000 |
| 1,500 sq ft | $6,000–10,500 | $12,000–22,500 | $18,000–27,000 | $45,000–90,000 |
| 2,000 sq ft | $8,000–14,000 | $16,000–30,000 | $24,000–36,000 | $60,000–120,000 |
| 2,500 sq ft | $10,000–17,500 | $20,000–37,500 | $30,000–45,000 | $75,000–150,000 |
A two-story house on the same footprint costs the same to found as a one-story house of that footprint — the foundation is priced by what it covers, not by total living area.
Monolithic Slab Foundation Cost
A monolithic slab pours the floor and a thickened perimeter edge in one placement, which is why it is the cheapest system: one pour, one set of forms, no separate footing trench. It only works where the ground doesn't freeze below the edge depth and the lot is close to flat. See slab-on-grade construction for how the thickened edge, vapor barrier, and base are built.
Stem Wall and Crawlspace Foundation Cost
A stem wall foundation pours a strip footing below the frost line first, then a short wall on top, then (usually) a slab inside. Two or three separate pours and wall formwork roughly double the cost of a monolithic slab, but it handles frost climates and sloped lots. Extending the stem wall to create a crawlspace raises the price again. Size the footing with the footing calculator and the wall with the concrete wall calculator.
Basement Foundation Cost
A full basement is the most expensive option by a wide margin — excavation for a full story, 8-inch reinforced walls, a basement floor slab, waterproofing, and drainage. In return you get habitable or storage space below grade. The floor slab alone can be priced with the basement floor cost calculator.
Pier-and-Beam Foundation Cost
A pier-and-beam foundation carries the house on isolated concrete piers with wood or steel beams spanning between them. The concrete is a small part of the bill: a 50×30 footprint on an 8 ft pier grid needs about 40 piers (16 in × 48 in), roughly 410 bags of 80-lb mix — $2,255–3,280 in concrete at retail bag prices. The beams, joists, subfloor, and labor make up most of a pier-and-beam budget, and we don't publish an installed per-square-foot figure for them. Size individual piers with the pier footing calculator.
Footing Cost
Footings are a component of every foundation type except the monolithic slab, where the thickened edge does the job. Their cost is concrete volume plus trenching and reinforcement. A standard 20-foot strip footing, 2 feet wide and 12 inches deep, takes 1.48 cubic yards; at $165–205 per delivered yard that is about $244–303 in ready-mix before labor. Run your footing dimensions through the concrete footing calculator for the exact volume.
Garage and Shed Foundation Cost
Outbuildings use the same foundation types at a smaller scale. A detached garage needs a floor slab plus a bearing edge: in mild climates that is usually one monolithic pour, and in frost climates a frost-depth footing or stem wall around the floor slab. The floor slab itself runs $6–12 per sq ft installed — a 20x20 two-car garage floor is $2,400–4,800 — and the garage floor cost calculator prices it by size. Enter the garage footprint above with the stem wall type to see the frost-climate version.
A shed foundation is almost always a simple 4-inch slab: $6–11 per sq ft installed, so a 10×12 shed base runs $720–1,320. Use the shed base cost calculator for your shed size, or the shed foundation calculator for the concrete volume.
How to Estimate a Foundation
A foundation estimate starts with three numbers: the footprint in square feet, the foundation type your site allows, and your local cost level. Multiply footprint by the per-square-foot range for the type — that is what the calculator above does — then adjust for anything unusual: a steep lot, expansive soil, deep frost, or a basement that needs waterproofing. Treat the result as a budget range to check contractor bids against, not a quote; see how to hire a concrete contractor for comparing bids.
Foundation Cost by City
Local labor is the biggest regional driver. Our foundation cost by city pages price concrete slab foundations for 30 US metros from state DOT bid data and BLS wage indices. Examples:
| Metro | Slab Foundation ($/sq ft installed) |
|---|---|
| Houston, TX | $5.75–10.10 |
| Minneapolis, MN | $8.76–14.80 |
| Seattle, WA | $10.28–20.69 |
| New York, NY | $14.73–32.80 |
What Drives Foundation Cost
- Frost depth: Footings must sit below the local frost line. Deeper frost means deeper trenches, taller stem walls, and more concrete.
- Soil: Expansive clay or low-bearing soil can require wider footings, engineered slabs, or piers. A soils report runs a few hundred dollars and prevents far more expensive surprises.
- Slope: Every foot of fall across the lot adds stem wall height or stepped footings.
- Reinforcement: Rebar in footings and slabs is standard; see when to use rebar.
- Permits and inspections: A house foundation always needs a permit and usually a footing inspection before the pour. See permit requirements.
For the volume of concrete rather than the cost, use the concrete foundation calculator. For a flatwork slab that isn't a house foundation — a patio, garage floor, or shop — use the concrete cost calculator.