Stamped concrete cost in Amherst, MA

Pick a size, pick a tier: stamped concrete pricing in Amherst

Three bands are cut from the same cited range and localized for Amherst wages and prices. They overlap on purpose: a good standard job and a modest premium job can cost the same. The grid below prices the same bands at 3 common sizes.

What nearby projects cost in Amherst

Because every project leans on different trades, Amherst's wage level does not move all prices equally. Against the US midpoint, paver patio runs +18% and concrete slab +5%.

How Amherst compares

Contractors rarely work more than an hour or two from home, so the neighboring metros set a rough ceiling and floor for your quotes. Midpoints for 400 sq ft range from $5,750 to $6,050 across Amherst and its five closest metros.

Across 300 US metros, Amherst comes in at #64 from the top. The priciest is Kahului, HI at $8,150; the cheapest is McAllen, TX at $4,550 (midpoints, 400 sq ft). Statewide, Amherst is 3% below the Massachusetts figure.

Other Massachusetts metros

Cities with a workforce like Amherst's

Big cities and small ones price differently, so here is Amherst against the 4 metros with the closest total employment.

Extras that change the Amherst total

Extras are quoted nationally and then scaled to Amherst by the average of the local wage index (1.15) and goods index (0.97), a factor of 1.06. Tick any of them in the estimator above to add them to your total. Treat these as planning figures: an add-on touches different trades than the main job, so the scaling is an approximation.

When to schedule stamped concrete in Amherst

We use NOAA's 1991-2020 climate normals for Westfield Barnes Muni Ap (15 miles from the city center). These are 30-year monthly averages, not forecasts.

May through September is the stretch where pouring concrete runs into the fewest weather problems in Amherst (5 of 12 months). January, February, March, April, October, November and December have an average overnight low of 40°F or below.

The 40°F line is a deliberately cautious stand-in. The American Concrete Institute's cold-weather guide (ACI 306R-16) defines cold-weather concreting around an average daily air temperature below 40°F, which is colder than our test of an average overnight low at or below 40°F, so we flag a few extra shoulder months. In cold weather crews may need heated enclosures, insulating blankets or accelerated mixes, and those measures can raise a quote.

Amherst gets about 45 inches of precipitation in a normal year. The wettest months are June, September and October (4.7 inches in October). Inside the workable window, May and August are the driest, at 3.7 and 3.7 inches. The station averages about 18 days a year at 90°F or above.

Does the season change the price? Probably, but we do not have a sourced seasonal price curve, so the estimator shows a year-round figure and does not adjust by month. When you collect quotes, ask whether scheduling in a slower month gets a better rate.

Local wages behind the labor line

Wages are the part of this estimate that changes most from town to town. 3 trades carry the job here, and each is compared with its US median. The weighted result for Amherst is 1.15 times the national level.

Cement masons and concrete finishers (47-2051) carry 60% of the labor weighting. BLS does not publish this trade for the Amherst metro, so we used the Massachusetts statewide median: $30.69 an hour against $27.41 for the US. The middle half of them earn between $26.87 and $37.60 an hour.

Construction laborers (47-2061), 30% of the weighting: a median of $27.96 an hour, 23% above the US median of $22.66. The middle half of them earn between $22.14 and $36.52 an hour. About 280 work in the metro. That is 42.6 per 10,000 jobs, compared with 70.5 nationally, so expect fewer local crews to bid.

For operating engineers and other construction equipment operators (47-2073, weighted 10%) the local median is $32.13 an hour, which is 12% above the national $28.78. The middle half of them earn between $27.45 and $38.91 an hour. BLS counts 180 of them working in the area, 27.4 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 30.7), so the local bench is about average.

Quotes come from real crews, not medians. If the cement masons and concrete finishers on your job are paid at the 75th percentile ($37.60 an hour) instead of the median, the labor line grows by about $410. At the 25th percentile ($26.87) it shrinks by about $230. The total moves by 6.9% or 3.8%, so wages alone rarely explain a quote that is far outside our range.

For context on the local economy, BLS counts 65,670 jobs in the Amherst Town-Northampton area. That makes it the 273rd largest of the 300 metros we cover, with 0.04% of US employment.

Why two Amherst quotes can differ

• Pattern and color

  Basic to average coloring runs $8-$19 per sq ft. A 2-car stamped driveway runs $12-$18 per sq ft (HomeGuide); Estimators.us puts decorative slabs at $15-$30.

• Specialist labor

  Stamping has to be done before the concrete sets, so crews arrive in larger teams and charge for it.

• Sealing and vapor barrier

  Sealer is usually quoted separately; vapor barrier material is $0.20-$1.50 per sq ft depending on thickness (HomeGuide).