Concrete Levelling vs Replacement: A UK Cost Guide
The core cost comparison is simple: resin injection typically costs between a third and a fifth of full concrete replacement for the same area. But the headline figure understates the real financial difference, because replacement brings a series of additional costs that are rarely quoted upfront and often materialise on site.
What resin injection costs
Prices in the UK vary with void depth, site access, resin grade, and location. These are the current market ranges.
| Job type | Typical UK price |
|---|---|
| Small section (1–3m²) | £300–£600 |
| Residential driveway (20–50m²) | £800–£2,500 |
| Garage floor (20–40m²) | £600–£1,800 |
| Commercial loading bay | £1,200–£4,000 |
| Industrial warehouse floor (per 100m²) | £2,500–£6,000 |
London and the South East run 15–25% above these figures. Scotland and Northern Ireland tend to be at or slightly below the lower end.
What affects the price. The single biggest variable is void depth. A 15mm void beneath a residential driveway requires far less resin than a 100mm void beneath a commercial yard that has been slowly sinking for years. Contractors who survey properly before quoting will assess void depth using a tap test and a probe; those who quote without a site visit are estimating. Get at least two quotes that include a site survey.
How quotes are structured. Most contractors quote per job for small residential work, or per m² for larger commercial and industrial jobs. Understand which you're receiving. Ask specifically what is included: site survey, injection, hole reinstatement, and warranty documentation should all be line items you can account for.
What concrete replacement costs
| Job type | Typical UK price |
|---|---|
| New slab (per m², supply and lay only) | £70–£150 |
| Including disposal, sub-base and drainage reinstatement | Add £20–£50 per m² |
| Garage floor, full strip and relay | £1,500–£4,000 |
| Commercial bay replacement (per bay) | £3,000–£8,000+ |
These figures assume clean, straightforward jobs with standard access and no contamination. In practice, most replacement jobs encounter at least one complication.
The hidden costs of replacement
Skip hire and disposal. Broken concrete is classified as inert waste but it is heavy. An average residential driveway generates 2–4 tonnes of broken concrete, requiring a midi or maxi skip at £300–£500. If the sub-base is also being excavated, the volume doubles.
Sub-base work. The quote for laying a new slab rarely includes a full assessment of the sub-base condition. If the existing sub-base is soft, contaminated, or poorly compacted, it needs replacing before the new concrete goes down. Discovering this on day two of a three-day job adds cost, time, and usually a revised quote.
Cure time. New concrete requires 28 days to reach full design strength before it should carry vehicle loads. During this period the drive, loading bay, or yard is unavailable. For a business, this is direct operational cost. For a homeowner, it means parking on the street or a neighbour's drive for a month.
Scope creep. Once contractors are breaking up a slab, the natural tendency is to extend the scope. A cracked edge becomes a full section removal. A marginal sub-base becomes a full excavation. Final costs on replacement jobs routinely run 20–40% above the original quote.
The insurance notation. Making a subsidence claim on your buildings insurance creates a flag in the property's claims history. Insurers share this data. A property with a subsidence claim on record is more expensive to insure and often harder to sell, because the notation must be disclosed in the Property Information Form. A private repair that doesn't touch your insurer avoids this entirely. As the ABI sets out, switching insurers after a claim introduces further complexity. See our guide on home insurance and concrete subsidence for how this plays out in practice.
The cost of doing nothing
A void beneath a 10m² section costs £400–£600 to treat at first signs. Left for 12–18 months, water continues to enter the sub-base, fine particles wash out, and the void expands. The same job may then cost £800–£1,200, and the concrete surface may have developed cracking that requires additional work. Catch the warning signs early.
For commercial operations, add the cost of the risk exposure: a loading bay out of service for a month affects logistics, and a documented but unrepaired trip hazard adds liability risk from the moment you're aware of it. See uneven floors and legal liability for the legal angle.
When replacement is genuinely the right call
Resin injection requires intact concrete to work. If the slab itself has deteriorated heavily (spalled, crumbled, or delaminating across most of its area), the concrete can't be injected through and lifted as a unit. It needs replacing.
Similarly, if the underlying cause is a burst pipe or drainage collapse that has washed out a significant volume of sub-base material, the cavity may need filling with concrete or compacted granular fill before injection is viable.
A specialist contractor will tell you which situation applies. One quoting only replacement when injection would work is either operating outside their specialism or working on margin. Request a free survey and we'll give you an honest assessment.