Paving Brick Quantity Calculator

How many paving bricks do I need for my patio or driveway?

If you are laying paving bricks for a patio, walkway, courtyard, or driveway, the first practical question is quantity. Buying too few stalls the job and can force you into a second delivery with different shade batches. Buying too many wastes money and leaves you storing heavy leftovers. This paving brick quantity calculator is built for one decision: estimating how many bricks to order for a rectangular paving area, including a sensible allowance for cuts, breakage, and pattern waste.

The default workflow is fast. If you already know the total area in square metres, enter it and calculate. If you do not know the area, enter length and width and the calculator will compute the area for you. Then, in Advanced settings, confirm your brick dimensions and joint gap. The calculator treats a brick plus its surrounding joint as a repeating module. Dividing your paving area by the module area gives an estimated brick count. Finally, a waste percentage increases the order quantity so you are not short when you start cutting at edges, around drains, or near curves.

The results are designed to be usable, not just a single number. You get the base brick count without waste, the recommended order quantity with waste, the effective coverage per brick, and the calculated total area used. If you also enter a pack or pallet size, the calculator will estimate how many packs you should order by rounding up, since you cannot buy a fraction of a pack in most real-world situations.

Assumptions and how to use this calculator

• The paved surface is treated as a rectangle. If your shape is irregular, break it into rectangles, calculate each, and add the areas.
• Brick coverage is based on a brick module: (brick length + joint gap) × (brick width + joint gap). This is a practical average for typical paving.
• Brick dimensions are entered in millimetres and converted internally to metres. Use the nominal size you are buying, not a marketing name.
• Waste allowance defaults to 10% as a common planning baseline. Increase it for complex edges, curves, or more cutting, and reduce it for simple rectangles.
• The calculator estimates quantity only. It does not calculate bedding sand, base material, edge restraints, drainage layers, or compaction requirements.

Common questions

Should I enter total area, or length and width?

Either works. If you know the total area from a plan, enter area only. If you measured the space on site, enter length and width and leave area blank. If you enter both, the calculator uses the area value you provided, because it is the most direct input. This avoids accidental double calculation when your length and width are rough estimates.

Why does joint gap affect brick quantity?

Joints consume space. Even a small gap adds up across many rows. A 3 mm joint effectively increases the spacing between bricks, meaning you need slightly fewer bricks per square metre than if bricks were touching. This calculator uses the module size (brick plus joint) because it matches how paving actually lays out.

What waste allowance should I use?

Ten percent is a practical default for many jobs. Use 5% for very simple rectangles with minimal cutting and if you have experienced installers. Use 10% to 15% for typical patios with edges and some detail work. Use 15% to 20% for complex layouts, curves, tight fits around obstacles, or if you expect more breakage. Waste is also higher with patterns that require more cuts at boundaries.

What if my bricks are not rectangular or have special shapes?

This calculator assumes a rectangular brick footprint because that is the dominant real-world search intent for brick quantity planning. If you are using irregular shapes, interlocking pavers with complex geometry, or mixed sizes, the module-area approach becomes unreliable. In that case, use the manufacturer’s coverage rate (bricks per m²) from the product spec sheet and convert your area using that rate.

How do I use the pack or pallet estimate?

Enter the number of bricks per pack or pallet if you know it. The calculator will round up the number of packs so you can order in real units. If you do not know the pack size, leave it blank. Pack sizing varies by supplier, brick thickness, and packaging method, so guessing can be worse than leaving it out.