Granite Parking Lot Paving Stone Price per Square Metre: 12.5 m² a Bay, 20 m² in Double Rows with a 6 m Aisle
Granite parking lot paving stone price starts with which square metre you are pricing. A bay of 2.5 × 5.0 m is 12.5 m² net; in a double row with a 6 m aisle the same bay carries 20 m², 1.6 times as much. Cost per bay = square metres per bay × price per square metre, and once that figure is fixed two quotes become comparable.
Granite parking lot paving stone price: are you measuring the bay or the whole field?
Granite parking lot paving is not priced by the stone, it is priced by the area you measure. A buyer measures the bay: 2.5 × 5.0 m, 12.5 m². A supplier prices the paved field including the aisles: in a double row with a 6 m aisle the same bay carries 20 m², 1.6 times as much. When two quotes differ widely, the denominator has usually moved, not the price. Only two formulas matter: cost per bay = square metres per bay × price per square metre, and total paving area = number of bays × square metres per bay. How the square-metre rate itself is built up is already broken into six cost cells in our guide Granite Paving Stone Price per Square Meter, so it is not repeated here; what this article adds is the layer parking lots bring, the area basis.
How many square metres does one bay actually carry: 12.5 or 20?
12.5 m² is the net bay; 20 m² is what you pave once the aisle is shared, and the quote has to use the second. Take the bay size from the project layout: 2.5 m wide by 5.0 m deep is common practice, an experience value that varies with local planning rules, so use your own drawing; it is not a code figure. Because paving includes the aisle, area per bay = width × (bay depth + aisle width) ÷ the number of bay rows sharing that aisle, 1 for a single row and 2 for back-to-back rows. A back-to-back layout therefore puts two bay depths plus one aisle into the depth before dividing by 2. For the same bay, 12.5 m² net against 20 m² with the aisle is 20 ÷ 12.5 = 1.6. In a double row every extra metre of aisle adds 2.5 × 1 ÷ 2 = 1.25 m² per bay, so a 7 m aisle gives 21.25 m².
| Layout | Depth (m) | Area carried per bay (m²) |
|---|---|---|
| Single row + 6 m aisle | 5.0 + 6.0 = 11.0 | 2.5 × 11.0 = 27.5 |
| Double row, back to back + 6 m aisle | 5.0 + 5.0 + 6.0 = 16.0 | 2.5 × 16.0 ÷ 2 = 20.0 |
| Double row, back to back + 7 m aisle | 5.0 + 5.0 + 7.0 = 17.0 | 2.5 × 17.0 ÷ 2 = 21.25 |
Why does a 600 mm slab always need cutting in a 2.5 m wide bay?
Because 2500 is not divisible by 600: 2500 ÷ 600 = 4 slabs with 100 mm left across the width. That is arithmetic, not an opinion. A 500 or 250 module divides a 2.5 × 5.0 m bay in both directions: 2500 ÷ 500 = 5, 2500 ÷ 250 = 10, 5000 ÷ 500 = 10, 5000 ÷ 250 = 20, every remainder zero. The 600 and 300 modules leave a tail both ways: 2500 ÷ 300 = 8 with 100 mm left, 5000 ÷ 600 = 8 with 200 mm, 5000 ÷ 300 = 16 with 200 mm, all listed in the table. Across the width that 100 mm is under half a slab for both modules (half of 600 is 300, half of 300 is 150), so the cut strip is effectively waste; in depth the 200 mm left is under half a slab at 600 as well, while at 300 a 200 mm wide strip does come out, and whether it is worth using has to be checked against the setting-out drawing. This is not a ban on the 600 and 300 modules; it is a question of who carries that strip, and it belongs in the quote. The more bays, the bigger the account: 100 bays at one 100 mm × 5 m strip each is waste in the order of 50 m².
| Slab size (mm) | Slabs along 2500 | Remainder across (mm) | Slabs along 5000 | Remainder in depth (mm) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500×500 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| 250×250 | 10 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| 600×600 | 4 | 100 | 8 | 200 |
| 300×300 | 8 | 100 | 16 | 200 |
Are bay markings and wheel stops inside the price per square metre?
By default, no; list them separately. Line width is commonly 100–150 mm as shown on the project drawing, an experience range rather than a code figure. At 100 mm each bay carries about 7.5 linear metres of line: a bay has two 5 m long sides; each is shared with the neighbouring bay, so each counts 2.5 m and the two add up to 5 m. Add the 2.5 m front line and you get 7.5 linear metres. That converts to 7.5 × 0.1 = 0.75 m². Two ways to do it, each with a cost: paint is cheap, but paint does not hold on a flamed or bush-hammered face and has to be redone once it wears; inlaid dark stone, Sesame Black G654 at 100 mm wide, goes in once, wears well, and costs 0.75 m² of extra stone plus cutting per bay. Wheel stops are a separate finished item priced per piece, also outside the square-metre rate. Either way, write down who supplies it and whether fixing is included.
Can one finish serve the bay, the turning zone and the fire lane?
No. The surface follows what the wheels do, in three zones, rather than one rate across the whole field. Inside the bay the car barely moves and the load is vertical, so 30mm flamed or bush-hammered is enough. In the turning zone the driver steers as the car creeps in or out and only straightens the wheels once it has almost stopped, so the front wheels scrub sideways across the face in place; a deeper bush-hammered texture or small setts works better there than thickening the whole field. Fire lanes and lorry routes are a different load class: thickness and base build-up belong to our guide Granite Driveway Paving Thickness, and the only point here is not to build that stretch to bay standard. The three zones differ in surface and method, not in adding thickness everywhere. Choosing the face follows the same logic as plaza paving, only the load zones differ, so the plaza paving page is where to compare methods.
Which four items on an enquiry let a supplier quote per bay and stay comparable?
Four. One, the area basis: net bay or including aisles, and if aisles, which layout and how wide. Two, slab size and setting-out: the module and the layout drawing, plus who carries the cut-strip waste. Three, markings and wheel stops: whether they sit inside the square-metre rate and who supplies and fixes them. Four, surface zoning: which stretches are flamed, which are bush-hammered or setts. With those four, every quote lands on the same figure: cost per bay = square metres per bay × price per square metre. For scale, 100 bays at 20 m² each is 2000 m², which at 81 kg per m² for 30mm comes to 162 tonnes, or around six containers at 346 m² per 20ft; check against the actual layout. We work our own quarry, run 20 large saws and produce 500,000 m² a year, and stock Sesame White G603 as 30mm polished slabs from a 100 m² MOQ with a 5-day lead time; the flamed and bush-hammered finishes a parking bay needs are made to order with lead times quoted separately.