Gravel Cost Calculator: Price Per Yard & Project 2026

How gravel cost is worked out

Gravel is priced by the cubic yard, but a yard is sized by the square foot, so the job is three steps: work out the volume, add extra for settling, and price the cubic yards. The volume is the area times the depth in feet: 500 sq ft at 3 inches is 500 × 3 ÷ 12 = 125.00 cu ft. The cubic yards are the cubic feet divided by 27: 125.00 ÷ 27 = 4.63 cu yd. Add 10% extra for settling and uneven ground, because gravel settles and the ground is never perfectly flat: 4.63 × 1.10 = 5.09 cu yd to order. The gravel cost is the billable volume times the price per cubic yard, and the total adds the delivery.

At the defaults — 500 sq ft, 3 in deep, $50.00 a cubic yard, $50.00 delivery, 10% extra — the gravel cost is 5.09 × $50.00 = $254.63, and the total is $254.63 + $50.00 = $304.63 — which is $304.63 ÷ 500 = $0.61/sq ft. The gravel cost is worked out from the unrounded billable volume, not the rounded 5.09 cu yd, so the arithmetic is exact.

The worked example, line by line

Setup: 500 sq ft, 3 in deep, $50.00/cu yd, $50.00 delivery, 10% extra.

Line 1 — the volume. 500 × 3 ÷ 12 = 125.00 cu ft.

Line 2 — the raw cubic yards. 125.00 ÷ 27 = 4.6296 cu yd.

Line 3 — the billable volume. 4.6296 × 1.10 = 5.0926 cu yd to order.

Line 4 — the gravel cost. 5.0926 × $50.00 = $254.63, worked out from the unrounded billable volume.

Line 5 — the total. $254.63 + $50.00 delivery = $304.63, or $0.61/sq ft.

Line 6 — bags vs bulk. 125.00 cu ft ÷ 0.5 cu ft per bag = 250 bags at $5.00, which is $1,250.00 — so bulk wins by $945.37.

Line 7 — the weight. 5.0926 cu yd × 2,800 lb/cu yd = 14,259 lb, or 7.13 tons.

Every branch, checked

1,000 sq ft: the volume is 1,000 × 3 ÷ 12 = 250.00 cu ft, which is 9.26 cu yd raw and 10.19 cu yd billable, so the gravel costs $509.26 and the total is $559.26, or $0.56/sq ft. Bags would cost $2,500.00 for 500 bags, so bulk wins by $1,940.74. Doubling the area doubles the volume, but the cost per square foot falls from $0.61 to $0.56, because the $50 delivery is spread over twice the area.

2-in depth: the volume falls to 500 × 2 ÷ 12 = 83.33 cu ft, which is 3.40 cu yd billable, so the gravel costs $169.75 and the total is $219.75, or $0.44/sq ft. Bags would cost $835.00 for 167 bags, so bulk wins by $615.25. A shallower bed is cheaper, but 2 inches is thin: the fabric shows through in a year, and the weeds come up.

$65/yd: the volume is the same, but the gravel costs 5.09 × $65.00 = $331.02, so the total is $381.02, or $0.76/sq ft. Bags would still cost $1,250.00, so bulk wins by $868.98. A dearer stone is still far cheaper in bulk than in bags.

No delivery: with no delivery charge, the total is the gravel cost alone: $254.63, or $0.51/sq ft. Bags would cost $1,250.00, so bulk wins by $995.37. Picking it up yourself saves $50, but the weight is 14,259 lb, so bring a trailer, not a car boot.

Reverse — the $500 budget: the delivery takes $50 of the budget, leaving $450, and $450 ÷ $50.00 = 9.00 cu yd, which is 9.00 ÷ 1.10 = 8.18 cu yd of raw volume, or 883.64 sq ft at 3 inches deep. A $1,000 budget buys 1865.45 sq ft, which is 981.82 sq ft more than the default bed.

What the defaults assume

The model assumes a flat bed on level ground: a slope, a bed with a deep edge, or a bed that follows a curve changes the volume, because the gravel is deeper at one end than the other. It assumes gravel weighs 2,800 lb per cubic yard, which is right for pea gravel and crushed stone but not for light lava rock, which is far lighter. It assumes the bags hold 0.5 cu ft and cost $5.00 each, which is right for the standard bag at a garden centre but not for a bulk bag, which is a cubic yard in a sack. It assumes the delivery is one load: a yard that charges per load, not per cubic yard, will charge the same $50 for 5 cu yd and for 10 cu yd. Rounding convention: money is rounded to cents, volumes to 2 decimals, and all figures are computed from unrounded values, rounded only for display.

Output · formula · meaning

Who uses this

• The homeowner covering a front bed: they learn a 500 sq ft bed costs $304.63 — $254.63 of gravel and $50.00 of delivery — so they know the exact number before they call the yard, and they know bulk beats bags by $945.37.
• The landlord gravelling a rental yard: they learn a 1,000 sq ft yard costs $559.26 — and they learn the delivery is only $50 of $559.26, so ordering more gravel in one load is cheaper than two loads.
• The couple choosing between bags and bulk: bags cost $1,250.00 against $304.63 for bulk — a $945.37 difference on this bed — so they order bulk, and borrow a trailer for the 14,259 lb.
• The renovator on a $500 budget: they learn $500 covers 883.64 sq ft — so they know the 500 sq ft bed is covered with 383.64 sq ft to spare before they start.

Accuracy & limitations

The math is exact for the numbers you enter: the volume is the area times the depth, the billable volume adds the extra, and the total is the gravel plus the delivery. What the model cannot do is measure your bed for you: measure along the bed, and for a bed that follows a curve or a slope, measure the bed, not the straight-line distance. It leaves out the landscape fabric, the edging, the levelling of the ground, and tax — ask the yard whether the quote includes those. It assumes gravel weighs 2,800 lb per cubic yard, which is right for pea gravel but not for light lava rock. It assumes the bags hold 0.5 cu ft and cost $5.00 each. For the mulch that goes with it, see mulch cost calculator; for the concrete that goes under it, see concrete calculator.