How to Calculate Asphalt Cost — Step by Step

The seven steps at a glance

Asphalt is sold by the ton, so the price of a driveway is worked out in seven steps: measure the length, measure the width, work out the area and the billable area, work out the volume, work out the tons, price the material and add the delivery, and work out the cost per square foot. The worked example is a 24 by 12 ft driveway at 3 inches deep, at $110 a ton, with 10 percent waste and $75.00 delivery, and it comes to 5.74 tons and $706.62, or $2.45 a square foot all-in.

Step 1 — Measure the length

Measure the length of the driveway in feet, from the street to the garage, along the run you drive. A typical single driveway is about 24 ft long, and that is the length the worked example uses. If the driveway curves, measure along the curve, not the straight-line distance: a curved driveway is longer than the straight line, and the straight line understates the area.

Step 2 — Measure the width

Measure the width of the driveway in feet, across the run you drive. A single-car driveway is about 10 to 12 ft wide, and a two-car driveway is about 20 to 24 ft wide. The worked example uses 12 ft, which is a single-car driveway with room to open the doors. Use the width that most of the driveway actually is: a driveway that flares at the street is mostly the narrower width, and pricing the whole thing at the flare overstates the cost.

Step 3 — Work out the area and the billable area

The area is the length times the width. For the worked example, 24 ft times 12 ft is 288 square feet. That is the number the whole price hangs on: an area that is wrong by 10 percent makes the price wrong by 10 percent too. If the driveway is not a rectangle, split it into rectangles, work out each one, and add them together. The billable area is the area plus the waste allowance, which covers spillage, uneven ground and cutting in. At 10 percent waste the worked example is 288 times 1.10, which is 316.80 square feet.

Step 4 — Work out the volume

The volume is the billable area times the depth in feet, and the depth in feet is the depth in inches divided by 12. A driveway is usually laid 2 to 3 inches thick, and 3 inches is the standard for a driveway that carries cars. For the worked example, 3 inches is 0.25 ft, and 316.80 square feet times 0.25 ft is 79.20 cubic feet. The depth is the one number people get wrong most often: an inch of depth is a third of the volume at 3 inches, and an inch wrong is a third of the price wrong.

Step 5 — Work out the tons

The weight is the volume times 145 pounds per cubic foot, which is the density of compacted asphalt, and the tons are the pounds divided by 2,000. For the worked example, 79.20 cubic feet times 145 is 11,484.00 pounds, and 11,484 divided by 2,000 is 5.74 tons. The unrounded figure is 5.7420 tons, and that is the figure the price is worked out from: rounding the tons before you price them is rounding the money too.

Step 6 — Price the material and add the delivery

The material cost is the tons times the price per ton. About $85 to $140 a ton is typical, depending on where you are, and the worked example uses $110. For the worked example, 5.7420 tons times $110.00 is $631.62. Then add the delivery, which is one flat fee: about $75 is typical for one load. For the worked example, $631.62 plus $75.00 is $706.62, and that is the total asphalt cost. The delivery is the same whether the load is 4 tons or 8 tons, so ordering the whole driveway in one load is cheaper than ordering it in two.

Step 7 — Work out the cost per square foot and the budget

The cost per square foot is the total divided by the area. For the worked example, $706.62 divided by 288 is $2.45 a square foot. The per-square-foot figure is the one to compare between quotes: two contractors can quote different totals for the same driveway, and the all-in cost per square foot shows which one is really cheaper. The budget works the other way round: a budget minus the delivery, divided by the material cost per square foot, is the area the budget covers. A $1,000 budget buys 421.77 square feet, a $500 budget buys 193.79, and a $2,000 budget buys 877.74.

The worked example, line by line

Setup: 24 by 12 ft, depth 3 in, price $110 a ton, waste 10 percent, delivery $75.00, budget $1,000. Line 1, the area: 24 times 12 is 288.00 square feet. Line 2, the billable area: 288.00 times 1.10 is 316.80 square feet. Line 3, the volume: 316.80 times 3 divided by 12 is 79.20 cubic feet. Line 4, the weight and the tons: 79.20 times 145 is 11,484.00 pounds, and 11,484 divided by 2,000 is 5.74 tons. Line 5, the material and the total: 5.7420 times $110.00 is $631.62, and $631.62 plus $75.00 is $706.62. Line 6, the cost per square foot: $706.62 divided by 288 is $2.45 a square foot. Line 7, the budget: a $1,000 budget minus the $75.00 delivery leaves $925.00, and $925.00 divided by $2.193125 is 421.77 square feet, which is 463.95 square feet billable. Every figure in this guide comes from the same seven steps, and the asphalt calculator runs them for any driveway you enter.

Other driveways, checked

A 20 by 10 ft driveway is 200.00 square feet, the tons are 3.99, the material is $438.63 and the total is $513.63, or $2.57 a square foot all-in. A smaller driveway costs less in total, but a little more per foot, because the $75 delivery is spread over fewer feet. A 30 by 12 ft driveway is 360.00 square feet, the tons are 7.18, the material is $789.53 and the total is $864.53, or $2.40 a square foot all-in. At 4 inches deep the 24 by 12 ft driveway costs $917.16, or $3.18 a square foot, and at 2 inches deep it costs $496.08, or $1.72 a square foot. At $85 a ton it costs $563.07, or $1.96 a square foot.

What the seven steps leave out

The seven steps price the asphalt itself, and they leave out the base prep, the edging, the sealing, the permit, and tax. Ask the contractor whether the quote includes those. A driveway on a slope, or one that needs drainage, costs more than the seven steps say, because the base has to be built up and the water has to go somewhere. For the whole driveway job, see the driveway cost calculator, and for the concrete for the same driveway, see the concrete driveway calculator.

Job	Area	Tons	Material	Total	Per sq ft
24 x 12 ft, 3 in, $110 (worked example)	288.00 sq ft	5.74	$631.62	$706.62	$2.45
20 x 10 ft, 3 in, $110	200.00 sq ft	3.99	$438.63	$513.63	$2.57
24 x 12 ft, 4 in, $110	288.00 sq ft	7.66	$842.16	$917.16	$3.18
24 x 12 ft, 3 in, $85	288.00 sq ft	5.74	$488.07	$563.07	$1.96
30 x 12 ft, 3 in, $110	360.00 sq ft	7.18	$789.53	$864.53	$2.40
24 x 12 ft, 2 in, $110	288.00 sq ft	3.83	$421.08	$496.08	$1.72