Should I order gravel by the ton or by the yard?

Order in whatever unit the yard prices, and convert with the density of the stone you are buying, not a generic figure. A yard of 3/4 in crushed stone is about 1.26 tons, a yard of pea gravel 1.35; so $30 a ton for crushed stone is the same money as $38 a yard. When both are offered, the ton is the safer unit: the truck goes over a scale and the weight is printed on the ticket, while a "yard" is a bucket heaped to the driver's judgment.

How many tons of gravel fit in a pickup truck?

The name on the truck is not the payload: the sticker inside the driver's door gives the rated payload in pounds, and 2,000 lb of stone plus the people in the cab has to fit under it. One ton of crushed stone is 0.79 cubic yards, 21 cubic feet, a layer about 8 in deep across a 6.5 x 5 ft bed. Above a ton it is a delivery.

What is the minimum delivery for bulk gravel?

Many yards deliver from one ton with a flat fee, which is why a single ton costs $105 at the door against $30 at the yard; others set a 5-ton minimum and fold the delivery into the price above it. Ask what the fee is and where it stops: five tons delivered is $225 against $165 for three, two more tons for $60, $45 a ton instead of $55.

How do I check I got the tonnage I paid for?

Ask for the weigh ticket: gross, tare and net weight from the scale at the yard. Then look at the pile: a ton of crushed stone is about 21 cubic feet, roughly 4 loads of a 6 cu ft wheelbarrow. If the ticket says 3 tons and the pile looks like 4 barrow loads rather than 11, ask questions before the truck leaves.

How to order gravel by the ton (and check what the truck brings)

Published 2026-09-22 · 6 min read

Gravel is measured by the yard, sold by the ton and spread by the inch, and most of the arguments at the gate come from mixing the three up. This is the order to do it in: measure the area, turn it into tons for the stone you are buying, decide whether that is bags, bulk bags or a truck, read the quote the way the yard writes it, and check the ticket when the truck arrives. A 300 sq ft patio base at 3 in is 3.7 tons of crushed stone, $186 delivered at the calculator's prices; the tables cover 100 to 1,000 sq ft and loads of 1 to 10 tons.

Gravel cost calculator Gravel calculator

Step 1: measure the area and decide the depth

Length times width in feet for a rectangle; break an L-shape or a curved path into rectangles and add them. Then the depth in inches: 2 in for a decorative top layer, 3 in for a path or a patio base, 4 in for a driveway base, and a compacted base needs to be ordered thicker than it finishes. Write the area down; every later step multiplies it.

Step 2: turn square feet into tons for your stone

Cubic feet is area times depth in feet; a cubic yard is 27 of those; tons is yards times the density of the stone. That last number is what catches people: crushed stone is about 1.26 tons a yard, pea gravel and river rock 1.35, crusher run heavier still. The table does it for 3 in with the calculator's extra (5% for loose stone, 15% for a base that will be compacted).

Tons at 3 in deep, extra included
Area	Crushed stone	Pea gravel	Crusher run base	Bags (0.5 cu ft)
100 sq ft	1.23 t	1.31 t	1.53 t	53
200 sq ft	2.46 t	2.62 t	3.05 t	105
300 sq ft	3.69 t	3.93 t	4.58 t	158
500 sq ft	6.15 t	6.55 t	7.63 t	263
1,000 sq ft	12.29 t	13.11 t	15.26 t	525

For other depths and stones use the gravel cost calculator, or the ton of gravel guide the other way round: what one ton covers at 1 to 6 in.

Step 3: bags, bulk bags or a truck

Under about a ton, bags from the store are the only option that does not involve a delivery fee, and 158 bags of 0.5 cu ft for a 300 sq ft base is a lot of lifting. Up to 2.5 tons the $75 delivery fee is the biggest line on the bill, so it pays to combine the base and the top layer in one load, or to share a load with a neighbour. Above five tons the truck wins on every count.

Crushed stone at $30 a ton, $75 delivery, spreading $12 a yard
Load	Cu yd	Covers at 3 in	Delivered	Per ton	Delivered and spread
1 ton	0.79	85 sq ft	$105	$105	$114
2 tons	1.58	171 sq ft	$135	$68	$154
3 tons	2.37	256 sq ft	$165	$55	$193
5 tons	3.96	427 sq ft	$225	$45	$272
10 tons	7.91	854 sq ft	$375	$38	$470

Ten tons delivered and spread is $470, $38 a ton before spreading: the gravel driveway cost guide works whole driveways this way, base and top together.

Step 4: read the quote the way the yard wrote it

Three questions settle a gravel quote. Per ton or per yard? A per-yard price on a heavy stone buys fewer tons, so convert before comparing two yards; the yard of gravel guide has the price of every stone both ways. Is delivery included, and from what quantity? A flat fee on one ton is most of the bill; on ten it disappears. Is it spread or tipped? Tipped means a pile in the drive and a weekend with a barrow; spread by a crew is about $12 a yard in the calculator's defaults, and a driver with a chute or a conveyor can drop it where you point for less.

Step 5: delivery day

Mark where the truck tips with a tarp or spray paint, close to the job and off the septic field, the lawn you care about and the neighbour's side of the line. A loaded dump truck is heavy; keep it off a paved drive in hot weather and off anything with pipes under it. Take the ticket, check the net weight against the order and the stone against the sample you saw at the yard, and pay once both match. Then spread it the same day: a pile of crushed stone that sits through a rain compacts into a hill.

Step 6: spread, compact, keep the rest

Rake a base out in one lift, wet it and run the plate compactor over it twice; a top layer goes on thin and level. Keep a few bags or a corner of the pile for the low spots that show after the first winter. The yards to tons guide converts whatever is left over back into a volume for the next job, and the Pro quote builder turns the whole list into a priced quote if the next job is for someone else.

Frequently asked questions

Should I order gravel by the ton or by the yard?: Order in whatever unit the yard prices, and convert with the density of the stone you are buying, not a generic figure. A yard of 3/4 in crushed stone is about 1.26 tons, a yard of pea gravel 1.35; so $30 a ton for crushed stone is the same money as $38 a yard. When both are offered, the ton is the safer unit: the truck goes over a scale and the weight is printed on the ticket, while a "yard" is a bucket heaped to the driver's judgment.
How many tons of gravel fit in a pickup truck?: The name on the truck is not the payload: the sticker inside the driver's door gives the rated payload in pounds, and 2,000 lb of stone plus the people in the cab has to fit under it. One ton of crushed stone is 0.79 cubic yards, 21 cubic feet, a layer about 8 in deep across a 6.5 x 5 ft bed. Above a ton it is a delivery.
What is the minimum delivery for bulk gravel?: Many yards deliver from one ton with a flat fee, which is why a single ton costs $105 at the door against $30 at the yard; others set a 5-ton minimum and fold the delivery into the price above it. Ask what the fee is and where it stops: five tons delivered is $225 against $165 for three, two more tons for $60, $45 a ton instead of $55.
How do I check I got the tonnage I paid for?: Ask for the weigh ticket: gross, tare and net weight from the scale at the yard. Then look at the pile: a ton of crushed stone is about 21 cubic feet, roughly 4 loads of a 6 cu ft wheelbarrow. If the ticket says 3 tons and the pile looks like 4 barrow loads rather than 11, ask questions before the truck leaves.

Figures are planning estimates from the calculators on this site and typical product data. Check the yield, size or coverage printed on what you buy, round up, and follow your local building code for structural work.