Project Hub
Landscaping Materials Project Hub
Sizing, coverage, and buying guides for gravel, cubic yards, mulch, topsoil, and river rock projects. Every calculator returns cubic yards, weight, and bag count so bulk and bagged pricing are directly comparable.
Bulk landscape materials are one of the areas where a small measurement or unit-conversion error costs the most money. A driveway top-up ordered by the ton but planned by the cubic yard, or a mulch bed ordered by the bag when bulk would have been half the price, are the two most common mistakes we see in reader questions. This hub groups the five foundational material calculators (gravel, cubic yard, mulch, topsoil, river rock) with the reference guides that answer the questions people ask before ordering.
Start with the material you are ordering; each calculator returns cubic yards, weight in tons, bag count, and a recommended bulk order rounded to the nearest half yard. Then read the coverage and depth guides for that material to confirm the number matches your project.
Start here
Cubic Yard CalculatorThe one calculator that converts length, width, and depth to cubic yards for any bulk material.
Calculators
Planning and reference guides
Common questions
- How are cubic yards calculated?
- Cubic yards = (length ft x width ft x depth in) / 324. That single formula covers driveways, patios, garden beds, and drainage trenches.
- Bulk delivery or bags: which is cheaper?
- Bulk is almost always cheaper per cubic yard once your project is above about 1 to 2 cubic yards, and delivery fees flatten out as order size grows. Bags win only for small jobs or sites without vehicle access.
- What waste percentage should I use?
- 10 percent is a common default. Use 5 percent for tightly bounded projects and 15 percent for long trenches, irregular shapes, or long hauls.
Related project hubs
Sources and methodology
All volumes derive from the standard (length x width x depth) / 27 relationship. Material densities use conservative averages for dry material and are stated in the assumptions block on every calculator. Bag coverages use the most common home-center bag size (50 lb for stone, 40 lb for topsoil, 2 cu ft for mulch). See our full methodology page for how we source and review each figure.
Last reviewed .