Landscaping and groundwork calculators

Loose materials are all measured the same way — the area you are covering multiplied by how deep you want it — and the arithmetic is the least interesting part. What separates a good order from a bad one is knowing how the material behaves between the yard and the ground.

Gravel is the one that catches people out, because it is laid compacted and sold loose. Skip that conversion and every driveway is short by a fifth or more. Soil moves the other way: it settles over a season, so beds filled level in spring sit low by autumn. Mulch does neither in any way worth calculating, which is why it is the simplest of the three.

Weight is where these tools stay deliberately cautious. Bulk suppliers often quote per ton, and a cubic yard of stone or soil can vary by several hundred pounds depending on the rock it came from and how much rain fell last week. Where a published typical density exists, it is used and the spread is shown alongside. Where none exists, no weight is offered at all — you are asked for your supplier's figure instead of being handed an average that nobody stands behind.