How much to order
Compacted base under pavement and slabs.
Set tons per truck to whatever your haulers legally run — it's a different number in every state and for every axle configuration, so there's no sensible default to give you. The last load rounds up, because you can't order four tenths of a haul. Price is material at the quarry unless your supplier quoted delivered; haul is usually separate and billed by the load, not the ton.
What a load covers
The other direction: the stone is already bought, and the question is how far to spread it.
Why the yard is the wrong unit
The quarry weighs the truck. Your ticket says tons, your invoice says tons, and the haul is billed by the load — so a takeoff in cubic yards has to be converted before it means anything to anyone you're buying from.
The conversion is a density, in tons per cubic yard, and it is not one number. Washed #57 is placed loose and stays open, so it runs about 1.35. Crusher run is graded to compact, and in place it is nearer 1.85. Same hole, same yards, and nearly forty percent more tonnage on the ticket.
Order a little more than you need
Five to ten percent. The subgrade is never as flat as the plan said, some always disappears into soft spots, and the cost of coming back for three tons is an entire haul. Rounding up to the next full load is usually the cheaper mistake.
Tons per 100 square feet
The number to have in your head when the quarry asks how much you want. Multiply by the hundreds of square feet you're covering.
| Depth | #57/#67 washed stone | #78/#89 stone | Crusher run/ABC | Recycled concrete base | Screenings/stone dust | Sand | Rip rap | Screened topsoil |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2" | 0.83 | 0.86 | 1.14 | 0.99 | 0.86 | 0.83 | 0.93 | 0.71 |
| 3" | 1.25 | 1.30 | 1.71 | 1.48 | 1.30 | 1.25 | 1.39 | 1.06 |
| 4" | 1.67 | 1.73 | 2.28 | 1.98 | 1.73 | 1.67 | 1.85 | 1.42 |
| 6" | 2.50 | 2.59 | 3.43 | 2.96 | 2.59 | 2.50 | 2.78 | 2.13 |
| 8" | 3.33 | 3.46 | 4.57 | 3.95 | 3.46 | 3.33 | 3.70 | 2.84 |
| 12" | 5.00 | 5.19 | 6.85 | 5.93 | 5.19 | 5.00 | 5.56 | 4.26 |
Tons per 100 SF. Densities are the middle of the usual range — two quarries can be a tenth of a ton apart on the same spec, so use your supplier's figure when you have it.
A worked example
A parking area 60 by 100 feet gets 6 inches of crusher run. That is 6,000 square feet at half a foot, so 6,000 × 0.5 = 3,000 cubic feet, or 3,000 ÷ 27 = 111 cubic yards. At 1.85 tons per yard that is 206 tons, and with 5 percent for waste, 216 tons — eleven loads if your trucks run 20 tons, ten if they run 22.
The same pad in #57 for a temporary construction entrance comes to 158 tons on the same 5 percent — two loads fewer, because the stone is lighter and doesn't pack. Ordering one off the other's tonnage is how a load arrives short.
Questions people ask
How many tons of stone do I need?
Multiply the area in square feet by the depth in feet to get cubic feet, divide by 27 for cubic yards, then multiply by the density in tons per cubic yard. Crusher run runs about 1.85 tons per yard in place and washed stone about 1.35, so the same hole takes very different tonnage depending on what goes in it.
How many tons are in a truckload of stone?
It depends entirely on where you are and what is under the bed. Legal gross weight is set by the state and by axle configuration, so a tandem, a tri-axle and a quad axle are nowhere near each other, and a permit moves it again. Ask your hauler what they actually run rather than trusting a number off the internet — the bed size is not the limit, the scale is. Quarries sell by the ton off that scale, so a partial load still costs a full haul.
How much area does a ton of crusher run cover?
At 4 inches deep, one ton of crusher run covers roughly 44 square feet. Multiply by whatever your trucks legally haul: a 20-ton load covers about 875 square feet at that depth, near enough to a 30 by 30 pad.
How many tons per cubic yard is crushed stone?
Washed drainage stone like #57 is around 1.35 tons per cubic yard because it is placed loose and stays open. Crusher run compacts, so in place it is nearer 1.85. Densities vary from quarry to quarry, so the supplier's number beats any table.
Should I add waste to a stone order?
Usually five to ten percent. The subgrade is never as flat as the plan, some gets lost in the spread, and coming back for three tons costs a whole haul. Over-ordering slightly is cheaper than a second trip.
Stone is one line on a bid
The tons are the easy part — what decides whether the line makes money is the placing cost, the crew and equipment behind it, and the markup on top. DirtIQ prices work from your own cost library, for excavation and site utility contractors.
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