Gravel priced by the ton: how many cubic yards you're getting

You worked out the base for a patio or path in cubic feet or cubic yards, then called a stone yard and got a price per ton. Both are allowed. NIST Handbook 130, the model rule on how goods are sold, says bulk aggregate, sand, chipped rock, landscape rock and topsoil must be sold by the cubic yard or cubic meter, or by weight. Flagstone is sold by weight only.

Source: NIST Handbook 130 (2026), Uniform Regulation for the Method of Sale of Commodities, checked October 11, 2026.

A yard is a volume and a ton is a weight, so you need a link between them: what one cubic yard of that material weighs. That figure changes from stone to stone, so the only reliable one comes from the yard selling it. A short ton is 2,000 pounds, and NIST lists it at 907 kilograms.

Source: NIST Guide to the SI (SP 811), Appendix B.8 conversion factors, checked October 11, 2026.

1. 1

   Get the volume first

   Run the gravel calculator for your base. It gives cubic feet and cubic yards. Our example patio is 10 x 12 ft on a 4 inch base: 40 cubic feet, or 1.48 cubic yards.

2. 2

   Ask for the weight per yard

   Ask the yard what one cubic yard of that exact stone weighs. Write down the stone's name as they say it, not just gravel.

3. 3

   Tons to order

   Cubic yards × pounds per yard ÷ 2,000. At the example 2,700 lb per yard, 1.48 yards is 4,000 lb, or 2 tons.

   Source: NIST Guide to the SI (SP 811), Appendix B.8 conversion factors, checked October 11, 2026.

4. 4

   Or yards in a quote

   If you were quoted tons, tons × 2,000 ÷ pounds per yard gives the yards. Three tons at 2,700 lb per yard is 2.22 yards.

5. 5

   Compare against your job

   Set the yards you'd get beside the yards you need, then ask how the yard rounds an order before you settle on a number.

• 2,000 lbin a short tonNIST Guide to the SI (SP 811), Appendix B.8 conversion factors, October 11, 2026
• 27 cu ftin a cubic yardMSU Extension P2301, mulches, October 9, 2026
• about 0.6 cu ftin one 60 lb gravel bag (example label)Sakrete All-Purpose Gravel data sheet, October 6, 2026
• 1.35 tonsper yard at that bag's weightArithmetic

Arithmetic only, across a spread of weights per yard picked for illustration. 2,700 lb comes from the example bag label; the other two rows are not measured figures for any stone.

The table shows why the weight per yard matters. Between the lightest and heaviest rows, the same 1.48 yard patio base swings by close to half a ton. Guessing the figure can leave you short or with a pile left over in the driveway.