Price of Clean Fill Dirt

[RA12]

So, I use to have my guy boarded, but now he and his buddy are home with me. Yay. But now, I need to fill in his run-in shelter. It is getting bare of the dirt that was in there.

I live in Texas. I know there is always free dirt available if you can pick it up yourself. I have no equipment but a pick-up truck and a shovel to do that. So, it’s somewhat out of the question. Buying fill dirt is about $100 for 4 yards, or so I have found. My questions is, is this a good price? Delivery is free.

Thank you so much!

[Mosey_2003]

If you have no other option, does it matter what the price is?

You could see if anyone has a small dump truck to rent for a day and compare the price (+fuel) to what it would be buying it with free delivery. I think Home Depot rents trucks. 4 yards would be a little under 5.5 tons.

[RA12]

Unfortunately, price does matter. I have just never had to buy dirt before, so I wanted to see if it’s a good deal. I don’t have $$$ to just shell out.

[poltroon]

$100 with free delivery is actually a great deal IMHO. For me a delivery alone of any amount of any gravel/dirt/stone costs that much. (I am about 20 miles from the yard.)

Even if you have your own truck, as I do, delivery is your friend because:

1. My truck would need to make that in at least two trips, probably 3, to avoid overloading it. Not counting my time, it’s four gallons of gas a trip.

2. The delivery truck will also dump it out for you. Shoveling even a yard of dirt/material out of the bed of a pickup truck gets ever so old. Once it is out, it can be shoved with a tractor.

Sometimes free dirt can be located… but it almost always involves shoveling in both in AND out of your truck.

The other advantage of buying the dirt is that usually it means some sort of quality control has been attached to it - ie, it’s not full of nails and toxic waste. Always a good thing to ask.

[gumtree]

Usually what ever is in the truck is the cheapest part of the equation. A ton of gravel cost a few dollars, depending on mileage to have the same ton delivered is going to be $75-100 in my neck of the woods, under 10 miles.

Dirt is dirt cheap getting it trucked in is not. 4 yards is not very much. But is more weight than the average Pick up truck can carry. The delivery charge is pretty much the same regardless of how much is in the truck.

[Jeannette_formerly_ponygyrl]

Yes, if it’s 100 for 4 yards, I would look around for a triple or quad axle truck which can hold more like 12- 16 yards - might still be about 100 bucks…

[wildlifer]

Having lived in TX for 2 yrs between undergrad & grad school, it’s much like NC in this way –

It depends on who you know, LOL.

(1) Do not fill your truck bed & shovel it out, your body will never forgive you. Don’t ask me (or my local quarry) how I know. At the very LEAST, rent a 1-ton dump trailer. Worth. Every. Penny.

(2) Delivery is SO worth it. I have a meter on my personal truck (7.3L F250) which tracks everything, including how much each trip costs. I started out picking up my own hay w/ my horse trailer to save some money, since hay guy is only about 20 miles away. After one trip, I check & the cost of my diesel + my time + back arthritis rage = it gets delivered now!

(3) CLEAN fill dirt is not cheap anywhere (well, depending on your definition of clean), but filling a triple axle or larger is always more cost-efficient than small loads. IME, there is no instance where I’ve ever thought, gosh, I have NO uses for extra material around this farm…

[poltroon]

[QUOTE=wildlifer;7950099]
3) CLEAN fill dirt is not cheap anywhere (well, depending on your definition of clean), but filling a triple axle or larger is always more cost-efficient than small loads. IME, there is no instance where I’ve ever thought, gosh, I have NO uses for extra material around this farm… ;P[/QUOTE]

So true! I love love love having a pile of leftover gravel that I can just shovel into a recent muddy spot. It makes my life nicer and incidentally, I find that going after those holes immediately often solves the problem such that I won’t need a big load of material.

The direct cost of material in my area is usually $15-$25 a ton plus delivery, but I am buying actual rock/gravel/sand that is processed rather than fill dirt. Your prices for the same are going to vary largely by how far the material has to be trucked to you to get to the local yard and the price of fuel when it was moved.

[Jeannette_formerly_ponygyrl]

If you’re on a definite timeline this tip probably won’t help, but for those of us who always could find a use for a couple (dozen)truckloads of dirt - I have had very good luck stopping to chat with dump truck operators at road and building projects. It helps that I’m in a developing area, so someone is always flattening a hill or putting in a road, but I’ve gotten literally hundreds of tons of free dirt over the years. Haven’t even had to wear skimpy shorts - just stopped and chatted with a couple of foremen when I see them near a pile of dirt.

[RA12]

Thank you guys so much for all your thoughts and opinions! They mean A LOT!

[Mosey_2003]

[QUOTE=RA12;7949069]
Unfortunately, price does matter. I have just never had to buy dirt before, so I wanted to see if it’s a good deal. I don’t have $$$ to just shell out.[/QUOTE]
For the record, what I meant was if the delivery quoted was the only method you had of getting it, the price doesn’t matter per se because you had no other option. IE, either pay their price or have no dirt.

I am glad others could confirm that what you have available is indeed a good deal