A customer calls a landscape-material supplier and says:
“My contractor or landscaper told me I need to order 20 yards of mulch.”
That may be exactly what the project needs. But when it is time to actually order the material, the quantity matters. You are paying for the material and delivery, and if a contractor or landscaper is installing it, you are also paying for installation—which may be priced by the cubic yard.
Ordering too much can mean paying for material and installation you did not need. Ordering too little can mean another trip or delivery and more work to finish the job.
Mulch is only one example. The material could be decorative rock, sand, road base, or another bulk material. Depending on the material, the quantity might be given in cubic yards or tons. Those are two different measurements: a ton measures weight, while a cubic yard measures volume—the amount of space the material occupies. Different materials can have different weights per cubic yard.
Before placing the order, it helps to understand what the recommended quantity represents.
How Was the Quantity Estimated?
There are different ways a contractor or landscaper may estimate how much material a project will need. Measurements, planned depth, calculations, experience with similar projects, and actual site conditions can all play a part.
Experience can be especially useful. A contractor or landscaper who has completed many similar projects may know from experience how much material those projects normally take.
But experience can also be tied to how much material the contractor or landscaper has historically received from a particular supplier.
A contractor or landscaper may have bought material from the same supplier for years. A supplier may sell a loader bucket or scoop as a “yard” even though the amount actually loaded may be less than one full cubic yard.
Here is a simple example.
If the amount sold as a “yard” actually works out to three-quarters of a cubic yard, then every four of those “yards” contain three actual cubic yards of material. That means 20 of those loads contain 15 actual cubic yards.
A contractor or landscaper who has bought from that supplier for years may simply know from experience that a project like this takes 20 of those “yards.” But if 20 of those loads actually contain only 15 cubic yards, then 15 cubic yards is what the project actually needs.
At Mulch & Stuff, we use a full one-cubic-yard bucket. So for that same project, your contractor or landscaper would need to purchase only 15 cubic yards from us—not 20.
The contractor or landscaper was not necessarily wrong. They knew from experience how many “yards” they needed from their usual supplier. The difference is how much material was actually in those “yards.”
Are You Comparing the Same Amount of Material?
This matters when you start comparing prices. A price comparison only makes sense if the suppliers are pricing the same amount of material.
A lower price does not necessarily mean a better price if you are getting less material for your money.
That is also why we have an Honest Load Size & Savings Calculator on the Mulch & Stuff homepage. Enter the length, width, and depth of the area, along with the price you were quoted down the street. The calculator shows how much material that area needs and how the quantities and prices compare when the “yards” being sold are not the same size.
How Much Material Does the Project Need?
The amount of material a project needs starts with the area being covered and the depth of the material. How large is the area? How deep will the material be installed? Those measurements can be used to estimate the amount of material needed.
Real projects are not always that simple. They may have several areas, unusual shapes, different depths, slopes, obstacles, or material already in place. These conditions can affect how much material is ultimately needed.
The Mulch & Stuff Landscape Material Project Planner was developed for projects that are more involved than one simple rectangular area. It can help you work through multiple project areas, different shapes, materials, and depths, then bring those individual requirements together into an estimated quantity for the overall project.
Understand the Number Before You Order
What matters when you place the order is understanding how much material the project needs and how much material you are actually buying.
When those two quantities are understood, you can make a meaningful price comparison and order the amount of material needed to complete the project.
