Landscape material calculator
How many yards of mulch, gravel or soil?
Measure the bed, pick the material and depth, and get the cubic yards for a bulk delivery or the number of bags to load into the truck.
Nothing you enter is saved or sent.
Bag sizes are the common retail ones. Check the volume printed on the bag, and round a bulk order up to the supplier's increment, often half a yard.
The formula
Area in square feet, times depth in feet, gives cubic feet. Divide by 27 for cubic yards. Depth is where the mistakes happen: 3 inches is 3 ÷ 12 = 0.25 feet.
One cubic yard covers
| Depth | Area covered by 1 cubic yard |
|---|---|
| 1 inch | 324 sq ft |
| 2 inches | 162 sq ft |
| 3 inches | 108 sq ft |
| 4 inches | 81 sq ft |
| 6 inches | 54 sq ft |
Typical depths
- Mulch: 2 to 3 inches on beds. Much deeper can keep water from reaching roots; keep it pulled back from trunks and stems.
- Gravel: about 2 inches for a path or decorative cover; driveways are built deeper, in layers.
- Topsoil: 4 to 6 inches for a new lawn or bed; a thin top-dressing is far less.
- Sand: around 1 inch as a bedding layer under pavers.
Bulk or bags?
A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, so it takes 13 or 14 two-cubic-foot bags to match one yard of bulk mulch. Bags are convenient for small beds and easy to carry through a gate. From about a yard upward, bulk is usually cheaper per yard even with a delivery fee, as long as there is somewhere to tip it.
The quantity is sorted. Now price the job.
ScopeBid: Estimate & Invoice is an offline estimate and invoice app for independent service professionals, on iPhone and iPad. Its listing says Profit Guard shows gross margin and markup side by side before a quote is sent, and each quote goes out as a PDF.
Get ScopeBid on the App StoreYour first three quotes are free with full PDFs. ScopeBid Pro is an optional auto-renewing subscription for unlimited quoting and the wider job-costing and invoicing workflow. Check the App Store for current terms.
Honest Little Apps publishes both ScopeBid and this page. This is a separate browser tool and does not sync with the app. App details checked November 10, 2026.
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