How Much Does Top Soil Delivery Cost?

Soil is great as a decorative feature - it makes your lawn and garden look neat and polished. But the benefits go beyond looks.

Soil reduces the amount of yard work you need to do by slowing weed growth, improving soil quality, reducing water loss from the soil and protecting roots from extreme temperatures.

About Soil Delivery

There are two basic types of soil: organic and inorganic.

• Organic soil improves the soil by adding organic materials, but it breaks down after a few years and has to be replaced. Organic soil includes bark soil, wood chips, pine needles, grass clippings, hay, leaves - even newspaper.
• Inorganic soil is much longer lasting, but it doesn’t do anything to improve the soil. Like organic soil, however, it is a great insulator. Rocks, stone, plastic and landscape fabric are all examples of inorganic soil.

Soil is typically sold by the cubic yard. To figure out how much you’ll need, measure the length and width of the beds you want to fill (or the diameter for circular beds), then figure out how deep you would like the soil to be (2-4 inches is common). Armed with those numbers, you can either call a local company to see how much soil they suggest or use an online calculator like this one from a Connecticut nursery.

Delivery services typically drop the soil in your driveway, unless you pay extra to have the company do the spreading. Soil can be delivered when you’re not at home, but you’ll have to clearly mark where you want it to go.

Cost to Deliver Soil

Soil usually ranges in price from $10-$60 per cubic yard (27 square feet), not including delivery or spreading.

• Rough wood chips fall on the low end of that range, while high-quality woods like cedar fall on the high end.
• Most bark soil and wood chips fall cost $20-$30 per cubic yard.
• Gravel and stone start at about $25 per cubic yard but can range up to $80, depending on quality, color and availability.

Delivery and labor often double the cost, so if you’re buying soil for around $30 per cubic yard, expect the total bill to be about $60 per cubic yard. However, some companies drop the per-cubic yard delivery price for large orders.

Labor typically includes spreading the soil in your beds, but it usually does not cover things like preparing the beds by pulling weeds and raking soil. Those tasks cost extra - often about $30-$50 per hour. You can save money by handling those tasks yourself, or you save even more by skipping the installation altogether.

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