Bulk Order Pack

Sold by weight, used by volume, and it shrinks in between

A volume calculator gives you what the hole holds. The yard sells by the ton. Between those two numbers sit two things nobody mentions at the counter: bulk material arrives loose and full of air — a plate compactor drives about a fifth of that out of crushed stone, so a base ordered at its finished depth arrives short — and below a minimum load a ready-mix supplier charges for the truck whether it is full or not. This is the order factor for six materials, the base depth by what will stand on it with tonnages per hundred square feet, the bags-versus-bulk crossover with the arithmetic shown, slab volumes with the over-order allowance and the thickened-edge correction, and the short-load fee that is never in the price per yard. 9 pages, printable, ending in what to settle before the delivery and a fill-in sheet for your own job. Advisory: your supplier's own densities and fees govern, and structural work needs an engineer.

Look inside

Two full pages from the pack, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• Why a finished volume is not an order, and the factor that converts one to the other
• Loose density and order factor for six materials, matched to this site's own calculators
• What to order by area and depth: base at 4in and 6in, bedding sand at 1in
• Base depth by what stands on it — walkway, patio on clay, shed, driveway, heavy driveway
• Tonnage per 100 sq ft with the compaction allowance already included
• Why an 8in base has to go down as two lifts, and what happens when it does not
• The bags-versus-bulk crossover, with both costs shown rather than a verdict
• What a bag of concrete actually yields, and bags per cubic yard for three sizes
• Slab volumes for seven common sizes, with the over-order allowance applied
• The thickened-edge correction — why perimeter times width overstates the beam
• The short-load fee, what it costs at each order size, and when to order MORE because of it
• A parking pad worked end to end, from area to what to say down the phone
• What to settle before the delivery, and a fill-in sheet for your own job

The pack complements the free calculators — they do the arithmetic, it carries the specifications and the plan they cannot know.