How to calculate cubic yards for any project
Ordering bulk material is easy once you know the one number suppliers care about: cubic yards. Here is how to work it out in a few minutes.
Step 1: Measure in the same unit
Measure the length and width of the area and decide how deep the material should be. Convert everything to feet. Depth is usually measured in inches, so divide it by 12. Four inches becomes 0.333 feet.
Step 2: Multiply to get cubic feet
Multiply length × width × depth. For a 10 ft by 8 ft bed filled 4 inches deep, that is 10 × 8 × 0.333 = 26.67 cubic feet.
Step 3: Divide by 27
There are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard, so divide the result by 27. Here, 26.67 ÷ 27 gives 0.99 cubic yards.
Step 4: Add a safety margin
Material settles and ground is rarely perfectly level. Adding 5–10% usually prevents a second delivery. If your project has several identical areas, multiply the final figure by the number of areas.
Typical depths
Mulch is often spread 2–3 inches deep, topsoil for a new lawn 4–6 inches, and gravel paths about 2–4 inches. Check your supplier’s advice for your specific material.
Skip the arithmetic with our cubic yard calculator, which also converts units and estimates weight. Planning a planting bed? Try the garden size calculator as well.