Size matters!

[NewHorizon's Land]

What size area (concrete pad) do I need to start a bulk supply yard selling one maybe two different sizes of stones, one maybe two bin(s) for mulch, and maybe two for compost products. I plan on putting a tractor trailer (75 yards) in at a time in each. Would a skid steer that was one cubic yard be better than a .5 cubic yard bucket? Also what total land sizedo I need for parking, turning, etc.

Thanks for all the help. Pics welcome

[SLSNursery]

50 feet deep +/-
14 feet wide minimum - esp. for barn door trailer dumps or walking floors
6 feet high minimum to stack.

I have some nice bin pictures on my Soundview website.

A good, accurate, .5 yard bucket is a safe start, you'll be more accurate and won't tip. We have a 1/2 yard skid steer loaders and 1 yard buckets on backhoes for small trucks. No one argues with quantities when they are even amounts.

[SLSNursery]

Here are the bins. One day we had 4 trailers unload at once. Size always matters. Make sure trucks have enough room to turn too! The pad is 6" thick with wire - 4000# mix. There is a problem over time with the back wall breaking off the edge of the pad. I am experimenting now with pouring a wide footing 18" - 24" deep under the line of the back wall as a add on and maintain the pad.

[NewHorizon's Land]

Would 1 acre be ok if I wanted to do say 6 bins. I need to put up chainlink fence around this entire thing as well due to this being a remote location.

[SLSNursery]

I think an acre would be a little tight. You have to consider the ability to have trucks turn around, including tractor trailers for deliveries and whatever size trucks you are going to load. The trucks you load depend upon your customers. Sometimes there are lines leading to the bins while 3 trucks are backed up to the bins. It only takes 1 or 2 pickups with landscape trailers to tie up a small piece of land if they are all headed the same way. Our plan included a loop around the yard for driving which allows backing up to the bins. I'd say the bins and the area directly in front of them is all of 1/3 if not 1/2 an acre. On 1 acre with a driveway and other things going on that doesn't leave much. Hope this helps.

[montlandscape]

In my market, one acre is plenty big for a small operation. I'm close to a city so space is very expensive. An acre of industrially zoned empty land is about $300,000. The company that supplies the little guys (1-10 yards at a time) has maybe a half acre at most. In the Spring he can do 100 yards a day. The bulk business does 75% of their business from March-June. My advice is do it if your prepared for all that Spring rush between yard and contracting. Good luck.