Gravel Parking Area Price?

[Darryl G]

I guess this would fall in the hardscaping category. It's not something that I do a lot of but I have resurfaced gravel driveways before. I'm sure you're all tired of the how much to charge threads but I have a reason for this one that i'll let you in on later. I have already priced it and gotten the job and will be doing it tomorrow.

I'm putting in a crushed stone parking area that measures 10 x 50 feet so 5,000 square feet. I'll be taking out 4 inches of the existing sod and soil and disposing of it onsite. Then I'll be putting down 15 tons of 3/4 process stone (traprock/basalt) or crusher run as some call it.

I've got a dump trailer and compact utility tractor. I figure I should be able to do it in a day, hopefully. It's about an hour drive though. I'm having the stone delivered. No fabric, base drainage stone or edging/curbing is going in, the customer and I discussed the pro's and con's and are skipping those item.

The customer is paying for the stone and hauling themselves, about $275. So what's the approximatel value of the labor to dig out this area and put down the stone? I will compact it in 2 inch lifts with the front-end loader.

Thanks in advance.

[TomG]

Originally Posted by darryl gesner

I'm putting in a crushed stone parking area that measures 10 x 50 feet so 5,000 square feet. I'll be taking out 4 inches of the existing sod and soil and disposing of it onsite. Then I'll be putting down 15 tons of 3/4 process stone (traprock/basalt) or crusher run as some call it.

Your pricing might be a little off, to start with. Hopefully that's a typo!

[Darryl G]

Lol, yeah it's a typo. It was orignially 350 sq feet but I felt 7 feet was too narrow for a parking area so it was increased to 10 feet wide. I've already found the invisible fence and cut in the edges by hand.

[Dirt Boy]

Perhaps I'm out of line here, but 500 sq. ft. x 4" thick compacted is going to take 10 - 10 1/2 ton max.

All depends on how far you have to haul it to dispose of the virgin material, but I would figure 2 hours tops to dig that out (2 hrs. @ $65), + if you have to haul it whatever that amounts to (2 hrs? @ $65) + your travel time (1 hr @ $45), + return time (1 hr @ 45) + profit.
I would price it myself at about $400 - 450 they're providing materials.

[Darryl G]

Ok. I've got some more time to explain now. This job is for a family member. They've been parking on the lawn in two areas off the driveway and have been making a muddy mess of it so they need some additional parking. They'll be selling the house in 1 to 3 years so don't want to invest a lot in it. It needs to be done during the workweek and not the weekend or I probably wouldn't charge anything for it. But since I have to haul out there an hour each way with my equipment and take a day off from work to do it, I threw out $300. My family member didn't think that was enough and countered with $500.

My normal minimum for tractor work would be 5 hours at $75/hour, but I'd probably budget for 8 hours or $600 plus $150 mob/demob fee, plus I'd be marking up materials. I'd probably be in the $1,000 range for this job, with materials, if it weren't for a family member. But I really have no idea what the going rate is since I don't usually do this type of work for hire. I do have about 1,000 feet of my own gravel driveway that I maintain and I have graded and added parking areas on my property as well. What I'm a bit unsure of is how long it's going to take me to excavate and grade the area. Spreading the stone is the easy part and goes pretty quickly.

Thoughts?

[Snyder's Lawn Inc]

should told them need a base put in 3'' rock then dress up with 1/2-3/4'' rock
That way it rain wont sink real fast
Can t help labor end never did that type work with front end loader always used Skid loader
travel time say $3-$4 per mile one way
i get $75 per hr for Skidloader same on the dump trailer

[Darryl G]

Dirtboy...I guess you replied while I was typing my other reply. I'll probably take it down a little further than 4 inches and if there's any extra I'll spread it around the back yard fire pit or put it in reserve. I'd rather have too much than too little. I can always take some back with me too. My experience with this material is that it compacts a good bit. The excavated soil is being dumped in the back yard. The quarry gave me a weight of 1.75 tons/yard for it.

But yeah, most of my experience has been with resurfacing existing driveways, most of it being on my own. I did also do a pad 15 x 25 pad for my 10 x 20 shed and an approx. 100 foot x 15 foot drive and parking area back to it. Years ago I did a 10 ton resurfacing job for $500 and didn't feel like I charged enough for it.

[Darryl G]

Originally Posted by Snyder's Lawn Inc

should told them need a base put in 3'' rock then dress up with 1/2-3/4'' rock
That way it rain wont sink real fast
Can t help labor end never did that type work with front end loader always used Skid loader
travel time say $3-$4 per mile one way
i get $75 per hr for Skidloader same on the dump trailer

Yeah. I hear you on the base stone. I have used both 3/4 inch clean and 3.5 inch clean base stone at my place. The 3.5 was for a wet area.

The deal is that we don't want to pay for multiple loads at a $75 minimum and if I haul it myself I don't think I'll have time in one day. It's only about 10 miles to the quarry but it's a congested area. With yard time I'd be over an hour a trip and can only haul 3.5 tons at a time.

But this is just a parking area off the paved driveway that won't see heavy traffic. Hopefully it will be ok. It is pitched enough to drain yet not wash out.

This is kind of a low budget quick fix really. If it holds up for 3 years until they sell the place and keeps them from getting stuck in the yard they'll be happy.

[Darryl G]

Did the job today. It was too wet/soft to dump out back with the truck/trailer so I had to run it all back scoop by scoop with tractor, which added some time. But the job went well overall. I even had a little stone left for around the fire ring.

Here's a picture of the finished job. It should darken up a bit and blend in with the paved driveway better once it rains and rinses the dust off the stone.

[Dirt Boy]

Looks good!
BUT, why did you stop 2' away from the sidewalk? Seems it's going to get drove on, or at least part of it is, and then trying to take care of it? Looks like a pain to me. But as long as they're happy, alls good.

By the way, how long did it end up taking overall?