About BagTally

BagTally is a set of free calculators for landscaping and building materials — gravel, crushed stone, sand, mulch, topsoil, and more — that turn an area and a depth into orderable quantities: cubic yards, tons, and — where standard retail bag sizes exist — bag counts.

Why it exists

Most material calculators multiply length × width × depth and stop. That misses the two calls that decide whether your order is right. First, compaction: dense-graded materials like crusher run or paver base settle roughly a fifth to a quarter when tamped — order the in-place volume and the base finishes thin. Second, bags versus bulk: the practical way to buy depends on project size, and the answer should be a recommendation, not two numbers side by side. BagTally builds both into every page.

How the numbers are built

Every material density on this site is stored with source URLs and a verification date; the methodology page lists each density assumption with its source links. The math runs through one small, heavily tested engine: the numeric results in each page's worked example are calculated by that same engine at build time (the surrounding scenario text is written by hand and kept free of duplicated numbers), and an automated test suite checks the engine against golden fixtures derived from independent third-party calculators before any change ships.

Accuracy and limits

Results are planning estimates. Real-world densities vary with moisture, region, and supplier, so treat the output as a solid starting point — and confirm final quantities with your supplier before ordering, especially for large bulk deliveries.

Contact

Spotted an error, or want a material added? Email [email protected].