Fill Dirt Near Me

Buying fill dirt locally

Subsoil material free of organic matter, used for grading, filling, and raising elevation. Fill dirt is a lower-grade soil that lacks the nutrients of topsoil, making it ideal for structural and non-growing applications where settling must be minimized. Yards also call it Clean Fill or Structural Fill. GoodGravel lists 146 suppliers that stock fill dirt across 42 states. 65 of them deliver and 31 are pits or quarries that sell straight from the stockpile.

Expect fill dirt to run $5 to $15 per ton at the yard, or $8 to $25 per cubic yard. A 10 ton load is $50 to $150 before delivery. Often the cheapest material to have delivered. Some contractors give it away free from excavation sites — check local classifieds. Pits sit at the low end of that range and landscape yards at the high end, since the yard bought it from a pit and trucked it in.

Fill Dirt works well for grading and leveling, filling holes and depressions, raising elevation, and backfill behind retaining walls. Skip it for planting or gardening and surface applications. The upside: very affordable — often cheapest material available and compacts firmly for structural support. The catch: not suitable for growing plants.

Fine to coarse soil particles, free of organic matter like roots, grass, or leaves. Color ranges from tan to reddish-brown depending on local geology. "Clean fill" means free of debris, rocks larger than 3", and contaminants. One cubic yard of fill dirt weighs about 1.25 tons. A 3 inch layer over 500 square feet takes 4.6 cubic yards, which is close to 5.8 tons. Add 10 percent for settling and the odd low spot.

Press the location button at the top of the page and the list sorts by distance from you. Call the closest yard and ask for fill dirt by name and by size. Ask if it is washed or still has fines in it, because that changes how it drains and how it packs. If the nearest yard is out, the next one is usually within 20 miles when you are near a city.

Under 2 tons, pickup with your own truck or a trailer is the cheaper route. A half ton pickup takes about a third of a yard per trip. Above 5 tons, delivery starts to pay for itself because the fee spreads over more stone. Either way, get the total price for your exact tonnage from two yards and compare those totals, not the price per ton.

Read more about the material on the fill dirt guide.