Once I order a certain number of cubic yards of beauty barks or soil (soon!) from a contractor who delivers it in a truck and dumps it where I ask him to. Often the volume just does not look like what I ordered but I have no way to second guess the delivery guy without having some practical formula to back me up. So I wonder if arborists know of one. I know the equation for calculating the volume of a cone but the dumped material does not exactly follow the shape of a perfect cone though it is the closest mathematical shape it resembles. I figure there must be some kind of empirical formula that could be used here better than the equation of a cone. Any takers?
Estimating volume of delivered soil or bark
- Thread starter gebo
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Treeman14 said:Measure it while its still in the truck, before he dumps it!
Good point, except for one thing: such trucks usually carry load for several customers, not just for me. The driver then dumps some of it at my house and claims that it's -- say -- five cubic yards when to me it looks more like 3.
Newfie
Addicted to ArboristSite
Well then I think you have got a valid complaint. Is the guy screwing you with a delivery charge as well? Never heard of such delivery practices before.
yea there no way he can just say thats it right there........ i'd say find a new place......... people here never mix orders unless they put one load in the truck and another in a pup. mixing loads just aint right.
Well, there is a justification for that when a single order volume is not big enough to justify a full delivery charge. By delivering several smalller orders, the delivery charge is also spread around.Derag2 said:
Newfie
Addicted to ArboristSite
They make smaller trucks designed to deliver 5 yard loads and the delivery charge is typically less for a smaller vehicle. Find a new supplier.
Vicci
ArboristSite Lurker
Okay, here's a question in a similar vein-- how do I estimate the quantity of wood mulch that I will need for a particular area? What exactly is a "yard" (length x width x depth)? I need a lot of mulch and have been spoiled in previous years by tree-trimming companies stopping by the clear out their trucks (I'm not picky, I'll take any wood chip mulch!). Unfortunately, they haven't been coming around as often this year and the existing mulch is getting quite thin.
Tree Wizard
ArboristSite Operative
A yard is a cubic yard. To determine how much you need use this formula.
[(12/depth in inches) X (area in square feet)] divided by 27 = cubic yards
[(12/depth in inches) X (area in square feet)] divided by 27 = cubic yards
Vicci
ArboristSite Lurker
Thanks tree wizard! I had been delaying doing this because I didn't know how to figure it out.. 
