StudSheet Trades Landscaping and hardscaping
Patios, walls and beds. Counted.
Measure the yard once. StudSheet works out the gravel base, bedding sand, pavers and edging, the retaining wall blocks, caps and drain stone, and the soil for raised beds, with the math shown, then prices it for an estimate the client signs on their phone.
The outdoor Sheets
- Paver patio: a patio, a walk or a driveway, with the base depth for the use and the soil, bedding sand, pavers by size and pattern (running bond, herringbone or random), edge restraint, and polymeric or plain joint sand.
- Garden or retaining wall: blocks by course with the buried course, caps, base gravel and drain stone, for a wall up to 4 ft, with the height where your town asks for an engineer.
- Raised garden bed: cedar, pressure-treated or a composite kit, corner posts or brackets, a liner (cardboard, landscape fabric or hardware cloth) and the soil by the bag or the yard.
- Fences and decks: the fence, deck and deck and fence stain Sheets, on the decks and fences page.
- Service plans for recurring visits, with a checklist filled on the phone at each one.
From the paver patio Sheet: 16′ × 12′ paver patio
16′ × 12′ paver patio: 208 sq ft of pavers, 5 cu yd of gravel base, 34 bags of bedding sand and 40 ft of edge restraint.
| Buy | Item | How StudSheet counts it |
|---|---|---|
| 5 cu yd delivered | Crushed stone base, bulk | 17′ × 12′ 6″ (the patio + 6″ past the three open sides) = 213 sq ft × 6″ deep, +20% because it compacts = 127.5 cu ft — about 7 tons. Order it delivered (255 bags otherwise). No stone dust: it holds water. |
| 34 bags | Leveling sand | 192 sq ft × 1″ + 5% for screeding = 16.8 cu ft ÷ 0.5 cu ft a bag. Coarse sand, not fine play sand. |
| 208 sq ft (≈936 pieces) | Concrete pavers | 192 sq ft + 5% for a running bond pattern + 3% for the edge cuts; 4.5 pieces a sq ft with joints. Buy from one lot number so the color matches; check the pallet’s coverage. |
| 6 sections | Paver edge restraint, 6′8″ sections | 40 ft of open edge (none along the house) ÷ 6′ 8″ a section. |
| 5 bags | Polymeric joint sand, 50 lb | 192 sq ft + 10% for topping up ÷ about 50 sq ft a bag for 4×8 brick-style pavers with narrow joints. Wider joints and thicker pavers take more: read the bag’s chart. |
The Sheet has 8 lines like these, each with its math. Change a size and every line follows; on a job, each line takes your price. The whole worked example · Open the paver patio calculator
Questions
How deep should the base be for a paver patio?
It depends on what goes on it and on the soil. The paver Sheet picks the depth from both: for its worked example, a 16′ × 12′ patio, that’s 6″ of compacted gravel under 1″ of bedding sand, and more for a driveway or clay. The paver calculator shows the depth it picked and why, and you can change it.
How much gravel and sand for a 16×12 patio?
About 5 cubic yards of base and 34 bags of bedding sand. The base runs past the patio’s edges (17′ × 12′6″), 6″ deep, plus 20% because it compacts: 127.5 cubic feet, about 7 tons. The pavers come to 208 sq ft with 5% for the pattern and 3% for the edge cuts.