frequently asked questions

Fill dirt is subsoil with the organic matter screened out, so it compacts tightly and holds a grade under weight. Topsoil carries the nutrients and structure that plants need. Using one where the other belongs causes settling or dead grass.

Plan on 6 to 8 inches of total depth. A 4-inch layer of angular base rock does the structural work below, while a 2- to 4-inch surface course sheds water and gives you a finish you can drive on.

A cubic yard of dry gravel runs roughly 2,700 pounds, and saturated material can push past 3,000. That weight is why volume and tonnage rarely line up, so confirm which unit your supplier is quoting before you place an order.

Federal limits cap a loaded truck at 80,000 pounds gross, with 34,000 pounds on a tandem axle. In practice that puts a tandem dump truck around 12 to 16 tons, or roughly 10 to 12 cubic yards of aggregate.

Not always, though someone should mark the drop zone clearly if you plan to be away. A photo, a stake, or a spray-painted outline keeps a load from landing somewhere your crew then has to move it a second time.

Clear vehicles, low branches, and stored equipment from the approach, then mark the exact drop point. Trucks need room to back in and raise a loaded bed, so a usable turnaround matters just as much as the drop itself.

A fully loaded truck carries serious weight, so soft ground and thin concrete are real risks. We look at the approach first and can stage a load at the curb or on a stable pad when conditions call for it.

Clean fill is screened soil carrying no debris, roots, or rock larger than about 3 inches. That consistency lets it compact evenly in lifts, which is what keeps a pad or a foundation from settling unevenly a year later.

Fill placed in 6-inch lifts and compacted to roughly 95 percent density is stable almost immediately. Dumped in a pile and left alone, that same material can settle for months and pull your finished grade down along with it.

Aggregate is usually sold by the ton, while soil and mulch are quoted by the yard. Convert before you compare quotes, because a yard of gravel and a ton of gravel are not the same amount of material.

Washouts almost always trace back to depth or drainage. A surface course spread over bare soil has nothing to lock into, and water running down the length of a drive will move loose stone every time it rains.

Late summer and early fall are the driest stretch in this part of Oklahoma, which makes them easier on truck access. May is the wettest month by a wide margin and the one most likely to delay ground work.

A truck can spread a load along a driveway or access road as it drives, which gets you close to an even lift before anyone touches a rake. Anything that needs a finished grade still takes a skid steer or a box blade afterward, so tell us which one you are after when you book the load.

Soft ground is the deciding factor, not the forecast itself. If the approach will rut under a loaded truck or the drop zone has standing water, we would rather move the run by a day or two than leave your site worse than we found it, and we call ahead as soon as conditions look questionable.

Rural drives, pasture gates, and unfinished lots are routine work for us around Shawnee, OK. We confirm turning room and ground conditions ahead of time so a truck does not arrive and find itself unable to reach the drop.

A few days of notice usually secures the window you want, and more helps during the spring building season. Same-week requests are often workable, though the tighter the notice gets, the fewer delivery times are still open on the calendar.

A single truck bed carries one material per load, so two separate products mean two separate trips. We can sequence those runs back to back, which keeps your crew placing material instead of standing around and waiting between drops.

Multiply length by width by depth in feet, then divide that figure by 27 to get cubic yards. Add about 10 percent for compaction and spillage, then share your measurements with us so the order matches the actual area.

Both, and the coordination differs. Contractors usually need staged loads tied to a build schedule, while homeowners more often want a single drop placed precisely. L & R Logistics LLC handles either across Shawnee, OK and the surrounding communities.