Free Driveway Calculator (+ Guide)

What is a driveway calculator?

A driveway calculator turns a driveway's size into the asphalt, gravel or concrete to order, and its cost.

This one adds a gravel base under the surface, shows the cost per square foot, and works in feet or meters.

How it works

Measure the driveway, pick the material, and type your supplier's prices.

The rates behind each material

Each material is ordered its own way, so the calculator uses each one's own rate.

• Asphalt: square yards × inches × 110 lb ÷ 2,000 = tons, the rate in INDOT's design manual and TxDOT's hot mix specification
• Gravel: cubic yards × 2 tons, from INDOT's factors for compacted aggregate (3 inches is 0.167 tons a square yard)
• Concrete: area × thickness ÷ 12 ÷ 27 = cubic yards, since a cubic yard is 27 cubic feet (NIST Handbook 44)

Your supplier's own weights may differ a little, so ask for them when you order.

Call 811 before you dig

The US Department of Transportation asks everyone to call 811 a few days before any home or commercial digging project.

The call connects you to local utility operators, who mark the approximate location of buried gas, electric, telecommunications, water and sewer lines.

A worked example

Here's the example the calculator loads: an asphalt driveway 50 ft by 20 ft, 3 inches thick, on a 6-inch gravel base, with 5% extra, asphalt at $95 a ton and gravel at $30 a ton.

The asphalt is 111.11 square yards × 3 × 110 ÷ 2,000, plus 5%: 19.25 tons, or $1,828.75.

The base is 1,000 sq ft × 6 ÷ 12 ÷ 27 = 18.52 cubic yards × 2 tons, plus 5%: 38.89 tons, or $1,166.67.

Together that's $2,995.42, or $3.00 per square foot of materials. The prices are examples, so type your own.

Mistakes to avoid

These are the slips that come up most.

• Pricing concrete by the ton or asphalt by the cubic yard, when each is sold its own way
• Forgetting the base, which can weigh more than the surface on top
• Digging without calling 811 a few days ahead

Who is the driveway calculator for?

It's for homeowners comparing driveway materials and pricing a new one, and these tools help around it.

• Asphalt calculator – for asphalt alone
• Gravel calculator – for gravel by the yard
• Concrete calculator – for concrete and bags

Price all three materials on the same driveway, and the choice is about more than the first quote.