Resources & Guides
Everything you need to know about fill dirt, topsoil, structural fill, delivery, and project planning. 59 free guides written by professionals with 10+ years in the dirt delivery business.
How-To Guides
Dump Truck Load Sizes Explained: 10, 16, 18 & 20 Yard Loads
Understanding dump truck sizes helps you choose the right delivery option and estimate costs for your fill dirt project.
Read guide →How to Prepare for Fill Dirt Delivery (Complete Guide)
A little preparation before your fill dirt arrives saves time, money, and headaches. Here's your complete checklist.
Read guide →How Much Fill Dirt Do I Need? (Calculator + Yard Estimates)
Getting the quantity right saves money and prevents project delays. Here's how to calculate exactly how many cubic yards your project needs.
Read guide →Free Fill Dirt Near Me: Where to Find It & What to Know
Free fill dirt exists — but it's not always free in the ways that matter. Here's where to find it, when it's fine to use, and when paying for clean fill saves you money in the long run.
Read guide →How to Compact Fill Dirt Properly (Equipment & Techniques)
Dumping 18 yards of fill dirt into a hole and calling it done is how you end up with a cracked driveway two years later. Proper compaction is the difference between stable ground and an expensive repair -- here is exactly how to do it right.
Read guide →How to Level a Yard with Fill Dirt (Step-by-Step Guide)
An uneven yard is more than an eyesore — it sends water toward your foundation, kills your mower blades, and turns every rainstorm into a swamp. Here is exactly how to fix it, from someone who has delivered the dirt for thousands of leveling projects across DFW and Denver.
Read guide →How Deep Should Topsoil Be for Grass? (Lawn Establishment Guide)
The difference between a lawn that thrives and one that dies in the first summer usually comes down to what is underneath it. Here is how deep your topsoil layer actually needs to be.
Read guide →How to Fix Yard Drainage Problems with Fill Dirt & Grading
Standing water against your foundation is not a landscaping problem. It is a structural threat. Here is how to diagnose where the water is going wrong and fix it with the right combination of fill dirt, grading, and drainage infrastructure.
Read guide →Clay Soil Problems in Texas: What Every Homeowner Should Know
Texas sits on some of the most reactive clay soil in the country. If you own a home in DFW, understanding how that soil moves -- and what you can do about it -- is worth more than any foundation repair warranty.
Read guide →First Time Ordering Dirt Delivery? Here's What to Expect
Most people have never ordered a truckload of dirt before their first project demands it. Here is exactly what happens from the moment you text us to the moment a 10-yard pile is sitting in your driveway — and what to do next.
Read guide →Best Time of Year to Order Fill Dirt (Seasonal Guide)
After moving over a million yards of dirt across DFW and Denver, we can tell you exactly when to order for the best prices, fastest delivery, and easiest workability. Here is the seasonal breakdown most contractors wish they had before their first big project.
Read guide →How Much Does a Cubic Yard of Dirt Weigh? (Weight Chart by Material)
Knowing the weight per yard matters for truck limits, hauling costs, and project planning.
Read guide →Do You Need a Permit for Fill Dirt in Texas? (City-by-City Guide)
The answer depends on how much fill, where you're putting it, and what city you're in.
Read guide →Commercial & Wholesale Fill Dirt Delivery: Bulk Pricing, Specs & Project Coordination in DFW & Denver
Commercial and wholesale projects need different material specs, delivery logistics, and pricing structures than residential — in both DFW and Denver metro.
Read guide →Do You Need a Permit for Fill Dirt in Colorado? (City-by-City Guide)
Grading permits along the Front Range are mostly administered by county, not city — and several cities publish no small-residential threshold at all. Here is what's actually confirmed, city by city.
Read guide →How to Vet a Fill Dirt Delivery Company (and Avoid Getting Burned)
Most fill dirt delivery is straightforward. The problems that do happen — a no-show, a load full of debris, a price that doubles at the driveway — are almost always avoidable if you ask a few questions before you order.
Read guide →What to Do If Your Fill Dirt Delivery Goes Wrong
Most deliveries go fine. When one doesn't — a no-show, a short load, trash mixed into the fill — what you do in the first hour matters more than anything you do after.
Read guide →Check for Tree Roots Before You Fill or Grade Near Trees
Filling too deep over a tree's root zone is one of the slower, less obvious ways a landscaping project goes wrong — the tree doesn't die immediately, it declines over the following year or two.
Read guide →Where to Dump Fill Dirt: Site Requirements & What Gets Accepted
If you've got clean dirt to get rid of — from an excavation, a pool demolition, or a grading job — here's exactly where it can go for free, what "clean fill" actually means under Texas and Colorado rules, and how we verify a load before it's accepted.
Read guide →Project Guides
Fill Dirt for Pool Removal: How Much You Need & What It Costs
Pool removal is one of the most common reasons people order fill dirt. Here's exactly how much you need, what it costs, and how to avoid settling problems.
Read guide →Fill Dirt & Gravel for French Drain Installation
French drains fail when people use the wrong material in the wrong layer. Gravel surrounds the pipe, filter fabric keeps fines out, and fill dirt caps the top. Here is the exact material breakdown per linear foot for DFW clay and Denver freeze-thaw conditions.
Read guide →Fill Dirt for Foundation Repair & Backfill in Texas
Texas clay soil moves. After foundation repair, the backfill you choose and how you manage moisture around the slab determines whether the fix holds or the cracks come back.
Read guide →What Goes Under Topsoil in Raised Garden Beds? (Fill Guide)
Filling a raised garden bed entirely with premium garden soil is one of the most expensive mistakes backyard growers make. The smarter approach uses affordable fill dirt on the bottom and quality topsoil on top, cutting your material cost by 40% or more without sacrificing a single tomato.
Read guide →Fill Dirt for Driveway Base & Repair
A driveway is only as good as what sits underneath it. Here is the layer-by-layer breakdown for building a driveway base that will not sink, crack, or wash out, whether you are pouring concrete, laying asphalt, or running a gravel drive.
Read guide →How to Fill a Sinkhole in Your Yard (Safely)
Most yard sinkholes are fixable with the right material and method, but filling one without identifying the cause first is how you end up filling the same hole three times. Here is what actually works after 10+ years and over a million yards of dirt delivered across DFW and Denver.
Read guide →Backfill for Retaining Walls: Fill Dirt & Drainage Guide
Most retaining walls that fail were backfilled wrong. Hydrostatic pressure from trapped water behind the wall is the number one killer, and the fix is selecting the right materials in the right order: drainage gravel against the wall, structural fill behind it, and a pipe at the base to move water out.
Read guide →Fill Dirt for Septic System Installation & Drain Field Repair
Septic systems require specific fill materials at every stage, from tank bedding to drain field construction to final grading. Use the wrong dirt and you risk a failed inspection, a shifting tank, or a drain field that clogs within two years.
Read guide →Using Fill Dirt for Erosion Control & Slope Stabilization
Erosion doesn't fix itself. Every rainstorm cuts the channel deeper, washes more soil off the slope, and pushes the problem closer to your foundation. Here's how to stop it with the right fill dirt, proper grading, and drainage that actually works.
Read guide →Fill Dirt for New Home Construction: A Builder's Guide
A typical 2,000-square-foot slab home needs 50 to 150 yards of fill across all phases of construction. Here is where every yard goes and what material each phase requires.
Read guide →Fill Dirt for New Construction in DFW: Site Grading Guide (2026)
Clean fill in DFW starts at $10/yard delivered — but a new-construction lot in Frisco, Prosper, or Celina needs a different grading strategy than a backyard fix. Here's the builder-side guide: clay by submarket, pad-fill vs. rough-grade, and a worked lot example.
Read guide →Fill Dirt for Front Range Soil & Site Conditions: Denver Metro Guide (2026)
Clean fill in the Denver metro starts at $15/yard delivered — but which grade you actually need depends on where along the Front Range you're building. Here's the terrain-specific guide: foothills vs. plains soil, freeze-thaw drainage, and a worked retaining-wall example.
Read guide →Fill Dirt Needs for a Full Basement Excavation: Spoil Volume, Haul-Off Logistics, and Foundation Backfill
A full basement dig moves more dirt than almost any other residential project — often 150 to 400+ cubic yards of spoil that has to leave the property before a single truck of backfill comes back in. Here's the real geometry behind that number, how the logistics actually work, and how to backfill the foundation walls without damaging them.
Read guide →Fill Dirt for Pond Construction: Building the Dam, Berm, and Core Trench
Building a pond means moving dirt in two directions at once — stripping topsoil off before you dig, then bringing in the right kind of fill to build a dam that actually holds water. Get the sequence backward, or use the wrong material in the core, and you end up with a berm that seeps or a bank that washes out in the first hard rain.
Read guide →What to Do With the Hole Left After Tree Stump Removal or Grinding
A ground-out or pulled stump leaves a hole that wood chips alone will never fill for good — they decompose and the ground sinks. Here's the difference between a grind pocket and a root-ball crater, and how to backfill either one so it stays level.
Read guide →Fill Dirt for Storm and Flood Damage Repair: Regrading a Washed-Out Yard
After a storm cuts a channel through your yard or undermines a patio edge, the instinct is to dump fill in the hole and move on. We've re-delivered to the same washout more than once when that's all that happened — here's how to actually fix it.
Read guide →Fill Dirt and Structural Fill for a Shed, Workshop, or Storage Building Pad
A shed set straight on unprepared ground almost always ends up with racked doors, a twisted floor, or standing water underneath within a year or two. Here's how deep to build the base, how much fill it actually takes, and how to get the slope right the first time.
Read guide →Fill Dirt & Gravel Base for RV, Boat & Trailer Parking Pads
A parking pad isn't a driveway with a different name — it carries a stationary vehicle's full weight on the same few points for weeks at a time, not rolling traffic that moves on. Here's the base depth, sizing, and drainage a dedicated RV, boat, or trailer pad actually needs.
Read guide →Fill Dirt for a Horse Riding Arena or Paddock: Building the Base Right
After delivering base material for arenas and paddocks across North Texas and the Front Range, we've seen the same expensive mistake over and over: great footing dumped on an unbuilt base. Here's how the layers actually work, how much material you need, and where our job ends and your footing supplier's job begins.
Read guide →Fill Dirt and Base Prep for a New Above-Ground Pool Installation
An above-ground pool has no footing — its walls rely entirely on even ground contact to stay standing once thousands of gallons of water are pushing outward on them. Get the base wrong by even an inch and you're looking at a bowed wall or a wrinkled liner by the end of the season, not years down the road.
Read guide →Fill Dirt and Base Grading for Backyard Playgrounds & Sport Courts
A backyard playset needs a level, well-drained base — not the certified safety surfacing that goes on top of it. A home basketball or pickleball court needs something else again: a properly compacted base that keeps the surface from cracking or heaving within a year or two. Here is what each project actually requires, and where the two jobs diverge.
Read guide →Fill Dirt for Driveway Culvert Pipe Installation
A culvert isn't a French drain and it isn't just driveway base — it's a pipe that keeps an existing roadside ditch flowing under your driveway instead of behind it. Get the sizing, bedding, and backfill sequence wrong and you'll crush the pipe, flood your neighbor, or both.
Read guide →Pricing & Cost Guides
Fill Dirt Cost in Texas (2026 Pricing Guide)
Clean fill dirt costs $10 per cubic yard delivered in DFW, topsoil $17, structural fill $20 — delivery included. Here are the full per-yard and per-load price tables for 2026.
Read guide →Fill Dirt Cost in Colorado (2026 Pricing Guide)
Clean fill dirt costs $15 per cubic yard delivered in the Denver metro, topsoil $22, structural fill $25 — delivery included. Here are the full per-yard and per-load price tables for 2026.
Read guide →How Much Does Yard Leveling Cost? (2026 Price Guide)
Yard leveling costs range from $200 for a small patch to $15,000 for a full lot re-grade. Here is a field-tested breakdown of material, equipment, and labor costs so you know exactly what to budget before the first load hits the ground.
Read guide →Fill Dirt Delivery Cost Calculator: Estimate Your Total Project Cost (2026)
Material cost is just part of the picture. Here's how to estimate your total project cost.
Read guide →Materials & Selection
Fill Dirt vs Topsoil: Which Do You Need? (Complete Guide)
The most common question in dirt delivery: should I order fill dirt or topsoil? The answer depends entirely on what you're doing with it.
Read guide →What Is Structural Fill? (When You Need It vs Regular Fill Dirt)
Structural fill costs twice as much as regular fill dirt. Here's when you actually need it and when standard fill is perfectly fine.
Read guide →Fill Dirt vs Sand: Which Should You Use?
Fill dirt and sand solve completely different problems. One compacts into a solid foundation, the other lets water pass straight through. Here is how to pick the right material for your project and when you actually need both.
Read guide →Topsoil vs Garden Soil vs Compost: What's the Difference?
Topsoil, garden soil, and compost are three different products that solve three different problems. Knowing which one you need before you order saves you money and keeps your project on track.
Read guide →Clean Fill Dirt vs Unscreened Fill: What's the Difference?
Clean fill dirt is screened to remove rocks, roots, and debris, giving you consistent material that compacts predictably. Unscreened fill is raw excavation material that costs less but brings real risks when used in the wrong application.
Read guide →Denver Metro & Front Range Soil Conditions: What They Mean for Fill Dirt
Front Range soil isn't one thing. The right fill dirt for a lot in Golden is often wrong for a lot in Aurora, and the freeze-thaw cycle raises the stakes on getting it right.
Read guide →Types of Sand for Construction and Landscaping: Which One Do You Need?
Sand isn't one product. The coarse, angular sand that locks together under a paver patio will roll straight out from under a swing set — here's how to match the type to the job.
Read guide →Comparisons & Reviews
DirtMatch Alternative: Direct Fill Dirt Delivery in DFW & Denver
DirtMatch is a marketplace where you post a listing and wait for a stranger to respond. Fill Dirt Near Me is a direct delivery company — here's the real difference, with real numbers for DFW and Denver.
Read guide →Hello Gravel Alternative: Local Fill Dirt Delivery in DFW & Denver
Hello Gravel is a nationwide bulk-landscape-materials delivery network with dynamic, ZIP-based pricing. Fill Dirt Near Me is a local fill dirt, topsoil, and structural fill specialist with our own trucks and one fixed published price. Here's the real difference, verified against Hello Gravel's own published information.
Read guide →Best Fill Dirt Delivery Services in Dallas-Fort Worth (2026)
A practical comparison of fill dirt delivery companies in DFW — what each does well, what they charge, and how to pick the right one for your project.
Read guide →Best Fill Dirt Delivery Services in Denver (2026)
A comparison of fill dirt delivery companies in the Denver metro — what each offers, general pricing, and how to choose the right provider for your project.
Read guide →Fill Dirt vs Crushed Concrete vs Road Base: Complete Comparison
Three materials, three price points, very different applications. Here's how to choose.
Read guide →Dump Truck Delivery vs Renting a Truck or Dump Trailer: Real Cost Comparison
Renting a truck or trailer and hauling it yourself looks cheaper on paper. Once you count trips, fuel, rental fees, and your own time, it usually isn't — but there are real situations where DIY makes sense.
Read guide →What's the Cheapest Way to Get Rid of Dirt? 4 Real Options Compared
Before you assume a dump fee is coming, it's worth knowing there are genuinely four different paths for excess dirt — and the cheapest one is usually $0, if your material qualifies.
Read guide →Still have questions?
Text us your project details and we'll recommend the right material, calculate how much you need, and send a quote — all within minutes.
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