Sand, because of its many uses, has become a very important commodity in the world. It can be used for a wide variety of purpose ranging from as simple as filler on your flower vase, layers on your gardens, a material for art crafts and projects, to the some of the most complicated use like manufacturing of glass and sandblasting.
But the major industry that uses different types of sands is the construction. Sands are used in constructing residential houses, buildings, bridges, dams, and just about anything that involves concrete structure.
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It is said that cost of sand in itself is very cheap, what makes it worth the price tag it has now are the process it has to go through to get to its intended destination, most likely a construction site. As sands mostly come from quarry sites, all the process involved for it to be available for commercial use hugely affect their price. The extraction from the site, the sifting, the washing, the hauling, the loading, the transporting, the quarry and selling permits, the taxes, among all other cost considerations take part in the costing of sands.
When you consider all of these; you would wonder how much does sand cost?
Average Cost of Sand Per Ton
For medium to large projects, sand purchases are typically per ton. To give you an idea, one ton of sand typically covers 35 square feet, one inch thick if you are using either the masonry sand or the river sand. A ton of granite sand typically covers around 75 square feet, two inches thick.
The cost of sand per ton depends on the kind of sand as there are several types used in many different projects. But the most common type of sands like the ones mentioned above cost around $25 to $40 per ton.
Some construction materials vendors also sell sands per cubic yard, or specifically, per half cubic yard. A cubic yard of sand weighs around 2,500 lbs. while a ton is equivalent to 2,000 lbs. Therefore, a cubic yard is equivalent to 1.25 tons or a ton of sand is equivalent to 0.8 cubic yard.
Other types of sand and their prices are the following:
- Bunker sand widely – $80 per cubic yard
- Washed sand – $28 per ton
- Poteet red sand – $28 per ton
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- Concrete sand – $19.50 to $22.50 per ton
- Road sand – $18.50 per ton
- Cowbay or beach sand – $46 per ton
- Decomposed granite – $39 per ton
Some retail stores offer sands in small quantities that may be used for minor household repairs, gardening, etc. The following are the price ranges:
All Purpose Sand $4 per 50-pound bag
Colored Sand for Sandbox $25 per 20-pound bag
Masonry Sand $25 per 1/2 cubic yard
Paver Sand $4 per 0.5 cubic feet
Play Sand $3 per 50-pounds
Polymeric Sand $250 per 50 pounds
Pool Sand $10 per 50-pounds
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DougClack.com has the following price list for their sand per a half cubic yard:
- River sand $25
- Masonry sand $30
- M-10 sand $24
- Play sand $30
- Arena Sand $30
What is Included
What is included in the sand prices depends on the quantity you intend to purchase. In large quantities, they typically include the cost of the sand material as well as the loading of it into your truck. This is if you think it is cheaper to pick up the sand rather than have it delivered to your project site.
Volume purchase typically includes the cost of sand per ton or cubic yard, depending on how the seller sells them and the delivery to your desired destination.
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Additional Costs
The sand prices indicated in different sellers’ price list are exclusive of delivery fees unless otherwise specified. So, to give you an idea, the delivery charge ranges anywhere between $50 and $100, depending on how far the delivery site is from their storage or quarry site.
But these charges are usually waived for bulk orders as these sellers set a quantity requirement where they are willing to forgo this fee once the minimum volume order is met.
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Shopping for Sand
For your construction and home improvement needs, you can use the below tool to locate local sand suppliers near you plus free estimates.
You may want to consider buying fine grain sand in a 50-pound bag for your garden, sandboxes, vases, or art/craft school projects.
Factors Affecting Sand Cost
A lot of factors can impact the pricing of the sand. Some of which are the following:
- The type of sand – the cost of sand differs depending on the type you need for your project.
- Quantity – the prices per quantity of sand tends to become cheaper as the volume purchased increases.
- Location – your location would definitely affect the price of the sand as there are areas where these commodities are scarce thereby increasing the chance of them being sold at higher prices compared to those locations that are near the quarry sites.
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- The supplier – your choice of the store where to purchase the sand would hugely affect the overall cost as most retailers would charge way higher than the fair price of the said material. It is only ideal to purchase from these sources only if you need small quantities for convenience sake. Otherwise, buy directly to suppliers who run their own quarry site.
- Delivery – the sand prices typically are inexpensive. What makes them seem to cost higher is the delivery cost considerations because of the use of equipment to load them and the truck to transport them to the customer’s site.
- The project scope – the overall cost of your expenditures for your sand requirement is also dependent on the type of project and its scope. As these materials are typically used for layering and/or mixed with concrete, the type of sand, the required thickness, and well as its portion amount that you need to use in mixing depend on the kind of finish you want your project to achieve.
- The quarry source – sometimes, what quarry your sand came from also affect the price as some quarries may extract different types of materials in one site and in order to obtain the sand, different processes are being done to separate the sand from other coarser materials, unlike quarries that are concentrated on extracting pure sand.
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Additional Information
There are actually three classifications of sands based on the measurement of their particles. These are:
- Fine sand – 0.075 to 0.425 mm
The properties of fine sand can be associated with river sand, which, as the name suggests, are obtained from river banks. It is usually whitish-gray in color and is mostly used in plastering. The artificial sand or M sand can also be an alternative to river sand.
- Medium sand – 0.425 to 2 mm
This type of sand can be used floor screeding, rendering, as well as plastering. It is also used in the mixture of mortar and while laying floor tiles.
- Coarse sand – 2.0 to4.75 mm
This is also known as pit sand which is also popularly known as Badarpur. The sources of this type of sand are deep pits and the coarse sand typically has a red-orange color. Its grains are sharp and angular. They are mostly used in concrete.
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