How many pavers do I need for a patio?

Divide the patio's square footage by the coverage of one paver (from the manufacturer's chart), then add waste for cuts — about 5% for a straight running bond, 10% or more for herringbone, diagonal, or curved layouts. Always round up to full pallets and confirm against the supplier's coverage figures.

How deep should a paver patio base be?

For a walk-on patio in good soil, a compacted crushed-stone base of roughly 4–6 inches is typical, with about 1 inch of bedding sand on top; driveways and poor or clay soils need more. Follow ICPI/CMHA guidance and local conditions rather than a single fixed number.

How much polymeric sand do I need?

It depends on paver thickness and joint width, so coverage per bag varies a lot — a bag might cover anywhere from around 25 to 100+ square feet. Read the coverage printed on the bag for your paver size and joint width, and buy a little extra for topping up.

How much material a paver patio needs: base, sand, pavers, edging

A paver patio takes five materials: base gravel, bedding sand, pavers, polymeric sand, and edge restraint. The two figures hand estimates get wrong are the compaction factor on the base and the waste factor on the pavers — miss those and you under-order and eat a second delivery.

The five materials, and how to figure each

Base gravel (crushed stone). A patio base is usually about 4–6 inches of compacted dense-graded aggregate (more for driveways or poor soil — follow ICPI/CMHA guidance). Compacted volume = area × depth. Because stone compacts, order roughly 15–25% more than the finished compacted volume.
Bedding sand. About 1 inch of coarse (concrete) sand, screeded flat over the compacted base. Volume = area × 1 inch.
Pavers. By square footage ÷ the paver's coverage, plus 5–10%+ waste for cuts — more for herringbone, diagonal, or curved runs. Round up to full pallets.
Polymeric sand. Fills the joints. Coverage depends on paver size and joint width, so read the bag for your specific paver.
Edge restraint. Linear feet = the open perimeter of the patio, plus spikes.

Worked example: base gravel for 320 sq ft

Say a 320 sq ft patio on a 5-inch compacted base:

compacted volume = 320 sq ft × (5 in ÷ 12) ÷ 27
                 = 4.9 cu yd
order loose (×1.2 compaction) ≈ 5.9 cu yd
≈ 8.3 tons at ~1.4 tons/cu yd

Order the loose figure, not the compacted one — that's the step that causes the "I'm short a yard of base" delivery. (Tons per cubic yard varies by material; confirm with your supplier.)

Why quantities are only half the bid

Getting the material list right keeps you from under-ordering — but a perfect takeoff still loses money if you don't price the burdened labor, overhead, and margin on top. That's the difference between "how much gravel" and what the job costs you — and it's the whole reason free vendor calculators leave crews underbidding.

Do the whole takeoff automatically

The free hardscape bid calculator handles the money side today; the full product does the detailed, ICPI-checked material takeoff — base, sand, pavers with waste, polymeric sand, and edge restraint — from a single measurement.