Mulch dilemma (Houston: how much, transfer, live)

[dcmatt]

I used the search button but couldn't find an answer. New to this lawn thingie so I need some mulch for front and back yard, about 10 cubic yards. My yard guy is quoting me $75 per yard for material and labor. Searching around, your average price is around $20-30 per yard, just regular mulch, nothing fancy and then if I do the math the labor is like $45 for each cubic yard? Does it sound about right? It feels a bit on the high side. What options do I have? I don't have the time to do it myself but I won't pay someone trying to take me to cleaner. I could appreciate some pointers and guidance :-)

[elnina]

Can you get the mulch and just pay your yard guy to do the work?
There are places where you can get mulch by yard, cheap.
Google few addresses close to your location and call for estimate.
I think your yard guy charges too much.
http://hardwoodmulchhouston.com
http://cowboytopsoil.businesshomepag...4420-buy+mulch
http://www.texasgardenmaterials.com
https://www.homeadvisor.com/tloc/Hou...Rock-Delivery/
http://dirtcheapmulch.com
Here is example price
http://houstonlandscapematerials.com/price-lists/

A regular size pick-up will hold three cubic yards of mulch (a full load). Two cubic yards is about body level full.
If you have pickup you make 3 trips and be done.
Then just get few bids for the labor. Or get a day worker/s to spread it around. Not a rocket science and even unskilled person can do it.

//www.city-data.com/forum/houst...ing-mulch.html

[Ghost Town]

Cubic yard is a lot. That's 13 large bags (2 qu ft each). I would say, $45 per cubic yard is a fair price, considering amount of labor and weight of this stuff.
Are you sure you really need 10 cubic yards? That's really huge HUGE amount.
I normally need 4-5 large bags, that's less than 0.5 cubic yard.
Also for the new trees I started using rubber mulch circles. That eliminates the hassle of using wood-based mulch.

[Oskar_Z28]

10 yards - that's a dump truck. Alot of mulch.

[jennifw]

I would check how much you need. I had a large yard with a lot of beds and it was about 3.5 yards.
(If you have 10 yards to spread, definitely hire someone. It isn't hard work but back-breaking. Mulch is heavy)

[Aliana926]

It also depends on what kind of mulch you want and do they need to weed the flower beds. Around October, I had 6 yards of cedar mulch, for mulch and labor, $400. I didn't have any weeds in my flower beds.

[marksmu]

Ill put a different perspective on this. Mulch is about 25% of the weight of dirt.

Last year I redid my flowerbeds, which are substantial - I have a 1 acre lot - and I took a whole truck load. Delivery was $75 for a dump truck. I used a wheelbarrow, and it took about 5 hours to finish with the "help" of my three kids aged 6,4,and 2. The mulch isn't heavy, but its time consuming to transfer from ground to wheelbarrow.

This year, I did not need as much, just a top dressing and I bought 55 bags of mulch, and was able to load/unload/spread it all in about 2.5 hours. Way easier having it by the bag, but you pay more for the bags. The hardest part is getting all the weeds out before you spread.

That said - My post is of no value to you since I couldn't tell you what it would have cost to have done. I was just trying to instill a work ethic in my kids....not sure I succeeded there either, but hey, I tried.