Construction Stone in Tampa Bay: Which Aggregate for Which Job

A no-nonsense buyer's guide for small contractors who need the right material, at the right price, without slowing the job down. Paver base, road base, #57 rock, asphalt millings, fill dirt, and the specialty stone you order once a year — what each one actually does, how much you need, and how to get it delivered fast across Tampa Bay, Pasco, Hernando, and Hillsborough counties.

The 10-second version

• Building a base you'll compact and build on top of (driveways, pads, under pavers)? You want a dense-graded material with fines — road base or paver base.

• Need water to move through it (drainage, French drains, around pipe, wet spots)? You want clean, open stone — #57, #4, or #89.

• Filling a hole or raising grade? That's fill dirt, not stone.

• Still not sure? Call 813-690-7082, tell us the job, and we'll tell you what to load.

  
  

Why picking the wrong stone quietly costs you money

On a small crew, the material call gets made fast — usually the morning of, sometimes from the cab of the truck. That speed is a strength, but the wrong aggregate is one of the most expensive mistakes a contractor can make, because you rarely find out until the job is failing. Clean stone under a paver patio migrates and the surface goes wavy within a season. Fill dirt where you needed compactable base leaves you with a pad that pumps and ruts. Road base dumped into a French drain chokes it in a year. Every one of those is a callback, and a callback eats the margin on the whole job.

The good news: there are really only a handful of materials a site-prep, paving,

hardscape, or drainage contractor uses week to week, and once you understand the two questions that separate them — does this layer need to lock up and bear load, or does it need to drain? — the right choice is obvious every time. This guide walks each material, then maps the common jobs to the material that belongs in them.

First, understand the two families of aggregate

Nearly every crushed-stone product you'll buy falls into one of two buckets. Get this distinction and you've got 80% of the decision made.

1. Dense-graded base (crushed, with fines)

This is a blend of crushed stone, smaller chips, and rock dust ("fines"). The mix of sizes is the point: the fines fill the gaps between the bigger pieces so the material compacts into a hard, tight, load-bearing layer. Road base and paver base live here. Because the voids get filled, dense-graded base does not drain freely — you use it where you want a stable foundation, not where you want water to escape.

2. Clean / open-graded stone (uniform size, washed of fines)

This is stone screened to a consistent size with the fines removed — #57, #4, #89. Because the pieces are all roughly the same size, they can't nest tightly, which leaves permanent open space between them. That means water flows straight through. Clean stone is your drainage material: French drains, pipe bedding, wet low spots, and anywhere you need to move water instead of trapping it.

The one tradeoff to remember

Fines give you a tight, strong surface but block drainage. Clean stone drains beautifully but never locks up hard on its own. That's the whole game — almost every material question on a job site is really asking: do I want strength here, or do I want drainage here?

Quick-reference: which material for which job

Skim this first. The deep dives below explain the why, but for a fast call in the field, start here.

The job	Reach for	Why
Base under pavers / patio / walkway	Paver base (or road base)	Compacts tight, holds pavers flat
Driveway surface or sub-base	Crushed concrete road base	Best stability per dollar; compacts hard
Dirt-cheap driveway that sheds water	Asphalt millings	Re-binds in heat, sheds rain like asphalt
French drain / around perforated pipe	#57 stone	Open voids move water fast
Pipe bedding / tight drainage / topdress	#89 or #57 stone	Smaller clean stone, easy to place
Heavy drainage / trench bottoms	#4 stone	Large clean stone for big flow
Filling a hole / raising grade	Fill dirt	Cheapest way to add volume, not for load
Erosion control / slopes / shorelines	Rip rap / gabion stone	Big rock stays put in moving water
Decorative accent / drainage + looks	#57 limestone or granite	Clean, uniform, good-looking
Septic drainfield	Septic sand / spec stone	Meets drainfield percolation needs

The materials, one by one

Here's every product a Tampa Bay contractor commonly runs, what it's made of, what it's for, and the traps to avoid. Rima sells most of these by the cubic yard or ton, by the load, and delivers throughout the region — several are also available delivery-only for specialty jobs.

Crushed concrete road base

What it is: recycled concrete crushed and graded into a dense mix of stone and fines. Best for: driveway sub-base and surface, building pads, road base, and any foundation layer you'll compact and build on. It's the workhorse of site prep. It compacts into an exceptionally stable, rut-resistant layer, and because it's recycled it's typically the cheapest compactable base you can buy — often in the $8–$15 per ton range before delivery, roughly 20–30% less than asphalt millings. It stays a lighter gray and remains a bit more porous than millings, which helps on drainage-heavy Florida sites. Choosing it as your driveway base is usually the single biggest money-saver in your material budget.

Paver base

What it is: a dense-graded, angular crushed material engineered to compact flat and stay flat under pavers. Best for: the base layer beneath paver driveways, patios, walkways, and pool decks. The angular edges lock together when compacted, creating the rock-solid, non-shifting foundation pavers need. Rule of thumb: about 4–6 inches of compacted base for walkways and patios, 8–12 inches for driveways depending on soil and traffic. Do not substitute clean #57 directly under pavers as your primary base — without fines it won't lock up, and your pavers will telegraph every rut.

Crushed concrete #57 rock

What it is: recycled concrete crushed to a uniform, clean size (roughly ¾" to 1") with the fines screened out. Best for: drainage. This is the single most versatile clean stone on a job site — French drains, backfill around perforated pipe, gravel driveways where you want fast drainage, bedding, and as a working surface in wet conditions. The open space between pieces lets water move through instead of pooling, which matters in Florida's downpours. It's clean concrete #57 at a lower price point than virgin limestone or granite when looks don't matter.

#57 limestone or granite (delivery)

Same ¾"–1" clean gradation as #57 concrete, but virgin limestone or granite. Best for: the same drainage and driveway jobs where you also want a cleaner, more consistent, better-looking stone — exposed drainage, decorative gravel areas, and spec jobs that call out natural aggregate. Granite is harder and holds color; limestone is the regional standard and slightly softer. Both drain like any clean #57.

Asphalt millings (recycled asphalt)

What it is: old asphalt ground back up for reuse. It still contains residual bitumen (asphalt binder). Best for: low-cost driveways and lots that you want to behave like pavement. In Florida heat the bitumen softens and re-bonds, so compacted millings set up into a semi-hard, dark surface that sheds water like asphalt and resists washboarding. They run a bit more than crushed concrete — roughly $12–$20 per ton — but for a driveway that needs to look finished and shed rain without the cost of paving, they're hard to beat. One ton covers roughly 60 sq ft at 4" or 80 sq ft at 3".

Fill dirt

What it is: clean earth used to add volume. Best for: filling holes, raising or re-grading a site, backfilling, and building up low areas before you cap with base. It is the cheapest way to add bulk — but it is not a load-bearing or drainage material. Use it to get to grade, then put the right base on top of it for anything you'll drive or build on. Don't pay stone prices to fill a hole, and don't try to make dirt do a base's job.

#4 stone

Large clean stone (roughly 1½"–2½"). Best for: heavy-duty drainage, trench bottoms, stabilizing very wet or muddy ground, and construction entrances where you want big stone that won't get sucked into mud. It moves a lot of water and gives equipment something to sit on over soft soil.

#89 stone

Small clean stone (roughly ⅜"). Best for: pipe bedding, paver joint and setting applications, tight drainage, and topdressing where a bigger stone would be clumsy. Think of it as the fine end of the clean-stone family — it drains, but it's small enough to place precisely and walk on comfortably.

Gabion stone & rip rap (delivery)

Rip rap is large rock, commonly 3"–8"; gabion stone runs larger, often 4"–6" and up, sized to fill wire gabion baskets. Best for: erosion control, slope and shoreline stabilization, ditch and channel lining, culvert outfalls, and construction entrances. Rip rap is placed loose on slopes 2:1 or flatter; gabion stone is caged into baskets that can be stacked into retaining walls and used on steeper banks. In hurricane-and-flood country this is your go-to for anywhere moving water tries to carry your site away.

Landscaper boulders

Best for: accent features, natural retaining and terracing, and large-scale landscape and erosion work. Ordered and delivered by size; useful when a client wants a natural look or a low informal wall without formal block.

Septic sand & specialty sand

Best for: septic drainfields and mound systems, where the material has to meet percolation requirements, plus general bedding and leveling. If your job is spec'd for a drainfield, confirm the sand meets the local health-department requirement before you order — we can help you get the right product.

Mulch

Best for: finish landscaping, beds, and erosion protection on planted areas. A convenient add-on to round out a site-prep or hardscape job so you're not making a second stop at a garden center.

The job playbook: build these the right way

Materials in isolation are easy; the money is in the layering. Here's how the common jobs actually stack up.

Paver driveway or patio

Excavate to depth, bring the sub-grade up with fill dirt if needed, then build your compacted base with paver base or road base — 4–6 inches compacted for a patio or walkway, 8–12 inches for a driveway. Screed a thin setting layer, set your pavers, and lock the joints. The base is where the job lives or dies: skimp on depth or use clean stone with no fines and you'll be back to relift settled pavers.

Gravel or recycled driveway

For the cheapest solid driveway, compact crushed concrete road base as your structural layer. Want it to look and behave more like pavement and shed rain? Cap it with, or build it from, asphalt millings and compact in the heat so the bitumen re-binds. Want a fast-draining crushed-rock look? Surface with #57. All three ride on a compacted base — don't lay a finish course straight on soft dirt.

French drain or yard drainage

Trench, line with fabric, bed and surround your perforated pipe in clean #57 (use #4 for very high flow or #89 for tight, shallow runs), then wrap the fabric over the top before backfilling. The entire point is open stone that moves water — never put road base or fines in a drain, or you'll clog it. This is the number-one place contractors grab the wrong material out of habit.

Building pad or shed slab

Bring the area to grade with fill dirt, then cap and compact with road base to create a stable, level, load-bearing pad before you form and pour. The base spreads the load and keeps the slab from cracking as soft soil moves underneath.

Erosion control, slopes & shorelines

Grade the slope to 2:1 or flatter, lay filter fabric, and place rip rap for loose armor or gabion baskets filled with gabion stone for steeper banks and channel walls. In Florida's storm season this is cheap insurance against washouts, culvert scour, and shoreline loss.

How much do I need? (Coverage math that saves a second trip)

Ordering short means a second delivery fee and a stalled crew; ordering way over means wasted money. Two quick ways to get it right. Formula: length (ft) × width (ft) × depth (ft) ÷ 27 = cubic yards. For depth in inches, use inches ÷ 12. Then, because most aggregate runs about 1.4 tons per cubic yard, multiply cubic yards × 1.4 to estimate tons.

Or just use these coverage figures:

Depth	1 cubic yard covers	1 ton covers (approx.)
2 inches	~162 sq ft	~100 sq ft
3 inches	~108 sq ft	~80 sq ft
4 inches	~81 sq ft	~60 sq ft
6 inches	~54 sq ft	~40 sq ft

Field tip

Compactable base loses volume when you compact it — order about 15–20% over your loose-volume calculation so you hit final grade after the plate compactor. Not sure? Give us the square footage and target depth when you call, and we'll run the yardage and tonnage with you so you order once.

Buying it: pickup, delivery, and last-minute jobs

Rima sells by the cubic yard and by the ton, loads your truck or trailer at the yard with a front-end loader, and delivers throughout Tampa Bay. A few things worth knowing before you call so your order goes smoothly:

• Pickup vs. delivery: Load up at the Hudson yard (8425 Arcola Ave.) during business hours, or have it delivered. Loading at the yard is at the customer's risk, so bring the right vehicle for the volume.

• Delivery fee: Starts at $100 and scales with distance. Bundling everything for a job into one drop keeps this down — order your base, drainage stone, and fill together.

• Lead time: Delivery typically runs about 48 hours, so build a day or two of cushion into your schedule when you can — and call early for tight timelines so we can fit you in.

• Volume pricing: Bigger orders on some materials qualify for a price break. Ask for a quote on volume rather than assuming the by-ton rate.

• Placement: Material is dumped where the property owner directs. Have the drop spot clear and think about curbs, irrigation, driveways, and gates — the customer assumes responsibility for property during delivery.

  
  

Last-minute job? Here's how to move fast without a mistake

1. Call 813-690-7082 with three things: the job (e.g., "French drain"), the square footage, and the target depth.

2. Let us confirm the material — a 30-second check now beats a clogged drain or a pumping pad later.

3. Ask about same-week availability and whether pickup gets you moving faster than the standard ~48-hour delivery window.

4. Bundle the whole job into one order to save on delivery and stops.

Buying stone in Tampa Bay: what the climate changes

Florida's heat, humidity, sand, high water table, and hurricane season all change the material call in ways a national spec sheet won't tell you:

• Drainage is not optional. With our downpours and flat grades, plan clean stone into drainage from the start — undersized drains are the most common failure we see.

• Heat is your friend with millings. The same sun that bakes a crew helps asphalt millings re-bind into a hard driveway surface — compact them warm.

• Sandy sub-grade needs a real base. Loose sand won't carry load; a compacted road-base layer is what keeps pads and driveways from pumping.

• Storm season rewards armor. Rip rap and gabion stone at outfalls, swales, and shorelines are cheap compared to rebuilding a washed-out site after a summer storm.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between paver base and #57 stone?Paver base is a dense-graded, angular material with fines that compacts flat and locks up hard — that's what you want under pavers. #57 is a clean, uniform ¾"–1" stone with the fines removed, so it drains but never locks up on its own. Use paver base for the foundation and #57 for drainage; don't swap them.

Is crushed concrete or asphalt millings better for a driveway?Crushed concrete road base is cheaper (often $8–$15/ton vs. $12–$20/ton for millings) and drains a little better, making it the value pick for a compacted base. Asphalt millings cost more but re-bind in the heat into a firmer, darker, water-shedding surface that looks and behaves more like pavement. Budget base: crushed concrete. Finished-looking driveway that sheds rain: millings.

How many tons are in a cubic yard of stone?About 1.4 tons per cubic yard for most aggregate (a ton is roughly 0.71 cubic yards). To go the other way, multiply your cubic yards by 1.4 to estimate tons.

How much area does a ton of gravel cover?Roughly 100 sq ft at 2 inches deep, 80 sq ft at 3 inches, and 60 sq ft at 4 inches. A cubic yard covers about 108 sq ft at 3 inches deep.

What stone goes in a French drain?Clean, open stone — #57 for most drains, #4 for very high flow, #89 for tight or shallow runs. Never use road base or anything with fines; the fines clog the drain.

Do you deliver, and how fast?Yes — Rima delivers throughout Tampa Bay and Pasco County. Delivery fees start at $100 based on distance and lead time is usually around 48 hours, so call early for tight schedules. Pickup at the Hudson yard is available during business hours if you need material sooner.

Can I get material for a same-day or last-minute job?Often yes — call 813-690-7082 and ask about current availability. Picking up at the yard is usually the fastest option, and telling us the job, square footage, and depth lets us load you correctly the first time.

How do you sell material — by the bag, yard, or ton?Rima sells by the cubic yard and by the ton, with delivery available on all materials. Some products (like #4, #57 limestone/granite, gabion stone, rip rap, boulders, septic sand, and mulch) are delivery-only. Ask about volume price breaks on larger orders.

Get the right material on your job — fast

Rima Construction Materials, Hudson FL — serving contractors across Tampa Bay, Pasco, Hernando & Hillsborough.

Call for a quote: 813-690-7082  •  info@rimacongroup.com  •  8425 Arcola Ave., Hudson, FL 34667Tell us the job, the square footage, and the depth — we'll tell you exactly what to load and get it to your site.

Bonus: dump your clean concrete and dirt with us for free.