How do I ask for free dirt?

Interesting. That sounds like they are very reasonable and easy to work with. I guess you mean they are saying that for under 150 cubic yards you don't need a grading permit, for over 150 cubic yards you do need a grading permit. I like how the person said that by you letting them know in advance, if a neighbor calls they can let the neighbor know that they already know about it.

I don't know how much a typical dump truck carries, but when I did a Google search this is one website that came up in case it helps:

Our Delivery Truck Sizes:

The smallest truck delivers up to 7 cubic yards of lightweight material and weighs up to 14 tons. The medium truck delivers up to 15 cubic yards of lightweight material and weighs up to 24 tons. The larger truck delivers up to 18 cubic yards of lightweight material and weighs up to 27 tons.

Make that 10 yards

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com formulated on Thursday :

Are you suggesting a "tandem" dump truck, like this

only has a capacity of 10 cubic yards?

Here in CA tandem dumpers are extremely common on commercial projects.

I just did!

:)

Yes. But Jess was very strong about letting them know if it's more than a few loads. He kept mentioning the neighbors calling (maybe he gets more calls than he can properly field?).

He said that quite a few times, because I kept trying to nail him down on how many trucks necessitate the contact. He wouldn't give me an absolute number, so when I asked about 'one or two' trucks, he immediately said that was too little to bother.

So, I'm guessing something like 10 but it's only a guess. Depends, of course, on how much the trucks carry.

Thanks for that information. The trucks will be on the small'ish side, so, I'm guessing 10 yrds3 is a good number to average out to.

It's a windy road, so I don't think they'll want to bring those tandem guys. A single container (whatever you call the part that holds the dirt) is all that I'd expect them to bring on this road.

So, that's roughly 15 trucks. I need to call back and find out the time period though.

Dust isn't a problem out here, AFAIK. We have dirt roads all over the place. And I've seen piles of dirt that builders leave. Never saw dust. Dunno why. It's dry enough in the summer. It's just not a problem AFAICT.

Storm water only happens in winter, and, yeah, it can run. But where I am, it doesn't seem like it would be a problem either.

The person that you are talking with seems to be very reasonable. And, he just seems to be saying to let him know if you are going to have more than just 1 or 2 truckloads of clean fill dirt delivered.

So, if it were me, once I found a source for clean fill dirt to be delivered, I would just call him and let him know beforehand. Even if the first source was only 1 or 2 truckloads, I would call him and let him know. And, I would say that I will be getting more delivered after the first 1 or

And, other than the above, I wouldn't keep calling him now with more questions and driving the poor guy crazy. I would just call him once I found a source for the first 1 or 2 truckloads to be delivered -- because so far you haven't found a source for clean fill dirt to be given to you and delivered for free, which is what you want.

That is basically two trucks

snipped-for-privacy@aol.com has brought this to us :

Hence the word "tandem" ;-)

Sorry my bad. I was thinking you meant "tandem axle". They don't allow those trailers here I guess. I have never seen one. OTOH tri axle trucks are everywhere. We have been trucking Hendry county west for decades, one truck load at a time. It is not unusual to be sitting at a light, surrounded by a half dozen dump trucks. Your typical 2000 sq/ft starter home will be sitting on 400-500 cu/yds of dirt. Once that is dumped, graded and compacted, it doesn't really look like that much. That is what makes me think the OP's project is a lot more than he thinks it will be. They are building one around the corner. I will get some pictures of what 400 yards of dirt looks like. That is where he is now and he still has not filled the box (inside the stem wall)

The only correction would be that Jess specifically said it had to be in writing. Being the government, I presume there is a form...

I happened to see these two trucks today, and figured I'd post the picture since these are the two types that I would expect to see when I get the soil delivered.

How many cubic yards do you think these hold?

I'm guessing 10 cubic yards each?

There's no "end use" in mind, other than it's a dirt road that has a drop off on both sides. I'm thinking, long term, we can put a "walking" area on the downhill side so that people don't have to walk in the middle of the rutted road.

To answer your question, the county requires a "grading permit" if the amount of soil is greater than 150 cubic yards.

They "recommend" we fill out forms even if we're gonna be below that, but not if it's only a few truck loads.

Once those forms are filled out, they'll inspect periodically.

Since you are obviously capable of taking pictures of trucks, perhaps you could show a picture of the road you are concerned with.

The double bottom truck in the front may be one of those "18 yard" setups (truck and trailer) The 6 wheeler in back is more like 6 yards depending on what they are hauling. The 10 wheeler is 8 yards or so and if it has the "tri axle" a 3d set of wheels in the back it is 10 yards, based on what the haul here in Florida (sand and coral rock). Weight is the main limiting factor and dirt is heavy. 2 tons per yard or so.

Just for a reality check, this is 400 yards of dirt to get up to "FEMA from where the original grass was.

Thank you for that. The *biggest* it would be is that big, but more likely each truck would be smaller.

I didn't notice that it was smaller than the third truck until you mentioned it only had two axles.

I only noticed the number of axles after you mentioned it. This is most likely the kind of truck I'm envisioning, so, I can safely assume 10 yards per truck of that size.

Wow. Twenty tons in that truck.

Wow. 400 yards? That's more than twice our grading-permit limit.