Gravel driveway cost in Billings, MT

What nearby projects cost in Billings

Because every project leans on different trades, Billings's wage level does not move all prices equally. Against the US midpoint, concrete driveway runs +3% and asphalt driveway −3%.

When to schedule gravel driveway in Billings

We use NOAA's 1991-2020 climate normals for Billings Logan Intl Ap (in the city). These are 30-year monthly averages, not forecasts.

April through October is the stretch where digging, grading and setting material in the ground runs into the fewest weather problems in Billings (7 of 12 months). January, February, March, November and December have an average overnight low at or below freezing (32°F).

In January, February, March, November and December the average low is at or below freezing, which means frozen ground and slower digging, compaction and sod or stone placement. NOAA counts about 142 days a year with a low at or below 32°F at this station.

Billings gets about 14 inches of precipitation in a normal year, including roughly 57 inches of snow. The wettest months are April, May and June (2.4 inches in May). Inside the workable window, July and August are the driest, at 1.2 and 0.9 inches. The station averages about 32 days a year at 90°F or above.

Does the season change the price? Probably, but we do not have a sourced seasonal price curve, so the estimator shows a year-round figure and does not adjust by month. When you collect quotes, ask whether scheduling in a slower month gets a better rate.

Is Billings cheap or dear? The local comparison

Contractors rarely work more than an hour or two from home, so the neighboring metros set a rough ceiling and floor for your quotes. Midpoints for 1,000 sq ft range from $6,150 to $6,750 across Billings and its five closest metros.

Across 300 US metros, Billings comes in at #128 from the top. The priciest is Kahului, HI at $9,500; the cheapest is McAllen, TX at $5,200 (midpoints, 1,000 sq ft). Statewide, Billings is 0% below the Montana figure.

Other Montana metros

Cities with a workforce like Billings's

Big cities and small ones price differently, so here is Billings against the 4 metros with the closest total employment.

Cost by quality level and size in Billings

Three bands are cut from the same cited range and localized for Billings wages and prices. They overlap on purpose: a good standard job and a modest premium job can cost the same. The grid below prices the same bands at 4 common sizes.

Local wages behind the labor line

Wages are the part of this estimate that changes most from town to town. 2 trades carry the job here, and each is compared with its US median. The weighted result for Billings is 1.04 times the national level.

Construction laborers (47-2061), 50% of the weighting: a median of $23.68 an hour, 5% above the US median of $22.66. The middle half of them earn between $21.42 and $28.31 an hour. About 830 work in the metro. That is 88.5 per 10,000 jobs, compared with 70.5 nationally, which suggests plenty of local crews to bid.

For operating engineers and other construction equipment operators (47-2073, weighted 50%) the local median is $29.81 an hour, which is 4% above the national $28.78. The middle half of them earn between $28.39 and $34.85 an hour. BLS counts 540 of them working in the area, 57.6 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 30.7), so the local bench is deeper than average.

Quotes come from real crews, not medians. If the construction laborers on your job are paid at the 75th percentile ($28.31 an hour) instead of the median, the labor line grows by about $320. At the 25th percentile ($21.42) it shrinks by about $160. The total moves by 5.1% or 2.5%, so wages alone rarely explain a quote that is far outside our range.

For context on the local economy, BLS counts 93,800 jobs in the Billings area. That makes it the 213th largest of the 300 metros we cover, with 0.06% of US employment.

Why two Billings quotes can differ

• Depth and layers

  A proper driveway is a 4-inch base plus a 2-inch top course. Each extra inch of stone adds weight in tons and money.

• Labor share

  HomeGuide puts labor at about 50% of a gravel driveway's total cost, so a longer or harder-to-reach site moves the price more than the stone does.

• Grading and edging

  Grading runs $1-$3 per sq ft. Edging to keep the stone in is $5-$18 per linear foot.

Add-ons priced for Billings

Extras are quoted nationally and then scaled to Billings by the average of the local wage index (1.04) and goods index (0.96), a factor of 1.00. Tick any of them in the estimator above to add them to your total. Treat these as planning figures: an add-on touches different trades than the main job, so the scaling is an approximation.