If you need the rock hauled away, then it’ll cost more. If you are fine having the rock piled up on site or relocating it to another area, then it’ll cost less. A small amount of rock (less than 2 cubic yards) will cost around $580 to remove or $380 to relocate. A medium amount of rock (4 cubic yards) will cost around $900 to remove or $500 to relocate. A large amount of rock (6 cubic yards) will cost around $1,340 to remove or $620 to relocate. Note- 1 cubic yard is about 12 full wheelbarrows of rock.

Rocks make it much harder to plant in your gardens. Flowers have a hard time surviving with all the heat that radiates off the rock. River rocks can damage lawn mower blades if they spill over onto the grass. If the rock hasn’t been professionally designed, then it can be a major eye sore. It’s far too easy for weeds to grow up in-between the rocks. For further commentary on the downside of rocks around your house, check out this blog that gives 3 Reasons to Remove Rock and Install Mulch.

The best way to separate dirt from the landscaping rocks around your house is by sifting them. You’ll need to build a wooden frame and then put metal fencing with 1/2 inch spacing on top of the frame. Then shovel the dirty rocks onto the fencing and use a garden hoe to move them around. The dirt should strain through the chicken wire fencing and the cleaned rocks will stay on the top. Cleaning dirty rocks by sifting them is the best way to save money and help the planet. You save money because you don’t need to pay to have the dirty rocks hauled away. You help the planet because repurposing the rock means you don’t need to dispose them at the landfill. To learn more, read our recent blog titled How to Sift Out Dirt from Landscape Rocks.

Yes, it’s possible but very messy so it’s not a recommended method. You cannot simply keep the rocks in the landscape bed and spray them with a hose. That would be easy but ineffective. Why? Because the dirt won’t actually get removed from the rocks. Instead, you’ll need to shovel the rock onto a metal sieve and then spray them. This will clean off the rocks and allow you to reuse them. Bear in mind, this means you’ll need to shovel the rocks twice, so it’s double the work for an outcome that is not visually satisfying. These are just few reasons from my personal experience why I do not recommend using a hose to wash off dirty river rock around your home.

There actually is such a thing as a rock vacuum. It’s like a shop-vac on steroids because it’s much more powerful and heavy duty. A rock vacuum is a very big and expensive machine that you’d need to rent. The rock vac doesn’t dispose of the rocks for you though. All it does is suction up the rocks and pour them out onto your wheelbarrow. The machine doesn’t suck up the rocks that fast either. To top it off, the vacuum hose is quite heavy to carry so there’s alot of labor involved in merely holding the suction hose. For all these reasons, I do not recommend renting a rock vac to remove your landscaping rocks.

While there may be a time and place to sift rocks, wash rocks or vacuum rocks, in my personal experience, I still think the best approach is to remove rock by using a good ole fashioned spade shovel and wheelbarrow. One tip to make this laborious task easier is to spread the work out over a long period of time. For example, work in 30 minute increments for 2-3 days over the course of a week. It might take about 1 month to accomplish your whole project, but at least you’ll save your back from a lot of pain! Trust me, I’ve removed rock from hundreds of residential homes over the course of a decade and if I’ve learned anything from my experience it’s that, “slow and steady wins the race.” Read our blog to learn more about How to Dispose of Rocks and Gravel and The Ultimate Guide to River Rock Removal: Tips and Techniques.

Yes, you’re in luck if there is landscape barrier fabric underneath the rock. You can pull up the fabric so the rock gets piled up. Rock in piles is not as hard to shovel as a thin layer of rock. If you have another person helping, you can each grab onto both ends of the fabric and lift up the rocks so they can be dumped into a wheelbarrow. This saves you the work of having to shovel them. In summary, using weed barrier fabric to hoist rock piles onto a wheelbarrow is one of the most underappreciated hacks that I’ve discovered from my years of experience removing landscape rock. You would be wise to utilize this strategy for your rock removal project.

Before you decide to dispose of your landscape rock, you should look into options where the rock could be repurposed. Post on social media like Facebook marketplace or Nextdoor to see if anybody nearby would be willing to take them for free. Alternatively, try to think about ways you could reuse the rock on your own property. For example, rock can be reused as fill for a retaining wall or base for a paver patio. Or you could make a berm by piling up the rock and then adding a fresh 2-3 inch layer of dirt on top. For further reading about where to dispose leftover rocks or how to repurpose them, check out the blogs I wrote on Landscape Rock Removal and Repurposing Landscape Rocks, which ranks #1 on google for most related search queries.

Unfortunately, bagster dumpster bags do not accept rock. I’ve had many customers try this DIY approach to save money but only for bagster to refuse that material type. Then they end up calling His Workmanship to remove the rock from the bagster. Your local trash company won’t take rocks away in bins either. Again, this has been attempted many times before but is unsuccessful. Unless you can somehow conceal the rock underneath trash, the waste management company will refuse to take it. Dumping rock in a public woods or on private property is illegal so you definitelly don’t wanna do that. Some yard waste sites accept rock and others do not so be sure to call and ask first.

If you own a truck and trailer (or can borrow one) then just google “yard waste sites that accept rock near me” and you’ll probably find one. Some cities have a yard waste site at their local public works but don’t publicize them on the internet due to the increase of illegal dumping from out-of-town commercial contractors. So try calling your local city hall to ask if there is a free yard waste site for county residents. If not, then public landfills are usually willing to accept landscape rock too. If you don’t have a means for hauling away the rock, then you could rent a rolloff dumpster and manually load the rocks in there via wheelbarrow and shovel. The dumpster company will come pick up the rocks for you, which is a definite upside.

The secret sauce here is asking the best possible questions. Asking generic questions won’t suffice. You need to ask precise questions about the most appropriate things. Here is a list of 6 topics to inquire about. 1. High/low price range to complete the job. 2. Additional fees like rock disposal and travel expenses. 3. Where they dump the rock and how big of a trailer they use. 4. How many years of experience they have. 5. References or where they have reviews online. 6. How soon they are available to complete the job. Click here to get a rock removal quote from His Workmanship.