What a Gravel Pad Costs in Forney
LatestCost's December 2025 guide prices a basic 10 by 20 ft gravel pad around $1,850, a 12 by 30 ft pad around $3,950 and a 12 by 40 ft pad with heavier base and edging around $6,600. Site prep and grading account for $300 to $2,500 of that, and base plus geotextile fabric $200 to $2,000.
Forney pads usually sit in the upper half of those ranges because the clay has to come out to firm ground before any stone goes in. Using crushed concrete for the base instead of limestone is the most common way to bring the number down.
Pad Sizes and How Much Stone to Order
Size the pad to the vehicle plus room to walk around it and open slide-outs. The tonnage below is our arithmetic: area times depth divided by 27 gives cubic yards, and crushed base weighs about 1.3 tons a cubic yard. Order 15 to 20 percent extra for compaction and waste.
| Pad | Footprint | Area | Material to order |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shed pad (10 x 12 shed, 1 ft margin) | 12 x 14 ft | 168 sq ft | About 2 cu yd at 4 in, roughly 3 tons |
| Single car parking pad | 10 x 20 ft | 200 sq ft | About 3.7 cu yd at 6 in, roughly 5 tons |
| Boat or bumper-pull trailer | 12 x 30 ft | 360 sq ft | About 6.7 cu yd at 6 in, roughly 9 tons |
| Fifth-wheel or Class A RV | 14 x 45 ft | 630 sq ft | About 11.7 cu yd at 6 in, roughly 15 tons |
Building a Pad That Doesn't Sink
On Houston Black clay a pad fails the same way a driveway does: water collects on the clay, the clay softens, and the stone is pushed into it. The fix is the same layered build. Strip the sod and topsoil, shape the clay so the pad sheds water on every side, lay woven fabric, then place base in 3 to 4 inch lifts and roll each one.
A timber, steel or concrete border keeps the stone from spreading when a trailer is backed in at an angle. Tie the pad into the existing drive at the same grade; a lip between the two gets hit every time something is towed on or off.
Forney Neighborhood Rules Come First
In Forney's master-planned communities, the HOA's deed restrictions usually decide whether a side-yard pad or RV storage is allowed and whether it must be screened by a fence. Get written approval before ordering stone. On acreage outside city limits the limits are practical instead: keep the pad out of drainage paths and away from the septic field.
Texas law requires a call to 811 at least two working days before digging; sprinkler lines and private electric runs to a shop are not marked, so find those too.