Cost to Install a Stone Path – 2021

| Last Updated: August 23, 2021

National Average Improvement and Repair Cost

Pro

DIY

Hours:

12.7

17.5

Cost:

$ 1437

$ 635

Would you do this project? According to our survey, 77% of respondents preferred DIY compared to hiring a pro.

Photo credit: thespruce.com

The average price to Install a Stone Path noted above is cost data to compare a contractor’s estimate with doing it yourself.

How much is a stone path? A contractor charges $1,437 to install a stone path vs. doing it yourself for $635 and saving 55 percent.

If you need a walkway through your garden or yard, a stepping stone path can be a practical solution as well as a complement to the landscape. You can lay it out as a straight walkway or as a winding path that meanders around trees and flowerbeds. Use a base material like gravel or sand to secure the stones and help drain rainwater.

For ideas and inspiration, pick up a copy of “Patio and Stone, a Sunset Design Guide.” It’s a new book about creating outdoor living spaces and it includes landscape design software.

Home and lawn centers sell a variety of stones, and they usually will deliver the material as well. This is money well spent unless you have a heavy vehicle and the strength and stamina to move the stone yourself. If you pay for delivery, have the stone stacked near the path so you don’t have to move it.

A landscape contractor will charge $1,437 to lay a 3-foot wide, 40-foot long stone path. This includes labor and material. You can buy the material, including stone, sand, and landscape cloth, for $635 and do it yourself, saving 55 percent.

You will need a wheelbarrow, shovel, rake, carpenter’s level, push broom, and some string and sticks to lay out the path. Dig out the sod or soil so it’s about 4-inches deep and level. Then lay landscape fabric and sand to provide a weed-free base for the stones. As you lay them, position the stones so they fit together nicely and spread sand between them.

When you’re planning a stone path, don’t think you have to limit the design to one kind of stone. Add some interest by designing a path with large stones in the center that’s edged on both sides with smaller stones of a different shade and shape.

Earth Products has useful Stone Calculators.

That sums it up. Knowing the average cost to install a stone path lets you compare doing it yourself with what you can expect to pay a contractor. 

Welcome! We hope you’ll find the job costs of home improvement projects useful when you’re deciding whether to do a job yourself vs. hire a contractor. We’re the authors of 20 home improvement books, most notably Home Improvement for Dummies©, Bathroom Remodeling for Dummies©, Carpentry for Dummies©, Plumbing for Dummies©, and Painting and Wallpapering for Dummies©. Our most recent book Fix It and Flip It is in its second edition. We’ve appeared as home improvement experts on television programs such as CNN, Dateline, the Today Show, HGTV and many others.