Bulk aggregate delivery: tipper, grab or HIAB explained
Ordering aggregate sounds simple — call the merchant, give the postcode, wait for the truck. But the vehicle that turns up determines how much labour you'll need on site, whether you can reach the drop point, and how clean the offload will be. Here's how to brief your supplier so you get the right kit.
Loose tipper: cheapest per tonne
An 8-wheeler tipper carries roughly 18–20 tonnes of bulk aggregate and tips the load straight onto the ground. It's the lowest cost per tonne by a wide margin — typically 20–30% cheaper than equivalent bag delivery — but you need flat, hard standing with no overhead obstructions and enough room for the bed to elevate (usually 7 m of vertical clearance).
Best for: driveway rebuilds, large landscape works, civils projects with a defined stockpile area.
Grab lorry: the all-rounder
A grab lorry (8-wheeler with a hydraulic clamshell arm) can place 16 tonnes of aggregate over a wall, into a back garden, or precisely into a marked-out trench. The reach is typically 6–8 m from the kerb. It's a few pounds per tonne more than tipper but saves hours of barrowing.
Best for: tight-access urban sites, back-garden landscaping, drop-and-go where you don't want material on the driveway, muck-away combined with new material delivery.
HIAB and crane offload
For palletised products — bagged aggregate, kerbs, stone slabs, block paving — a HIAB-mounted truck lifts the load off the bed onto the pavement or kerb. Reach is similar to grab (6–8 m). Essential for any bagged or palletised order over 1 tonne, because manual offloading is a non-starter at that weight.
Best for: paving and stone deliveries, bagged aggregate to domestic addresses, kerb runs, anything that arrives on a pallet.
Booking checklist
When ordering, give your supplier: full postcode, photo of the drop point if access is tight, any height restrictions (overhanging cables, low gates), preferred delivery window, and whether someone will be on site to direct the driver. Atlas delivers nationwide; our regional pages list typical lead times by city.
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