Cheap as dirt. Really?

It pains me to see developers strip good topsoil from building sites.  What they usually leave is mostly clay subsoil in which nothing will grow without copious amounts of water, fertilizer and hard work.

It's funny because the term "topsoil" is so relative. When we lived in nothern Illinois, we had 18 inches or so of good topsoil. Here in Middle TN, we're lucky to have a couple inches of clayish topsoil, then hard clay, then rock about a foot down! Even if you have "topsoil" trucked in (very expensive as you say) it's not great stuff.

An old saying from when dirt was cheap. There was a lot of undeveloped and unclaimed land at that time.

I guess that is one of those sayings that should go away with the old "worked like a dog!"  Not many dogs work these days...

Richard, gee!  I may never be able to look at dirt the same way!

Totally agree Richard.  I have a high school friend who has become a millionaire several times by moving dirt.

I guess we should think twice when using the expression 'cheap as dirt' from now on.

Is it really?

Ha, ha, ha. I used that expression just the other day in a post. But now reading your post brings me back to when we built our home and the landscaper said we needed several truckloads of topsoil brought in for our acre lot...needless to say we declined due to the cost.

Funny! But I will say that recently I was in a farm community for a couple nights and the cows DID come home in the evening. lol

Well I don't say, "Sound as a Dollar" anymore either.  The government has ruined the dollar and driven up the price of dirt.

My client had his cheap dirt removed from his property to build a custom home and had to pay several other property owners to take it in addition to the cost of removal and transportation. Can you believe over $200k? Insane!

I need dirt to fill in an old pool. A new close-by neighbor just put in a pool. Woulda saved me some big bucks to catch that in time & just have the dirt moved jus a coupla doors down...

Love it!  Dirt is never cheap - especially when its red georgia clay staining your new pants!

Dirt cheap, what a funny statement. Ever since people became land owners, dirt became expensive. Now, the less we have of it, the more valuable it becomes.

I don't think anyone uses that expression here in Hawaii, because the dirt isn't cheap. We could be selling it by the square foot, and even then it's hard to afford.

Ha! You think dirt is expensive try buying some SoCali Coastal sand sometime at upwards of $2000/sf. But I digress. It's really all relative isn't it?

Thanks for the post today and have a very wonderful weekend.  Liz in Chandler

I enjoyed reading this blog post! Very educational comments, funny and "dog gone good"!  I wonder what the history of that phrase really means?!! Thanks for a great post, Richard!

I live on 20 acres with plenty of dirt - but it's mostly clay. So I build compost and buy dirt to mix in for flowers and veggies to grow.

I agree - dirt is NOT cheap!

Hey, they aren't making anymore of it, better get it while you can.