First time poster: Rock Yard DYI help requested

Bought a house in California where water & maintenance is more expensive.

Decided to go with a rock yard of only 1,300 sqft.

The bids I’ve been getting are $12-25K.

I figure I can do it myself by spending a faction of that on tools.

I got 20 tons of rocks in my future, is this something a married man with a 3 year old kid do by himself?

Has anyone here done it before? Steps are fairly simple right? Dig and level 3 inches of soil, barrier & chicken wire, outline with trim, dump rocks & spread, right?

For plants, invert a plastic flower pot, mulch and plant/seed.


Materials & tools $4,000.

Not seeing how labor is $8-21K for 40 hours of work.

But I’m smart enough to know I think I’m smart.

What am I missing?