Earthwork & excavation estimating services
Cut and fill volumes with swell and shrink by material type, haul priced separately against a stated disposal distance.
What an earthwork & excavation package looks like.
Earthwork carries the largest single-line risk on most projects, because a volume error compounds through haul, disposal and import. Volumes are calculated between existing and proposed surfaces, then adjusted with swell and shrinkage factors by material type rather than one blanket figure.
Haul is always its own line against a stated disposal distance, because that assumption is the one most likely to change. If the geotech report indicates unsuitable material, it is flagged as an exclusion or a stated assumption rather than quietly absorbed into an excavation rate.
Measured in
What we look for specifically
- Swell and shrink ignored so bank and loose volumes are confused
- Haul distance assumed rather than stated
- Unsuitable material absorbed into the excavation rate
- Dewatering omitted on a high water table site
Earthwork & excavation
- Clearing and grubbing by acreage and vegetation density
- Topsoil strip, stockpile and respread volumes
- Cut and fill volumes between surfaces
- Swell and shrinkage applied by material type
- Haul, import and off-site disposal as separate lines
- Structural excavation for footings and foundations
- Trenching, bedding, backfill and compaction
- Rock excavation where indicated
- Erosion control, silt fence and inlet protection
- Dewatering, shoring and temporary works
- Subgrade preparation and proof rolling
- Final grading, seeding and restoration
Turnaround
48–72 hours depending on site complexity
Who it is for
Excavation and site contractors, land clearing companies, heavy civil general contractors and developers.
Every earthwork & excavation package ships the same four things.
Whatever the trade, the deliverable is consistent, so a package from us always drops into how you already work.
Excel workbook
Line-item detail with quantities, wastage, labour hours and material priced on separate columns.
Colour-marked sheets
Every measured item marked on the drawing with a count legend, so any figure can be checked against the plan.
Assumptions & exclusions
Written down, including anything the drawings did not answer, rather than absorbed into a rate.
Planswift source file
On request, so your team can re-measure a revision without coming back to us.
Common questions on earthwork & excavation takeoffs.
By comparing existing and proposed surfaces from the survey and grading plans, producing bank volumes, then applying swell and shrinkage factors by material type to give loose and compacted volumes. All three are reported so haul and compaction can be priced correctly.
Yes, as its own line against a stated disposal distance. Because that distance is an assumption that frequently changes, keeping it separate means it can be repriced without touching the excavation quantities.
It is flagged. Depending on what the report states, it becomes either a quantified line or a written exclusion. It is never silently absorbed, because that turns a known risk into a hidden one.
Packages that usually travel with this one.
Most enquiries cover more than one division. Bundling them into a single engagement keeps the assumptions consistent across the whole bid.
Send us one earthwork & excavation package.
A fixed fee, a firm delivery date and a written scope statement, usually back the same working day. Judge us on the file that comes back.
CSI Division 31 · 48–72 hours depending on site complexity · Unlimited revisions within scope