Estimating Excavation
Table of Contents

Introduction | Preview A Chapter | Back Cover

1    Get Started Right, 5
      Why calculate quantities? 6
      Reading plans and specifications, 8
      Accuracy is essential, 10
      Record keeping, 14

2    The Site Visit, 17
      Review the plans first, 17
      Make the visit productive, 18
      Site visit for a sample project, 24

3    Properties of Soils, 31
      Soil testing, 31
      Soil classifications, 31
      Soil characteristics, 34

4    Area Take-off by Plan and Profile, 41
      Cut and fill sections, 42
      Understanding surveys, 43
      End area calculations, 47
      Calculating the volume, 54

5    Reading Contour Maps, 61
      Planimetric and topographic maps, 61
      Understanding contour lines, 62
      Locating unmarked points, 66
      Monuments and bench marks, 67

6    Area Take-off from a Topo Map, 71
      Comparing the contour lines, 71
      Estimating with a grid system, 72
      Doing the take-off, 75
      Calculating cut and fill areas, 80
      Using worksheets in a take-off, 85
      Shortcuts for calculating quantities, 91
      The equal depth contour method, 99

7    Irregular Regions & Cold Areas, 103
      Finding area using compensating lines, 104
      Finding volume using total area and average depth, 109
      Using compensating lines with a coordinate system, 110
      Using the trapezoidal rule, 117

8    Using Shrink & Swell Factors, 127
      Soil states and their units of measure, 127
      Using shrink/swell factors in earthwork estimates, 128
      Estimating the number of haul trips, 130
      Using material weights to customize shrink/swell factors, 131
      Using soil weights to calculate equipment load factors, 131
      Pay yards, 133

9    Topsoil, Slopes & Ditches, 135
      Dealing with topsoil, 135
      Calculating net volumes for earthwork 139
      Slopes and slope lines, 142
      Estimating trenches, 147

10  Basements, Footings, 155
      Grade Beams & Piers, 155
      Estimating basement excavation quantities, 155
      Finding volume - outside basement walls, 157
      Calculating the total volume for basement excavation, 164
      Sample basement estimate, 170
      Estimating ramps, 175
      Grade beams and piers, 178

11  All About Spoil and Borrow, 181
      Underlying costs of spoil and borrow, 181
      Spoil and borrow volume calculations, 183
      Calculating the volume of a stockpile, 184
      Finding the volume for a stockpile of unknown height, 186
      Calculating volume for a stockpile of set area, 190

12  Balance Points, Centers of Mass & Haul Distances, 195
      Balance points to an excavation estimator, 195
      Balance points to an engineer, 196
      Reducing haul distances, 197
      Calculating -haul distances, 200

13  Earthmoving Equipment: Productivity Rates and
      Owning & Operating Costs, 209
      Machine power, 210
      Machine speed, 214
      Machine production, 218
      Productivity calculations for a simple dirt job, 221
      Owning and operating costs, 230
      Calculating the overhead, 234
      Adding the profit, 237
      Bid price per cubic yard, 237

14   A Sample Take-off, 239
      General specifications, 240
      Doing the take-off, 242

15  Costs and Final Bid for the Sample Estimate, 335
      The bid preparation process, 336
      Overhead, 340
      Machine selection, 340

Blank Worksheets, 434
      Grid square area and volume, 435
      Grid take-off - existing contour, 436
      Grid take-off - proposed contour, 437
      Grid square calculation sheet, 438
      Cut and fill prism calculations, 439
      Quantities take-off sheet, 440

Index, 441

Introduction | Preview A Chapter | Back Cover