Earthwork estimating software for site contractors and general contractors. Cut and fill volumes calculated between existing and proposed grades, shrink and swell factors applied by material, and haul, import and export priced separately — because the balance, not the volume, is what decides the number.
Every other trade measures something that exists on a drawing. Earthwork measures the difference between two things that do not: the existing ground surface and the proposed one. Cut is where the proposed grade is below existing, fill is where it is above, and the estimate is the volume between them — adjusted for topsoil strip, for subgrade preparation below slabs and pavements, and for the fact that soil does not occupy the same volume in the ground, in a truck and compacted back into an embankment.
BidcoreAI builds both surfaces from the drawings. Existing contours and spot elevations from the topographic survey; proposed contours, spot grades and pavement sections from the grading plan. The volume between them is computed by grid or by cross-section, then adjusted per material for shrink and swell so that a cubic yard of cut becomes the right number of truckloads and the right number of compacted yards in fill.
The balance is what matters commercially. Two sites with identical cut volumes are entirely different jobs if one balances on site and the other exports twenty thousand cubic yards to a landfill fourteen miles away. Import and export are calculated separately with haul distance, cycle time and disposal cost, because on most projects the haul is a larger number than the excavation.
Structural excavation is kept apart from mass grading. Footing and foundation excavation, trench excavation by depth and width, over-excavation and replacement, rock provisions and dewatering are estimated with their own productivity and their own risk, since they are done with different equipment by different crews under different conditions. Where soils reports flag unsuitable material or a high water table, the estimate carries the assumption explicitly rather than absorbing it into a unit rate.
Topographic survey, grading plan, pavement sections, foundation plan and the geotechnical report.
Cut and fill volumes computed between existing and proposed surfaces.
Stripped, stockpiled and respread — three operations, not one line.
Applied by material so bank, loose and compacted volumes stay distinct.
Foundations, trenches and pits, priced apart from mass grading.
Frequently the largest number in the package, and rarely the one measured first.
Taken from the geotechnical report and carried as stated assumptions.
Surfaces, factors and haul — the three things that make a site number move.
Existing and proposed contours and spot elevations extracted from the survey and grading plans and built into surfaces.
Volumes computed between surfaces by grid or cross-section, with the method and grid size recorded on the result.
Bank, loose and compacted volumes kept distinct per material, so truck counts and fill quantities are both right.
Strip, stockpile and respread quantified separately with their own depths, areas and productivity.
Haul distance, cycle time, truck size and disposal cost priced explicitly rather than folded into a per-yard rate.
Foundation and trench excavation measured by depth and width with backfill and compaction carried alongside.
Pavement and slab sections quantified by layer — subbase, base course, geotextile — from the section details.
Rock, groundwater and unsuitable material carried as stated assumptions with the report reference attached.
Excavator, dozer, scraper and truck productivity from your own fleet data rather than a generic per-yard price.
A regraded plan compared against the previous version so a changed pad elevation shows up as a volume difference.
Cut, fill, net and haul reported by area and phase, so the earthwork plan and the estimate agree.
Volume schedules and priced estimates exported with the calculation method and factors on every line.
Division 31 with the pavement and utility interfaces kept visible.
Commercial pads, warehouse sites, subdivisions, roads and infrastructure — anywhere the ground has to move.
Two surfaces, one difference, and then the trucks.
The estimate starts answering the question that decides the job: where does the dirt go?
Knowing net import or export rather than gross cut is what separates a site that pays for itself from one that spends a fortune on trucking.
Keeping bank, loose and compacted volumes distinct means the truck count and the fill quantity are both right — using one number for both guarantees one of them is wrong.
Distance and cycle time drive the largest cost in most earthwork packages, and a per-yard rate hides them completely.
Rock, groundwater and unsuitable material carried as visible assumptions gives you something to negotiate with rather than a number to defend.
Trench and foundation excavation at mass-grading rates is a standing underbid, because it is slower work with smaller equipment.
When the pad elevation changes, comparing the surfaces gives you the volume difference directly instead of a second full takeoff.
Because earthwork is the one package where the quantity has to be computed rather than measured.
Existing and proposed surfaces are built and differenced, with the calculation method recorded and re-runnable.
Bank, loose and compacted volumes stay distinct through the whole estimate rather than being collapsed into one figure.
Distance, cycle time and disposal priced explicitly, which is where most of the money actually is.
Rock, dewatering and undercut carried with their report references so the risk position is written down.
No workstation licence; run volumes from the office or a site trailer.
Site packages can be measured for you through professional takeoff services.
Send the survey and grading plans with the geotechnical report and have the volumes computed for you — cut and fill between surfaces, topsoil operations, shrink and swell applied, structural excavation separated, and haul priced with real distances.
One platform, one cost database, one set of drawings — whichever scope you are pricing today.
Compare the balance, the truck count and the haul cost against what the job actually did.
