Excavation & earthwork estimating software
The dirt costs money twice — bid it that way
Earthwork bids go wrong between the cut and the landfill: the haul cycle, the imported fill, the compaction lifts, the undercut nobody drew. BuiltSum ships those as assemblies — priced in cubic yards and machine-hours at your own rates, not a national book. Load the excavation pack in the estimator below and price a real site.
Try it now — excavation pack loaded, free
Cut, fill and everything after
Mass excavation by soil type, rock and hardpan with hammer time, basement digs, undercut and replace, detention basins — then backfill in lifts, imported structural fill, and haul-off priced by truck cycle.
Trenching by depth, not by guess
4-foot and shored 8-foot trench as separate lines, bedding stone by the yard, backfill and compaction per foot, dewatering by the day. Utility bids that survive a scope argument.
Mobilization and SWPPP are lines
Lowboy moves, clear and grub by the acre, tree and stump removal, stabilized construction entrance, silt fence. The items GCs assume are free are the ones that eat a sitework margin.
Doing the flatwork too? The concrete pack picks up at the base course, and both trades can live on one estimate. For monthly billing, start with the free pay application generator.
What is in the excavation pack
25 assemblies ship in pack 2026.08. Every material cost and labor rate below is a starting default for a mid-market, non-union crew — edit any of them, and your own won jobs become the defaults over time.
Mobilization & site prep
- Mobilize / demobilize — lowboy in and outEA
- Clear & grub — light brush, small treesACRE
- Tree removal & stump grind — 12 to 24 in. caliperEA
- Strip 6" topsoil & stockpile on siteSF
- Stabilized construction entranceEA
- Silt fence — install & maintainLF
Excavation
- Mass excavation — common soil, track hoe, spoil on siteCY
- Rock or hardpan excavation — hydraulic hammerCY
- Basement / footprint dig with slope-backCY
- Undercut unsuitable soil & replace with structural fillCY
- Detention pond / basin excavation & shapingCY
Trenching
- Trench 24" wide x 4 ft deep — common soilLF
- Trench 24" wide x 8 ft deep — with trench boxLF
- Pipe bedding & haunching — #57 stone or sandCY
- Trench backfill & compact in 8" liftsLF
- Dewatering — pump, hose, monitoringDAY
Fill, grading & haul
- Backfill & compact on-site material, 8" liftsCY
- Import structural fill — delivered & placedCY
- Haul off spoil — truck cycle + tipping feeCY
- Rough grade site to subgradeSF
- Fine grade & proof-roll building padSF
- 6" aggregate base — place & compactSF
Demolition
- Demo asphalt paving & haul offSF
- Demo concrete slab or paving & haul offSF
- Remove abandoned foundation or footingCY
Frequently asked questions
How do you estimate excavation work?
In cubic yards moved and hours of machine time. Take the cut and fill volumes off the grading plan, price each by machine class and soil type, then add what the dirt costs after it moves: haul-off cycles and tipping fees, imported structural fill, compaction in lifts, and dewatering. The assemblies here are built that way — quantity in cubic yards, linear feet or square feet, labor in machine-hours, and the material column carrying fuel, trucking and disposal.
Does it handle swell and compaction factors?
The quantities you enter are yours to define — the packs are priced on bank measure and say so in the line notes, so you apply your own swell and shrink factors during takeoff rather than fighting a hidden multiplier. Every rate is editable, so if your loose-measure haul math is 1.25 to 1, price the haul line at your real cycle cost.
What about trenching for utility subs?
Trenching is priced per linear foot by width and depth, with a separate line for shored trench over five feet, pipe bedding and haunching stone, and backfill and compaction in eight-inch lifts. Dewatering is a per-day line. That keeps a utility bid readable when the GC asks why 8-foot trench costs almost three times 4-foot trench.
Can excavation contractors bill progress payments from this?
Yes. Sitework is usually the first billing on a job and often the most disputed, so the estimate carries into a schedule of values and G702/G703-style pay applications with retainage — including stored materials for stockpiled aggregate — instead of being retyped into a spreadsheet each month.
Bid the site, bill the site, from one set of numbers
Unlimited projects, AIA-style pay applications on every plan — from $49/mo.
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