Start here
Follow this recommended path first if you are new to the excavation tools. The full inventory remains below for complete browsing once you understand the workflow.
Step 1
Calculate bank volume
Start with the in-place excavation size so the rest of the workflow has a defensible bank-volume basis before you convert to loose spoil, hauling, or cost assumptions.
Step 2
Choose or verify soil conversion assumptions
Convert bank volume to loose spoil or compacted fill with soil assumptions that match the project, and replace planning defaults with measured, geotechnical, supplier, or contract data when available.
Step 3
Plan spoil or hauling
Use the loose-volume result to decide whether material stays onsite as spoil or leaves the site by truck so the staging area and hauling plan stay aligned.
Step 4
Estimate cost
After the bank-volume, soil-conversion, and spoil-handling assumptions are set, price the work with the matching digging, hauling, disposal, labor, equipment, and markup basis.
Step 5
Check excavation or trench safety requirements
Treat safety as a separate site-specific decision after quantity planning. Use the safety guide to review soil classification, inspections, and protective-system requirements; the volume calculator does not choose a protective system for you.
Core excavation calculators
Start here for bank volume, trench volume, foundation excavations, cut/fill balance, and itemized earthwork pricing.
Excavation Volume Calculator
Estimate rectangular, trench, or slope-sided excavation volume and convert bank volume to loose spoil with soil swell factors.
Trench Volume Calculator
Calculate utility, footing, or drainage trench volume with rectangular or trapezoidal cross-sections.
Foundation Excavation Calculator
Plan slab, crawlspace, or basement dig volume with working room and optional strip footing excavation.
Cut and Fill Calculator
Compare cut volume and fill demand so grading work can balance onsite material before hauling or importing soil.
Excavation Cost Calculator
Build an excavation estimate for digging, hauling, disposal, labor, equipment, and markup.
Material quantity calculators
Convert earthwork volumes into reusable fill, imported material, weight, and density-based quantities.
Backfill Calculator
Estimate backfill volume, compaction allowance, material weight, and truckloads for trenches, foundations, and walls.
Soil Swell and Shrink Calculator
Convert between bank, loose, and compacted soil states with material-specific swell and shrink factors.
Cubic Meters to Tonnes Calculator
Convert soil, sand, gravel, concrete, and other material volumes to tonnes using density.
Topsoil Removal Calculator
Estimate stripping volume, weight, and truckloads before grading, site prep, or foundation work.
Gravel Calculator
Calculate gravel volume and weight for drainage layers, working pads, access roads, and fill zones.
Hauling and spoil planning
Size dump truck loads, stockpile footprints, and haul-away quantities from loose excavation spoil.
Dump Truck Load Calculator
Estimate dump truck trips with both bed capacity and payload limits for soil, gravel, rock, and debris.
Spoil Pile Calculator
Plan loose spoil pile footprint, pile height, slope angle, and setback needs around an excavation.
Dump Truck Sizes for Excavation Hauling
Compare typical dump truck cubic yard capacity, payload limits, and the difference between volume-limited and weight-limited hauling.
Spoil Pile Planning Guide
Learn how to stage excavated material while preserving access, drainage, trench edge setbacks, and site safety.
Spoil Pile Examples for Excavation Layouts
Open this guide when you want worked spoil pile layouts for trenches, foundations, basements, or export-heavy earthwork.
Trench and safety planning
Check trench slope geometry, OSHA safety concepts, soil behavior, and practical planning limits before digging.
Trench Sloping Calculator
Calculate OSHA-style trench slope or bench dimensions from soil type, depth, and excavation geometry.
OSHA Trench Safety Requirements
Review trench protective systems, soil classification, access, inspections, and common depth thresholds.
Soil Types for Excavation Planning
Compare soil types by density, swell, shrink, moisture sensitivity, sloughing tendency, and reuse as fill.
How to Estimate Trench Excavation Volume
Walk through trench width, depth, length, slope allowances, bank volume, loose spoil, and hauling estimates.
Common Excavation Estimating Mistakes
Use this guide when you need to catch bank-versus-loose volume errors, missed working room, or slope assumptions before digging.
Excavation guides
Use these guides when you need reference tables, material selection help, or a full earthwork workflow.
Excavation and Earthworks Guide
Overview of the excavation calculator set with workflows for volume, soil state, hauling, cost, and safety planning.
Backfill Material Guide
Choose native soil, structural fill, sand, gravel, crushed stone, bedding, or drainage material for backfill.
Understanding Soil Swell and Shrink Factors
Understand why bank excavation volume, loose spoil volume, and compacted fill volume are not the same.
Gravel Density Chart
Reference gravel, stone, sand, soil, and backfill densities for hauling, ordering, and volume-to-weight conversion.
Excavation Planning Guide
Open this guide when you need a step-by-step excavation workflow before locking dimensions, spoil handling, and access assumptions.
Excavation Formulas and Worked Examples
Use this guide when you want the bank-volume, swell, slope, and truck-count formulas behind the excavation calculators.
Excavation Cost Factors Guide
Open this guide when you need to decide which soil, haul, access, groundwater, or protection assumptions should change your estimate.