Construction workflow
Plan trench excavation and related earthwork quantities with the current calculator, visible formulas, and documented assumptions.
7 working calculators 51 supporting resources
Available now
Each calculator solves one defined quantity task and keeps its assumptions, formula, units, and limits visible.
Calculate cut and fill volumes between two cross-sections with the average end area method, with a net balance, a pyramid correction for a zero end area, and optional user-entered swell and shrinkage stages, in metric or imperial units.
Open Cut and Fill Calculator: Cut, Fill and Net Balance VolumeCalculate a gravel-filled dry well pit's gross volume, effective water storage in gallons or litres, and loose stone order, with the void ratio kept as a supplier-confirmed input.
Open Dry Well Volume Calculator: Pit Storage, Gallons and Stone OrderCalculate a full French drain system record for one straight run: bank excavation, stone envelope, pipe displacement, net stone, topsoil cap, fabric area, fall, and a supplier-rounded stone order.
Open French Drain System Calculator: Excavation, Stone, Pipe, Cap and FabricCalculate sloped-trench excavation volume from bottom width, depth, and side-slope ratio, with bank volume and a separate user-entered swell loose volume, in metric or imperial units.
Open Sloped-Trench Excavation Calculator: Trapezoid Volume, Bank and Loose VolumeCalculate stockpile loose volume for a cone, a circular flat-top frustum, or a triangular windrow, with identical-pile totals, an implied side-slope check, and an optional user-entered density mass stage, in metric or imperial units.
Open Stockpile Volume Calculator: Cone, Frustum and Windrow VolumeCalculate swale ditch excavation volume from measured top width, bottom width, vertical depth, and run length in metric or imperial units, with bank volume and a separate user-entered swell loose volume.
Open Swale Ditch Volume Calculator: Section Area, Bank and Loose VolumeCalculate rectangular trench volume in metric or imperial units, with optional user-controlled swell and truckload planning.
Open Trench Excavation Calculator: Volume and Truck LoadsSupporting resources
These guides and charts answer separate decisions around the material calculation.
Convert bank volume to loose excavated volume, calculate soil swell, check a project factor, and keep truck, stockpile, and compacted quantities separate.
Read Bank vs Loose Volume: Excavated Soil and Swell
Identify bedding, haunch, pipe-zone, initial-backfill, and final-backfill limits, then calculate each trench material zone from the project detail.
Read Bedding, Haunch, Pipe Zone and Final Backfill
Convert trench volume into cubic yards, tonnes, bags, or loads using the correct material state, supplier density, allowance, and order increment.
Read Convert Trench Volume into an Order Quantity
Follow one cut-and-fill takeoff from grid readings to a checked balance: metric grid cells, imperial cross-sections, labeled volume states, and the compaction step that flips the export decision.
Read A Worked Example: Cut and Fill Volume
How soil type, moisture, and condition change cut-and-fill quantities: swell and shrink ranges, reuse suitability, and worked bank-loose-compacted examples.
Read Material and Soil Considerations for Cut and Fill
Direct formula, grid cells, cross-sections, or surface model: what each cut-and-fill method needs, where each fails, and how the choice changes the number on one site.
Read Cut and Fill Calculation Methods: Which One Fits Your Site
Cut-and-fill mistakes that move quantities: mixed volume states, wrong datums, missed stripping, unsuitable reuse soil, nominal truck counts. Each with a check.
Read Common Cut and Fill Mistakes
Turn approved cut and fill volumes into a haulage plan: balance import and export, apply swell and shrinkage, book truck loads, and phase deliveries.
Read Cut and Fill Ordering: Haulage and Delivery Quantities
One dry well, worked start to finish: pit measurements, gross volume, void-ratio water storage, the stone order, a round-pit variant, and metric.
Read A Worked Example: Dry Well Volume
Stone choice and soil drainage decide a dry well's real storage. Compare void ratios, geotextile use, perc testing, and setbacks before ordering.
Read Material and Soil Considerations for Dry Well Volume
Gravel pit, prefabricated chamber, or hybrid? Match your dry well structure to the right volume formula, with checked fixtures in imperial and metric.
Read Choosing the Right Dry Well Volume Calculation Method
Avoid dry well volume mistakes that shrink real storage or waste stone: void-ratio errors, reversed orders, geometry and unit slips, and skipped soil checks.
Read Dry Well Volume Mistakes to Avoid
Turn a dry well's pit volume into a supplier order: loose cubic yards, yard-to-ton conversion, the 10% waste rule, geotextile, pipe, and delivery access.
Read Ordering Stone and Materials for a Dry Well
A complete french drain quantity example in imperial and metric: excavation, stone envelope, pipe displacement, backfill, fabric, and fall reconciled.
Read French Drain System Quantity: A Complete Worked Example
Match french drain pipe, envelope stone, geotextile, and backfill to the soil on site, and see how each choice changes the order quantity.
Read French Drain Materials and Soil: Pipe, Stone, Fabric, and Backfill
Pick the right french drain calculation method per quantity: trench geometry, net stone, pipe displacement, fabric area, weight, and spoil.
Read French Drain System: Choosing the Right Calculation Method
Ten french drain quantity mistakes with worked corrections: envelope measurement, allowance math, tons conversion, pipe displacement, fabric overlap, and spoil trips.
Read Ten French Drain Quantity Mistakes to Fix Before Ordering
Turn measured trench quantities into a supplier order and haul plan: net stone volume, handling allowance, selling increments, the tons conversion, spoil truck trips, and delivery sequencing.
Read Planning Haulage and Delivery for a French Drain System
Measure a variable trench with station sections, end-area formulas, worked examples, curve checks, and a traceable field record.
Read Measuring a Trench with Changing Width and Depth
Take field measurements for cut and fill: set a protected datum, stake out a grid, read levels at each point, measure cross-sections, and keep a traceable record.
Read How to Measure a Site for Cut and Fill Volume
Measure the pit or tank dimensions, apply the stone void ratio, and convert the result to gallons or liters for dry well storage volume.
Read How to Measure for a Dry Well Volume
Measure trench length, width, and depth, average irregular sections, subtract pipe displacement from the stone envelope, and size fabric wrap and fall.
Read How to Measure for a French Drain System
Measure a pond excavation for bank volume: top and bottom dimensions, side slopes, vertical depth, irregular-shape handling, and two checked worked examples.
Read How to Measure for Pond Excavation
Measure a sloped trench: the trapezoid method, slope-ratio conventions, field steps, two checked worked examples, and the mistakes that inflate quantities.
Read How to Measure a Sloped Trench Excavation
Measure a stockpile's base, height, and shape from the ground with tape-and-rod methods, repeat readings, and angle-of-repose checks. Includes imperial and metric worked examples.
Read How to Measure a Stockpile for Volume Calculation
Measure a swale or ditch cross-section and run length for excavation volume: top width, bottom width, vertical depth, stationing, and a checked worked example.
Read How to Measure a Swale Ditch Before Excavation
Learn which pipe diameter to use for bedding and backfill quantities, how nominal size differs from OD, and how to check pipe displacement.
Read Pipe Outside Diameter vs Nominal Size
Work through a pond excavation volume example: sloped-side frustum math, an imperial and a metric fixture, a benched pond, and verification checks.
Read A Worked Example: Pond Excavation Volume
Account for soil type in a pond excavation: how each soil digs, its swell planning range, topsoil handling, water and rock, liner soil choice, and what the spoil becomes.
Read Material and Soil Considerations for Pond Excavation
Match your pond shape to the correct volume formula: rectangular prism, sloped-side frustum, cone frustum, grid method, and benched-pond layering, with checked fixtures showing what each shortcut costs.
Read Pond Excavation: Choosing the Right Calculation Method
Eight pond excavation quantity mistakes: bank vs loose volume, blended swell factors, topsoil in the export stream, max-depth volume, side slopes, truck capacity, and liner overlap, each with the fix.
Read Common Pond Excavation Mistakes
Turn a pond dig's loose volume into a haulage and ordering plan: truckloads from the hauler's stated capacity, payload-limit checks, soil bank balance, and liner quantities.
Read Planning Haulage and Deliveries for Pond Excavation
Work through a complete sloped-trench takeoff step by step: slope ratio to top width, cross-section, bank volume, loose volume, and a backfill check, in imperial and metric.
Read Sloped Trench Excavation: A Worked Volume Example
Soil type sets the slope ratio for a sloped trench and changes the excavation volume. Learn the OSHA soil types, the volume difference, and field checks.
Read Material and Soil Considerations for Sloped-Trench Excavation
The most common sloped-trench excavation mistakes: guessing soil type, ignoring slope volume, measuring the wrong slope, missing surcharge loads, and planning deep work with no protective system. Each mistake includes a concrete check.
Read Common Sloped-Trench Excavation Mistakes
Turn a sloped-trench bank volume into a loose hauling quantity and a delivery plan: swell conversion, truck loads from usable capacity, payload checks, and backfill ordering.
Read Planning Haulage and Delivery for Sloped-Trench Excavation
Follow one delivered crushed-stone stockpile from tape measurements to a checked loose volume: repeat readings, cone formula, slope check, ticket reconciliation, and an imperial cross-check.
Read A Worked Example: Stockpile Volume
How material, moisture, and soil condition change a stockpile volume: slope behavior, sand bulking, settlement, and examples that separate volume from mass.
Read Material and Soil Considerations for Stockpile Volume
Stockpile mistakes: assumed cone shape, a published angle of repose, drawn toes, mixed states, tickets read as volume, water, stale surveys, rounded-down loads.
Read Common Stockpile Volume Mistakes
Turn a measured stockpile volume into a haulage plan: truck load counts, payload checks against legal limits, labeled volume states, and reconciled deliveries.
Read Planning Truck Haulage and Deliveries from Stockpile Volume
Measure cone, windrow, flat-top, and irregular stockpiles with checked formulas, base-surface choices, examples, and survey record requirements.
Read Stockpile Volume: Formulas and Survey Checks
Work through a swale ditch volume example from measured widths, depth, and run length: a trapezoidal fixture, a V-shaped imperial fixture, split segments, and verification checks.
Read A Worked Example: Swale Ditch Excavation Volume
Match a swale ditch to its soil: soil suitability, native versus engineered media, vegetation, stone and fabric, and a verified excavation fixture.
Read Material and Soil Considerations for Swale Ditches
Pick the right swale ditch calculation method for your field measurements: trapezoidal, V-shape, slope-ratio, parabolic, segment, and prismoidal forms.
Read Choosing the Right Calculation Method for a Swale Ditch
Seven swale ditch quantity mistakes, each shown as a number against the correct 39.0 m3 for a 60 m trapezoidal swale, with the checks that catch them.
Read Common Swale Ditch Calculation Mistakes
Turn a measured swale ditch excavation into a haulage and delivery plan: loose spoil volume, truckloads, import orders, and delivery scheduling.
Read How to Plan Haulage and Delivery for a Swale Ditch
Calculate net trench backfill after deducting pipe displacement, bedding or pipe-zone material, encasement, and other permanent volumes.
Read Trench Backfill Volume: Pipe and Bedding Deductions
Calculate depth to pipe invert and full trench depth from surface elevation, verified pipe dimensions, bedding, and formation level.
Read Trench Depth from Ground and Invert Levels
Compare design and actual trench excavation volumes, calculate measured overbreak, and keep pay quantity, swell, and backfill separate.
Read Trench Overbreak: Design vs Actual Excavation Volume
Balance trench excavation against approved reused backfill, excluded material, compacted demand, loose imports, and loose spoil exports.
Read Trench Spoil Balance: Reuse, Import and Export
Calculate trench excavation per linear foot or metre with checked formulas, rate tables, section totals, examples, and limits.
Read Trench Volume per Linear Foot or MetreEarthwork quantity planning starts with measured geometry. Excavation, loose spoil, bedding, backfill, disposal, and safe access require separate inputs and checks. The current pilot covers in-place rectangular trench volume.
The working tool calculates a rectangular trench's in-place volume. Users may add their own swell allowance and truck capacity for loose-volume and load planning.
The calculator's scope ends at quantity planning. Soil factors, side slopes, protective systems, groundwater controls, and design decisions come from project-specific evidence and the responsible qualified people.
Future research covers pipe bedding, surround, remaining backfill, irregular sections, slope-sided excavation, and overlapping trench runs. Each task stays in research until its inputs, formula, intent, and professional limits have been checked.
Check project drawings, underground utility information, soil conditions, groundwater, access, protective systems, disposal rules, and the safety requirements that apply at the job location.
For U.S. workplace trenching and excavation requirements, review the OSHA trenching and excavation overview and the standards linked from that page. Other locations use their own workplace safety rules.
