Free cut and fill calculator.
This free cut and fill calculator estimates the cubic yards of earth that need to be moved on a construction site. Two methods: a simple average-depth calculation for preliminary sizing, and a grid method that handles uneven sites by computing cut and fill cell-by-cell. Toggle Imperial or Metric. For binding bids, use SiteWorx/OS for full 3D triangulation.
Volumes
Want this from the actual grading plan? SiteWorx/OS reads contours from a PDF or DWG, builds a triangulated surface, and computes cut-and-fill to bid-grade accuracy.
Two methods, one answer.
The simple method treats the site as one rectangle with one average cut depth and one average fill depth. Volume is length × width × depth, divided by 27 to convert cubic feet to cubic yards. The math is the same in metric: length × width × depth in meters gives cubic meters directly. One cubic yard equals about 0.7646 cubic meters, so 1 m³ ≈ 1.308 yd³.
The depths you enter here are averaged over the whole site footprint, not just over the cut or fill zones. If only half your site is being cut to 1 ft, the site-wide average cut depth is 0.5 ft. For mixed sites with separate cut and fill zones, the grid method is more accurate because each cell is exclusively cut or fill.
The grid methoddivides the site into a regular grid. Each cell carries a single depth value (positive for cut, negative for fill). The volume of each cell is cell area × cell depth; positive contributions roll up into total cut, negative into total fill. The cell averaging is what civil-engineering coursework calls the “average-depth method” — accurate enough for most commercial sites, less accurate than full triangulated-surface methods on heavily contoured ground.
Both methods apply a single swell percentage to the cut volume to give a hauled-loose figure: the volume that trucks actually measure when they haul the excavated material away. A 20% swell turns 1,000 yd³ of bank material into 1,200 yd³ of loose material in the truck bed.
For real binding bids, the cell-averaging step is the limiting factor. SiteWorx/OS computes volumes from a triangulated surface built directly from the existing-grade contours and the proposed-grade design lines in your PDF or DWG, which is materially more accurate on real sites.
For the full methodology, soil-type-specific shrink-and-swell tables, and bid-line-item translation, see the in-depth guide How to calculate cut and fill.
This calculator is for preliminary sizing.
When you need bidding-grade cut and fill quantities directly from your PDF or DWG drawings — with proper triangulated surfaces, soil-type-specific shrink and swell, machine-control-ready export, and an audit trail — that’s what SiteWorx/OS does. $2,999 perpetual or $1,499 a year.
Frequently asked
What's the difference between bank and loose volume?
Bank volume is the undisturbed in-place soil volume. Loose volume is the same soil after excavation, which expands by 15-30% depending on soil type. Trucks haul the loose volume, so use that figure for trucking capacity.
What swell percentage should I use?
Loose sandy or gravelly soil: 12-15%. Compact clay: 25-40%. Rocky material: 50-80%. The 20% default in this calculator is the middle of the common-soil range for site work. Heavy-civil and rock excavation needs site-specific testing.
When is the grid method more accurate than the simple method?
When the site is not flat. The simple method averages cut and fill depths across the whole area, which is fine for uniform sites. The grid method computes cut or fill cell-by-cell, which catches steep slopes, knolls, and depressions the simple method averages away.
Is this accurate enough for bidding?
For preliminary sizing, yes. For binding bids, no. Bidding-grade cut-and-fill takeoff needs triangulated surfaces from existing-grade contours and proposed-grade design lines. SiteWorx/OS handles that.
Does the calculator model shrink (compaction of fill)?
Not separately. The calculator applies a single swell percentage to the cut volume to give a hauled-loose figure. Real bidding-grade calculations need both swell on cut and shrink on fill, with soil-type-specific factors. SiteWorx/OS handles both.
SiteWorx/OS does this from your PDF.
Skip the cell-by-cell averaging. SiteWorx/OS builds a real 3D model from your contours and design lines, computes cut and fill with the right shrink and swell per soil layer, and exports grader-ready files. 14 day trial. No credit card.