Earthwork Takeoff from Contours, CAD & Sections

Earthwork takeoff from contours, CAD or cross sections

Earthwork is often the biggest number on a heavy civil bid. CivilQuick Takeoff works out cut and fill from whatever the job gives you, the cross sections, the designer's CAD surfaces or the grading plan's contours, with your own strip, undercut, shrink and swell.

Three ways to the dirt

Cross sectionsExisting and proposed ground read from every cross-section sheet, cut and fill by average end area, road by road, with the engineer's printed end areas beside its own
CAD surfacesTerrain models, TINs, LandXML surfaces and point groups, LiDAR (.las/.laz) and drawn 3D lines, measured surface to surface on a 2 ft grid
Plan contoursThe grading plan's existing and proposed contours and spot grades inside the limits of disturbance, joined across match lines, with any estimated ground called out

Your numbers, not a black box

Set the topsoil strip and respread, undercut, shrink and swell, and how much of the cut is usable. CivilQuick turns them into excavation, embankment, borrow, surplus and waste. Give a stretch of road or part of the site its own settings and the job totals recompute around it.

Rock, undercut and groundwater

Add the geotech report and the borings are placed along the roads or on the CAD surface, so rock, weathered rock, unsuitable undercut and cut below groundwater come out of the earthwork and the pipe trenches on their own lines.

See where the dirt is

Cut and fill depths are shaded on every cross-section sheet, on a straightened plan of each road and on the roll plot of the whole job, with a mass haul view. Outline any area and get its cut, fill and net. The Excel earthwork report has totals, each road and area, and every station.

Earthwork takeoff questions

Do I need separate earthwork software?

No. Cut, fill and the dirt balance are worked out inside CivilQuick from the plan set, the CAD files or both, with nothing extra to buy or learn.

Can it do earthwork with no cross sections or CAD?

Yes. It reads the grading plan's existing and proposed contours and spot grades, and tells you how much of the ground it had to estimate so you know how far to trust the number.

What if the CAD surface doesn't cover the whole site?

The part it measures counts, and the total is flagged incomplete with the unmeasured acres and where they are, instead of being filled in by a guess.

Can I check it against the plans?

Yes. The engineer's printed end areas are shown next to CivilQuick's own on every station, and the cross sections stay beside a CAD surface takeoff as a check.