Earthwork Estimating

Overview

Students will learn to accurately estimate earthwork construction costs. Using a real set of drawings, students will complete a variety of earthwork take-offs and will apply labor and material costs to each take-off. Students will gain the knowledge and skills needed to produce accurate earthwork estimates using efficient and reliable estimating techniques.

Course Highlights

• Pre-bid investigation
• Plans and specifications
• Site visit and soil borings
• Pre-estimate checklists
• Area and perimeter calculations
• Cut/fill calculations: average end area method
• Soils shrink and swell
• Cut/fill calculations: grid cell method
• Soils classifications
• Matching equipment to soil type
• Excavation production
• Bulk excavation exercise
• Crew analysis
• Trucking optimization 
• Bidding and mark-up discussion
• Equipment costing
• Road calculations
• Mass haul diagrams
• Earthwork “Rules of Thumb”
• Complexity of work
• Site haul planning
• Road cross sections profile
• Depths of subsidence
• Haul and place process
• Indirect and Direct costs
• Balanced vs. Unbalanced bidding
• Cycle times for hauling units
• Earthwork reference data