Estimate simple cut-and-fill balance while keeping bank, loose, and compacted soil volumes separate. Compare reusable site cut with required compacted fill and optionally estimate export hauling, mass, and costs.
Cut is material excavated from higher areas; fill is material placed and compacted in lower areas. This calculator uses bank volume as the central state for transparent conversions.
Swell and shrinkage are independent bank-relative conversions. Required fill is already a final compacted quantity and is not reduced again.
The initial swell, shrinkage, and usable-cut percentages are editable planning values, not universal soil properties. Replace them with project- and material-specific information. Density is optional and user entered.
loose = bank × (1 + swell rate)compacted = bank × (1 − shrinkage rate)bank cut × usable percentage × (1 − shrinkage rate)surplus bank × (1 + swell rate)1,000 bank yd³ cut at 20% swell and 10% shrinkage produces 1,200 loose yd³ and 900 compacted yd³. With 700 compacted yd³ required, 222.222 bank yd³ remains, equivalent to 266.667 loose yd³ export.
500 bank yd³ at 10% shrinkage produces 450 compacted yd³. If 700 compacted yd³ is required, the project needs 250 compacted yd³ imported.
100 bank yd³ at 20% swell and 10% shrinkage converts to 120 loose yd³ or 90 compacted yd³.
Excavated soil may not be suitable for fill. Use the usable-cut percentage from project or geotechnical information.
Imported soil may have different properties. This version reports compacted import required unless supplier-specific conversion is available elsewhere.
Area × average depth is a simple estimate, not a survey-grade grid, contour, TIN, or cross-section calculation.
Bank is in-place soil, loose is excavated material after swell, and compacted is placed fill. They are distinct material-volume states, and the user-entered conversion factors depend on the soil and project conditions.
Deficits are reported as required compacted import. Surplus is converted back to bank material not consumed by fill, then to loose export volume for hauling.
Mass uses surplus bank volume and optional user-entered in-place density, so swell never creates mass. Volume hauling uses loose export; weight hauling uses conserved mass; both mode uses the governing count.
This tool does not provide grading design, soil suitability, slope stability, compaction specifications, drainage, excavation safety, geotechnical requirements, or code compliance.
Cut removes soil from high areas; fill places and compacts material in low areas.
The volume of material in its natural in-place state.
The bank-relative increase in volume after excavation. The rate is user entered and material dependent.
The bank-relative reduction in volume after placement and compaction. The rate is user entered and project dependent.
It is the compacted fill requirement remaining after usable site cut is converted to compacted volume.
The calculator finds bank cut not consumed by fill, then converts it to loose export volume.
No. Swell changes volume, not mass.
No. Average-depth estimates are preliminary and do not replace professional survey methods.