Cut and Fill Calculator
Enter the existing ground at four corners and your finished pad elevation to find the cut, the fill, and whether you have dirt to haul off or bring in.
- Cut (bank)
- Fill (compacted)
- Fill the cut can make
- Balance
- Truckloads
- Average depth
- Hauling Cost
Grading List
Items you add are saved in this browser.
| Area | Size | Cut Yd³ | Fill Yd³ | Net Yd³ | Loads | Remove |
|---|
How to Calculate Cut and Fill
Grading a pad means cutting down the high side and filling the low side. Subtract the finished elevation from the existing ground at each corner: a positive number is cut, a negative number is fill. When every corner is cut (or every corner is fill), the volume is the pad area times the average depth.
When some corners are cut and some are fill, the grade line crosses the pad. The four-point method used in surveying splits the volume between the two sides:
Σ all depths adds every corner's depth as a positive number. Divide cubic feet by 27 for cubic yards.
Shrink and Swell
Cut is measured in the ground (bank yards). Compacted into a fill, it takes up less room, so each bank yard of cut fills only 1 − shrinkage of a yard. Hauled in a truck, it takes up more room: bank × (1 + swell).
Worked Example
Typical Swell and Shrinkage
| Material | Swell | Shrinkage |
|---|---|---|
| Common earth | 25% | 20% |
| Loam, dry | 35% | 12% |
| Clay, damp | 40% | 10% |
| Sand, dry | 11% | 11% |
| Gravel, dry | 15% | 7% |
Values compiled from Church (1981) and FHWA (2007) earthmoving references. Published figures vary widely with moisture and compaction effort; use your geotechnical report when you have one.
Tips
Four corners describe a flat, tilted plane. If the ground has a hump or a dip in the middle, split the pad into smaller squares, run each one, and add them up with the list below. Strip topsoil first and handle it separately; it shouldn't go into a structural fill. Balancing the site (cut close to fill) saves the most money on hauling.