Cut and fill calculator
These are in-place volumes from the average depths you enter — a pricing and planning estimate, not a survey. Real ground swells when cut and settles when filled, and unsuitable material can change the balance entirely. This tool does not design the grade or judge what soil is fit to reuse; confirm both on site.
Enter the area and an average cut depth and fill depth, and the tool works out how much soil comes off, how much goes on, and the net — the surplus you truck away or the shortfall you have to import. A density in the last field turns that net into a tonnage for the haulage.
Worked example
A pad 60 ft × 40 ft is 2,400 square feet. At an average cut of 0.5 ft that is 1,200 cubic feet cut, and at 0.3 ft fill it is 720 cubic feet fill. The net is 480 cubic feet of surplus, or 480 ÷ 27 ≈ 17.8 yd³ to export. At 1.5 tons per yard that is about 26.7 tons off site.
The formula
net = (area × cut) − (area × fill)
Each volume is the area times an average depth. Subtracting the fill from the cut leaves the balance: positive means the cut makes more soil than the fill needs, so it leaves site; negative means the fill is hungrier than the cut, so soil must come in. Divide cubic feet by 27 for cubic yards.
Questions
- How do I calculate cut and fill?
- Multiply the area by the average cut depth to get the cut volume, and by the average fill depth to get the fill volume. Subtract fill from cut and the sign tells the story: a positive net is surplus soil to export, a negative net is a shortfall you have to bring in. This tool does both volumes and the balance for you.
- What does a balanced site mean?
- It means the cut and the fill are equal, so the soil you dig out is exactly what you need to build up — no soil leaves or arrives, which saves haulage both ways. A net near zero here is a balanced grade. In practice swell, compaction and unsuitable material shift it, so treat a balance as a target, not a guarantee.
- Do I use average depths?
- Yes — this is the average-depth method, which is quick and good enough for pricing and rough earthworks. You supply one representative cut depth and one fill depth over the area. For a site with wildly varying levels, break it into zones, run each through the tool, and add the results, or move up to a grid or cross-section takeoff.
- Does this account for soil swell and compaction?
- Not on its own — the volumes are in-place (bank) figures. Cut soil swells when dug and fill soil compacts when placed, so the real haul and the real fill quantities differ from the bank numbers. Use the density field for a tonnage, and lean on the excavation tool when you need the loose, hauled volume.
Related tools
New tools, now and then
We add calculators most weeks. Drop your email and get a short note when a new one lands — nothing else, no selling your address, one-click out.