Excavation Cost Calculator

Every excavation bid comes down to one number: cost per cubic yard. Get that number right and the job makes money. Get it wrong and you're working for free. Here's how to build it from scratch — the same way it gets built on a tailgate.

Step 1: Get your quantity in bank yards

Bank yards — also called in-situ or in-place yards — are the volume of dirt as it sits in the ground before you touch it. Measure the cut in feet: length × width × depth, then divide by 27 to get cubic yards. A 100' × 50' pad cut 2 feet deep is 10,000 cubic feet, or 370 cubic yards. Bank yards are what you bid against, because that's the quantity your production rate is measured in and the quantity the customer sees on the plan.

Step 2: Bank yards vs loose yards (swell factor)

Once you dig it, dirt isn't the same size anymore — it fluffs up. That's swell, and every material has its own factor. Topsoil and sand/gravel run about 1.10. Clay runs about 1.25. Blasted rock runs about 1.50.

Loose yards = bank yards × swell. Those 370 bank yards of clay become roughly 463 loose yards. This matters in two places: how many truckloads you need, and how much material you're actually paying to move. Bid the bank yards for digging; price the loose yards for hauling. Mixing the two up is one of the fastest ways to eat a job.

Step 3: Production rates by machine size

Production rate is cubic yards per hour — how fast your machine actually moves dirt in that material. Rough numbers for average conditions: a mini excavator moves 25–35 cy/hr, a 20-ton excavator moves 90–110 cy/hr in average soil, a large excavator moves 175–225 cy/hr, and a dozer alone (no excavator loading) moves 70–90 cy/hr.

Then adjust for material. Sand and gravel dig fast. Clay is slower and sticks to the bucket. Blasted rock is the slowest — figure 40 cy/hr on a 20-ton machine and be happy when you beat it. Dig hours = bank yards ÷ production rate. At 100 cy/hr, 370 yards is 3.7 machine hours. That's the number your equipment cost, labor cost, and schedule all hang off of.

Step 4: Trucking math

If material leaves the site, trucking is usually the biggest line on the bid — bigger than the digging. Work it in cycles:

• Loads = loose yards ÷ truck capacity, rounded up. 463 loose yards ÷ 20 cy = 23.2, so 24 loads.
• Cycle time = (one-way distance ÷ 40 mph) × 60 × 2 for the round trip, plus 15 minutes to load and dump. A 15-mile haul is 45 minutes of driving plus 15 minutes of loading — 1.0 hour per cycle.
• Trucking cost = loads × cycle time × truck hourly rate. 24 loads × 1.0 hr × $110/hr = $2,640.

Watch your real numbers here. A 30-minute wait at the dump, a soft haul road, or a long spot for the truck to turn around all add cycle time fast — and cycle time is the whole cost.

Step 5: Labor

Labor is your operator plus anybody else on the ground — a laborer spotting trucks, trimming grade, or cutting utilities. Labor cost = (operator rate + number of laborers × laborer rate) × dig hours. A $45/hr operator and one $30/hr laborer over 3.7 hours is $278.

Step 6: Overhead and profit

Subtotal the hard costs — machine, trucking, labor. Then add overhead: the cost of being in business. Insurance, truck and equipment payments, fuel markup, shop time, the office. 10–15% is common for a small excavation outfit. Then add profit on top of cost plus overhead; 15–20% is a working margin, and under 10% there's no room for a surprise.

Total bid = subtotal + overhead + profit. Cost per cubic yard = total ÷ bank yards. That last number is the one you carry between jobs — it tells you whether to sharpen your pencil or walk away.

Typical range: most residential and light commercial excavation lands between $8 and $25 per cubic yard, depending on material, haul-off distance, and site access.