Cut and Fill Calculator estimates cut and fill volumes for earthwork projects. Understand swell (bulking), compaction, and how they affect material balance and trucking.
About units. The calculator uses meters (m), square meters (m²) and cubic meters (m³) as the metric units. When you switch to imperial, inputs and results display in feet (ft), square feet (ft²), and cubic yards (yd³) while preserving identical SI results.
About “cut”, “fill”, and material states. “Cut” is in-situ excavation (natural ground). When excavated, material swells (bulks) to a larger loose volume. “Fill” is placed material; after compaction it reduces to a smaller compacted volume.
About swell and compaction. Swell (%) increases volume from in-situ to loose: Vloose = Vin-situ(1 + swell). Compaction (%) increases the loose volume required to achieve a target compacted volume: Vloose for fill = Vcomp(1 + comp).
Calculation. Excavation and fill quantities are derived from areas, depths, and material factors. In-situ volumes transform into loose or compacted states depending on swell and compaction.
- In-situ cut = Acut × Dcut.
- Compacted fill = Afill × Dfill.
- Loose cut = Vcut(1 + swell).
- Loose needed for fill = Vfill,comp(1 + comp).
- Balance = loose cut − loose needed (positive = spoil; negative = borrow).
- Example 1: Ac = 1,200 m², Dc = 0.6 m ⇒ Vc = 720 m³. Swell 20% → Vloose = 864 m³.
- Example 2: Af = 900 m², Df = 0.5 m ⇒ Vf,comp = 450 m³. Compaction 10% → loose needed = 495 m³.
- Example 3: Balance = 864 − 495 = 369 m³ (surplus/spoil).
Corresponding tools. Try the Earth Volume Calculator for shape-based volumes, the Excavation Cost Calculator for budget, and unit converters like Feet ⇄ Meters and ft² ⇄ m².
