TradesHow this works
Enter the excavation area, the dig depth, and the soil type. The tool works out the volume three ways: bank yards in the ground, loose yards once you dig it, and compacted yards once it is placed and packed. Then it sizes the truckloads off the loose volume and shows how many more that is than the naive count off the hole.
The takeaway is simple. Soil swells when you dig it, so the pile you haul is bigger than the hole, and it shrinks when you compact it, so a cut rarely fills its own volume back. Size hauling off loose yards and plan fill off compacted yards.
Common questions
How many truckloads of dirt will my dig make?
Take the excavation area times the depth for the volume in the ground, in bank cubic yards, then add the soil swell to get loose yards, and divide by the truck capacity. Always size trucks off the loose yards. The soil expands when you break it up, so the pile is bigger than the hole.
What is swell?
Swell is how much soil expands when you dig it. In the ground it is packed tight, but loosening it adds air. Sand swells about 10 to 15 percent, common earth 20 to 30 percent, clay 30 to 40 percent, and rock up to 50 percent. That extra volume is real material you have to haul away.
What is shrink?
Shrink is the opposite: when you place soil and compact it to spec, it packs down below its in-ground volume. That is why a cut almost never fills its own hole back. If you are reusing the spoil as fill, plan on the compacted yards, which are less than the bank yards you dug.
Why not just size trucks off the hole?
Because the hole is measured in bank yards and the truck hauls loose yards. If you order trucks for a 100 yard hole in clay, the real pile is about 135 yards, so you come up three or four loads short. Undercounting trucks is one of the most common earthwork mistakes.
How big is a dump truck?
A common tandem dump truck holds about 10 to 12 cubic yards, but it varies widely by truck and by what the roads and site allow. This tool defaults to 12. A larger truck cuts the load count but costs more per trip and needs more room, so match the truck to site access, not just volume.
Sources: Loose = bank x (1 + swell); compacted = bank x (1 - shrink). Swell: sand ~12%, earth ~25%, clay ~35%, rock ~50% (GX Contractor, ToolGrit) · Example: 100 BCY clay -> ~135 LCY loaded, ~90 CCY compacted; dump truck ~10-12 cu yd. Engine version 1.0.0. Risk tier 2.