Tender & Estimating Software for Excavation Contractors
My Trade Hub is estimating and tendering software for excavation contractors that automates the quantity takeoff and pricing from your plans — bulk cut and fill, trenching, footing excavation and spoil cartage — so you can turn a set of drawings into a client-ready quote or tender in minutes rather than hours. It is built for Australian earthworks and civil groundwork, and every measured item stays editable so you keep full control of your rates and margin.
Key takeaways
- My Trade Hub automates the earthworks takeoff from your plans — bulk cut and fill, trenching, footings and spoil cartage — so nothing gets missed or double-counted.
- Automated takeoff is 60-75% faster than manual estimation, so you can quote more jobs without adding admin time.
- Every measured quantity stays editable, so you apply your own rates and margin and keep full control of the final price.
- Residential site cuts and footing excavation are usually quoted directly; larger bulk earthworks and subdivision packages are won by formal tender against a civil engineer’s earthworks plan.
- The same measured quantities that build your quote carry through to variations and progress claims once the job is under way.
Why excavation estimating takes so long
Excavation estimating takes so long because turning a contour or site plan into an accurate cut-and-fill volume means comparing existing ground levels against design levels across the whole site, then converting that volume into a realistic cartage and disposal cost — a calculation that is genuinely difficult to do accurately by hand.
Unlike a simple area-based trade, earthworks quantities are volumetric and three-dimensional, and they have to account for a bulking factor — excavated soil takes up more space once dug than it did in the ground — as well as trench dimensions for services, footing sizes, and whether the ground is standard soil or rock. Reading all of that off a survey plan or contour drawing and calculating it by hand in a spreadsheet is slow, and it is easy to under-estimate cartage volumes.
For most excavation contractors, that means estimating gets pushed to evenings and weekends, or rushed to meet a deadline — which is exactly when bulking factors and haulage distances get miscalculated and jobs get under-priced.
What’s in an excavation takeoff
An excavation takeoff is the measured volume and length of every earthworks item shown on the plans, broken down so each can be priced with plant, cartage and labour. A complete takeoff typically covers:
- Bulk excavation — cut and fill volumes calculated from existing and design ground levels, measured in cubic metres.
- Trenching — service trench excavation for stormwater, sewer and water, measured in lineal metres by depth and width.
- Footing excavation — excavation to strip and pad footings, measured in cubic metres or lineal metres by size.
- Spoil cartage and imported fill — the volume or tonnage of material to remove or bring to site, adjusted for bulking.
- Erosion and sediment control — silt fencing, sediment basins and site clearing, required for compliance before works start.
How My Trade Hub takes off excavation work from your plans
My Trade Hub’s estimation engine reads your site and survey plans and performs the measured takeoff automatically — calculating cut-and-fill volumes from ground and design levels, measuring trench lengths, and quantifying spoil and imported fill — instead of you working out volumes by hand from a contour plan.
Because the takeoff is automated rather than manual, it is 60-75% faster than estimating the same job by hand, so you can turn a set of plans into priced quantities the same day you receive them rather than setting aside a weekend.
The output is a structured, itemised list of earthworks quantities — not a black-box total — so you can review every volume and length before it goes anywhere near a client.
Pricing excavation work: rates, plant and margin
Once the volumes and lengths are measured, pricing an excavation job means applying a plant and operator rate to each activity and a cartage rate to every load of spoil or imported fill, then adding overheads and margin on top — the takeoff only gets you halfway to a number you can stand behind.
Plant and labour cost is driven by ground conditions as much as volume — rock, contaminated soil or a high water table all slow the dig and add cost, and haulage distance to the tip or borrow pit has a much bigger effect on cartage cost than most people expect.
On top of plant, cartage and margin, it is standard practice to carry a provisional sum for unknown ground conditions, since the true nature of the ground below the surface can’t be fully confirmed until excavation is under way.
| Item | Description | Unit | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bulk excavation, cut to fill | m³ | 340 | $28.00 | $9,520 |
| 2 | Trench excavation, stormwater | m | 65 | $42.00 | $2,730 |
| 3 | Spoil cartage & disposal | m³ | 110 | $35.00 | $3,850 |
| 4 | Imported fill, supply & compact | m³ | 75 | $48.00 | $3,600 |
From estimate to a professional quote or tender
With the earthworks volumes measured and priced, the next step is turning that pricing into a document a client or head contractor can actually act on — a clear, professional quote for direct work, or a complete tender submission for competitive civil and subdivision jobs.
My Trade Hub turns the priced takeoff straight into a client-ready quote or tender, with your branding and terms attached, so you are not re-keying the same numbers into a separate Word document or spreadsheet.
Because the slow part — the takeoff — is already done, producing the quote itself takes minutes, which means you can turn quotes around the same day a survey or site plan lands in your inbox.
Quoting vs tendering for excavation work
Most excavation contractors move between two very different pricing situations, and knowing which one you are in changes how you should price the job.
A straightforward quote — a house site cut, a pool excavation, a driveway or a set of footings — is usually priced directly for the homeowner or head contractor as a fixed price with a short list of inclusions and exclusions. A civil or subdivision tender is more formal: you are usually pricing against a civil engineer’s earthworks plan and specification, sometimes with a Bill of Quantities and a geotechnical report, alongside other excavation subcontractors.
The estimating principle is the same in both cases — measure the volumes accurately, then price them — but a tender demands more supporting documentation and a tighter, more competitive rate, since you are one of several contractors bidding the identical scope.
Common mistakes in excavation estimating
Most excavation under-quotes come down to a short list of recurring mistakes, all of which are avoidable with a consistent takeoff process.
- Ignoring the bulking factor, so cartage volumes and truck numbers are under-estimated compared with the in-situ volume actually dug.
- Under-pricing the risk of rock or contaminated ground, which can dramatically change plant cost partway through a dig.
- Missing shoring or battering requirements for deep trenches, which is a WHS obligation and not optional once a trench passes a certain depth.
- Underestimating haulage distance to the tip or borrow pit, which has an outsized effect on total cartage cost.
- Pricing from an outdated survey or design level, so the cut-and-fill volume in the quote no longer matches the current design.
Who prepares excavation estimates
On most residential and small civil jobs, the excavation contractor who will do the work also prices it — reading the plans, working out volumes and building the quote themselves, since a separate estimator is rarely justified for a job of that size.
On larger civil and subdivision projects, a dedicated estimator inside the excavation or civil contracting business usually prepares the tender, often working from a civil engineer’s design levels and a geotechnical report rather than site knowledge alone.
Either way, the same bottleneck applies: someone has to manually calculate cut-and-fill volumes and trench lengths off a survey plan before a single rate can be applied, which is exactly the step My Trade Hub automates.
How My Trade Hub helps excavation contractors win more work
My Trade Hub automates the measured takeoff for excavation work directly from your plans — bulk cut and fill, trenching, footing excavation and spoil cartage — so the slow, error-prone part of estimating happens in minutes instead of hours.
Every measured item stays fully editable, so you apply your own rates and margin and keep complete control of the final price before it goes to a client. Because the takeoff is 60-75% faster than doing it by hand, you can quote and tender for more excavation work without adding estimating overhead — and the same measured quantities carry through to variations and progress claims once the job starts.
Frequently asked questions
what’s the best estimating software for excavation contractors?
The best estimating software for excavation contractors automates the quantity takeoff from your plans — cut and fill volumes, trenching and spoil cartage — and lets you apply your own rates rather than relying on generic pricing. My Trade Hub performs that takeoff automatically and produces a client-ready quote or tender, while keeping every rate and quantity editable so you stay in control of the final price.
how do excavation contractors price a job?
Excavation contractors price a job by calculating cut-and-fill volumes and trench lengths from the plans, applying plant and cartage rates adjusted for ground conditions and haulage distance, then adding overheads, a provisional allowance for unknown ground, and margin. Automating the takeoff from the plans removes the volume miscalculations that are the most common cause of under-pricing.
how long does it take to quote an excavation job?
A manual excavation takeoff and quote can take anywhere from an hour for a small site cut to a full day or more for a larger subdivision or civil job, depending on how much of the site needs cut-and-fill volumes calculated by hand. Automating the takeoff cuts that time by 60-75%, so a job that used to take a day can be quoted the same afternoon.
what should be included in an excavation quote?
A complete excavation quote should list the scope of work (cut and fill, trenching, spoil cartage and imported fill), the price, what is included and excluded, a provisional allowance for unknown ground conditions such as rock, and the validity period of the price.
do excavation contractors need to tender for civil work?
Larger civil and subdivision earthworks packages are usually won by formal tender rather than a simple quote, particularly where a head contractor or client is comparing several excavation subcontractors against the same civil engineer’s plan and specification. Smaller residential site cuts and footing excavation are typically priced as a straightforward quote.
how do you calculate cut and fill volumes?
Cut and fill volumes are calculated by comparing existing ground levels against the design levels shown on the plans across the whole site, then converting that difference into cubic metres and adjusting for the bulking factor of the excavated material. Doing this by hand from a contour or survey plan is slow and error-prone; My Trade Hub calculates these volumes automatically as part of the takeoff.
Ready to win more work?
Turn your plans into professional tenders 60–75% faster with My Trade Hub. Plans built around your tendering volume — no lock-in contracts.
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