A cut and fill exercise is the process of excavating and filling of material on a project to reach the designed levels. Determining the volume of material that is to be excavated or filled is key to providing a competitive tender and prevent unnecessary costs. In some instances, there may be a requirement for either importing additional fill or exporting surplus material – with both of these scenarios the contractor will incur additional costs. Understanding the volume of cut and fill will assist in the sequencing of the works. Having an accurate cut and fill undertaken will pave the way for a competitive tender and mitigate commercial risk or disputes later on in the project.
Manually calculated methods for carrying out a cut and fill can be time consuming on larger projects, have the potential for user error and cannot be exported in to earthwork modelling software programmes or BIM. Substantiating volumes using traditional methods is a dark art and can be difficult especially when incorporating design changes. Our earthwork consultancy team carries out accurate cut and fill calculations using the latest earthwork modelling software – client deliverables can be paper drawings, .pdf and .dwg digital files. The information is presented in a way that is both logical and easy to understand and our team are always on hand to answer any questions you may have.
Costs are dependent on the size of the project, available information and client requirements – Grid Point usually quotes on a fixed fee after we have discussed the client’s requirements and looked at the available information.
Grid Point identified a 15,000mᶟ difference between the client and Grid Point’s cut and fill exercise at tender stage due to superseded information and incorrect topographical data on a lump sum all risk contract. We would advise that a third-party check is carried out by a company that specialises in Earthworks Consultancy and not by the Consulting Engineers performing the cut and fill as a box ticking exercise. The information we provide will prevent commercial disputes later on in the project as the volume calculations can be easily substantiated if queried.
Due to the advances in technology, many Groundwork and Civil Engineering companies are adopting our services and will have the correct volume of cut and fill when tendering, if you have added a risk factor to your tender, the chances are you may have unnecessarily priced yourself out of the project that will be in turn awarded to a competitor.
Bulking factors can be applied if we are provided with the bulking factors and directly instructed to do so.
Construction arising’s can be calculated and incorporated into the cut and fill if required.
Grid Point will issue both .PDF and .DWG information that can be substantiated and checked. Grid Point will discuss any queries you may have both during and after the work has been completed - we are committed to providing a professional service.
Grid Point Holdings Ltd