Options

Type a descriptive name for the site improvement as you want it to appear in the Identify Site Regions command and the Takeoff Report.

Select the appropriate unit of area measurement.

Note: The units of measure that you specify overrides the corresponding setting in the Units section of Project Settings.

This displays the total of the procurement unit costs of those materials that are directly associated with the landscaping, based on their area or volume as appropriate. These are defined in the Site improvement material layers at the bottom of the pane.

Note: This program displays the currency symbol and format that you have set in Microsoft Windows^® Regional and Language Options. The units and calculations, however, are not associated with a specific currency, so if a project is opened on a computer with different regional settings, those currency symbol and formats are used, but no conversion between currencies has been made.

Enter the cost (per area unit) that you will charge the customer to furnish, install, or otherwise construct every aspect of the site improvement, including all labor costs, profit, and other incidental costs that you expect to pay to have the site improvement constructed.

This displays the total of the material procurement unit cost plus the installation price for each instance of the site improvement. This total, which can be reported in the Takeoff Report, is the price per unit area of this site improvement on which you intend to base your bid.

Planimetric area - Select this to have the planimetric area for the site improvement calculated and reported in the Takeoff Report.

Surface area - Select this if the actual surface area (from the surface triangles) of the site improvement is important, such as for sodding on a slope. Surface area for the site improvement will be reported in the Takeoff Report.

By vertical offset - Select this if the site improvement's top and bottom surfaces are to be vertically offset from each other (1 in the graphic below).

By perpendicular offset - Select this if the site improvement's top and bottom surfaces are to be perpendicularly offset from each other (2 in the graphic below).

Figure: Vertical offset versus perpendicular offset

Enter the surface and subsurface materials needed to build the site improvement in the order they will be laid from top to bottom.

• Material - Click in the box and select a pre-defined material from the list.
• Layer name - This column is populated with the name of the material you specify. If needed, click in the box to edit the name.
• Thickness (units) - Type the thickness (vertical height) of the material level in the displayed units.

Topsoil Replacement Requirements

Select an earthen (mass earthworks) topsoil material. Only those classified as Usable for topsoil replacement will be listed. This is for reporting topsoil replacement volumes in the Topsoil Handling section of the Takeoff Report.

Specify the constant thickness at which the topsoil replacement layer is to be placed.

Edge Properties

Vertical - Select this to use a 'vertical' edge of the topsoil replacement and/or excess topsoil earth fill layers, where the topsoil transitions to structural fill materials. This simple approach may not reflect the actual construction, but provides a basic model and volume calculations.

Sloping - Select this to specify a sloping edge for the topsoil layers. This approach reflects better construction practices, providing adjacent site improvement subgrades with a more substantive foundation, bearing on stable, structurally sound earthen materials.

Note: If the topsoil abuts a site improvement with a vertical edge (such as a building foundation or sidewalk) the topsoil's edge will be vertical to the bottom of that site improvement. From that depth down, it will be sloped.
Note: These edge properties will also apply to excess topsoil if you later choose to configure any excess for use under the replacement topsoil.

Specify the cross-slope for the edge of the topsoil. To use a method besides the default, click the icon and choose an option:

• Slope percent - Enter the slope as a percentage.
• Slope ratio - Enter the Rise to run or Run to rise ratio of the slope from the reference line to the surface.

Note: The ratio you specify depends on the Slope ratio type defined in Project Settings > Units > Vertical Angle.

Specify the interval of vertices around the edge by entering the maximum distance between each line (drawn from the finished design level to the Finished design with topsoil absent surface.

Figure: Maximum landscaping/topsoil edge spacing

Round - Select this to produce a conical projection from an outside corner point, resulting in a generally rounded corner.

Sharp - Select this to produce a mitered solution where the sideslopes are extended to their intersections.

Figure: Round versus sharp corner projections for topsoil edge