Addresses typical takeoff needs of an earthmoving contractor who is responsible for topsoil handling, including topsoil stripping, topsoil replacement within landscaping/topsoil site improvements, and if needed, the use of excess stripped topsoil as earth fill within landscaping site improvements where a structural fill material may not be required.

Following are the basic steps for this workflow. For more detailed instructions, see Manage Materials and Site Improvements .

Steps:

Commands:

1.

Import any data you need to do an earthmoving site takeoff, such as linework outlining topsoil stripping and landscaping/topsoil site improvements.

Note: You may need to clean up the imported data using the site data prep workflow before you proceed.

Import Data

2.

Create topsoil materials that you intend to strip and replace in the Earthen (Mass Earthworks) material category. Give these materials a nature of Topsoil.

In Topsoil Properties for the materials, identify material as having a richness grade of Usable for topsoil replacement or as having a grade of Unusable.

Material and Site Improvement Manager

3.

Create one or more new Landscaping/Topsoil site improvements using the topsoil materials you created.

In addition to any procured material layers needed for landscaping (such as sod), you can specify the thicknesses at which previously-stripped usable topsoil (or that borrowed from off site) will be placed when replacing topsoil.

Material and Site Improvement Manager

4.

Identify lines surrounding areas where topsoil should be stripped from your original ground surface. Pick one or more closed boundaries and specify a stripping thickness for each.
Note: Before using this command, you may need to use the Create Cut/Fill Map command to determine the limits of your topsoil stripping areas if your imported linework does not explicitly indicate stripping areas. Doing so will allow you to determine the area of coverage within which material is to be either excavated or fill placed, thereby typically establishing the limits within which existing topsoil must be stripped.

Define Topsoil Stripping Areas

5.

Categorize the layers that contain lines that can potentially combine to form closed site regions within which the landscaping/topsoil site improvements will reside.

Designate each of the layers as containing potential site region boundaries. These layers will typically be associated with the Design category since the noted site regions typically affect the formation of the finished design surfaces. Note that other layers may also be associated with the Design category, or other categories as appropriate. Those other layers may play a role in defining the Finished design surface, or other roles, but they may not actually contain lines that are intended to form the region boundaries. Therefore, those other layers will not have their Contains potential boundary lines

box checked.
Note: Unlike lines for the stripping areas, the lines on these layers do not need to be closed.

Categorize Takeoff Layers

6.

Update the surfaces that are automatically created by the takeoff commands. In addition to the Finished design and Original ground surfaces, the OG with topsoil stripped (& subgrades demolished) surface is formed.

Build Takeoff Surfaces

7.

Slice vertically through the OG with topsoil stripped (& subgrades demolished) surface to check your topsoil stripping areas.

Note: Click Surfaces if not all of your surfaces are visible.

If desired, open a New 3D View to check the surfaces as well.

Note:

Leave these views open so you can check other takeoff surfaces as you build them.

Surface Slicer View

New 3D View

8.

Use the Site Improvements group in the Identify Site Regions command to assign Landscaping/Topsoil site improvements to regions of your site where previously stripped topsoil is to be replaced.

Closed lines/boundaries are not required for landscaping/topsoil site improvements; site regions can be bounded by any intersecting lines found on layers designated as containing potential boundaries in the Categorize Takeoff Layers command.

Identify Site Regions

9.

Update your takeoff surfaces to create the FD with topsoil absent (& subgrades adjusted) surface.

Again, slice through the surface to check your topsoil replacement areas.

Build Takeoff Surfaces

10.

Add unique names to your landscaping/topsoil site improvements. Label them too if you want.
Note: You can skip this step if you do not need to label site regions and their properties or to report on the topsoil handling quantities associated with each applicable site region in the Takeoff Report.

Name/Label Site Regions

11.

Run a Takeoff Report to see a Mass earthwork analysis and a Topsoil handling analysis. The first will establish the earthwork balance in terms of the mass earthworks other than topsoils. The second will establish the excess or deficit volumes associated with stripped topsoils versus those needed for topsoil replacement.

If the report shows that you must strip far more topsoil than you replace, you can opt (in the next three steps) to use some or all of the excess topsoil for non-structural fill within landscaping/topsoil site improvements.

Takeoff Report

12.

Run the Use Excess Topsoil command to try to achieve an earthwork balance in your topsoil volumes by using excess topsoil earth fill within landscaping areas where structural fill may not be required.

This may remove the need to dispose of previously-stripped, excess topsoil, while either displacing other earthen materials that are suitable as structural fill, or eliminating the need to borrow those other materials.

Set the desired Edge Properties for the formation of replacement and excess topsoil edges, within the appropriate landscaping/topsoil site improvement definitions.

You must choose each individual landscaping /topsoil site improvement region in which you wish to employ as excess topsoil earth fill, an designate the desired configuration method and its related parameter. There are three supported methods with which the excess topsoil can be placed, and by which the mass earthwork surface will be shaped in order to accept the topsoil.

Use Excess Topsoil

13.

Rerun the Build Takeoff Surfaces command to update the takeoff surfaces, and check them again using the Surface Slicer and 3D Views.

Build Takeoff Surfaces

14.

Once you are done configuring the excess topsoil, run the Takeoff Report command again. If you still have excess topsoil volumes, configure additional landscaping regions to accept excess topsoil earth fill, or reconfigure those previously configured so that they require more or less as the circumstances dictate. Iterate through these two steps until you have little or no excess topsoil to dispose of.

Depending on your needs in consideration of mass earthwork deficit/excess volumes, and the amount of excess stripped topsoil available, you can continue to reconfigure excess topsoil earth fills within landscaped regions where non-structural fill may not be required to increase the topsoil usage, thereby reducing the excess of available topsoil. This would have the effect of either reducing a deficit of ordinary soils, or increasing the excess amount of those soils, making them available as may be desired.

Takeoff Report