Calculate material volumes and site improvement quantities needed at a job site, usually for the purpose of bidding on a construction job. Specify those materials and the improvements they are used to create, define subsurface strata and topsoil areas, and then build the takeoff surfaces needed for the Takeoff Report.

Following are the basic steps for this workflow. For more detailed instructions, see Perform Site Takeoff Calculations.

Steps:

Commands:

1.

Open a project or start a new project and import the data from which you want to create a surface.

Open Project

New Default Project
(use the default template)

New Project
(choose a template)

Import

2.

Digitize additional data, such as topographic contours, building pad outlines, and other missing linework.

Do this step if you routinely digitize new data in your projects. The commands for digitizing specific types of lines are optimized for digitizer input; you can enter data for each new line from the digitizer puck without returning to the on-screen command pane. These features enable you to quickly and simply digitize multiple objects in series.

Digitizer Setup

Customize Digitizer Button Profiles

Digitize Contour

Digitize Pad

Digitize Linestring

3.

Define materials and site improvements.

Use the manager to create libraries of construction materials and the site improvements they are used to build in preparation for takeoff calculations.

Material and Site Improvement Manager

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

4.

Categorize takeoff layers.

Do this to automatically create layer surfaces based on the Original and Design categories, For details, press [F1] when in the command. Also see the Understanding Takeoff Surfaces help topic.

Categorize Takeoff Layers

5.

After selecting the Design takeoff category, use the Simple Subgrade Adjustments group in the Identify Site Regions command to assign subgrade adjustments to regions on your site where area-based site improvements will be built by other contractors. Site regions can be bounded by any intersecting lines found on layers designated as containing potential boundaries in the Categorize Takeoff Layers command.

Define topsoil stripping and replacement areas and build takeoff surfaces.

Create subgrade surfaces for area-based site improvements by assigning the improvements to site regions that correspond to them.

Do this step if you have identified places where topsoil should be stripped (removed) from your original ground surface and replaced in your finished design surface.

Note: If there are any area-based site improvements that you are responsible for constructing, you will wish to identify those site regions using the appropriate area-based site improvement definition.

Identify Site Regions

6.

Build takeoff surfaces.

Do this step each time you want to update your takeoff surfaces due to changes, such as adding objects to the layers that affect the surfaces or specifying areas of interest or topsoil areas (described below). There is no user interface for the command.
Surfaces are automatically rebuilt when you categorize Original and Design layers and when you run the Takeoff Report (to ensure that up-to-date surfaces are used in the earthwork volume calculations).

Build Takeoff Surfaces

7.

Create an overexcavation surface.

Create a surface to represent the result of excavation within areas that need to be cut below an intended finished or subgrade surface.

Overexcavation

9.

Derive topsoil areas and areas of interest by tracking the outlines of regions.

This command can find the outline of a region from disconnected lines that overlap planimetrically, but may not be connected in 3D space.

Track Region Outline

10.

Define the subsurface strata of earthen materials on your job site.

Do this step only if you have boring log data that defines the depth and thickness for each stratum at the job site.

Define Strata

11.

Create boring logs.

Create Boring Log

Edit Boring Log

12.

Define areas of interest (AOIs).

Do this step if there are closed areas of the site that you want to use to subdivide the total takeoff quantity calculations. AOIs might (for example) define different construction phases or sections on the job site.

Define Areas of Interest

13.

Rebuild your takeoff surfaces.

Build Takeoff Surfaces

Add unique names to the simple subgrade adjustments on your site. Label them too, if you want.
Note: You can skip this step if you do not need to label site regions with their names and properties for plotting or to report on the mass earthwork quantities associated with each site region in the Takeoff Report.

Name/Label Site Regions

14.

Validate the takeoff surfaces using graphic views to inspect the results of your changes.

Do this step after you rebuild your takeoff surfaces. The quickest way to check the surface is to visually inspect it using the various graphic views..

Orbit and view the surface in the 3D View.

New 3D View

Use the Coordinates scroll to check elevations at specific locations.

Coordinate Scroll

Slice across the surface to see a cross-section in any direction.

Surface Slicer View

Check flagged data to see if anything needs to be fixed.

Flags Pane

15.

Create a cut/fill map of elevations by comparing one surface to another.

Create Cut/Fill Map

16.

Analyze mass haul needs for the site to determine the most efficient distribution of in situ earthen material from cut zones to fill zones.

Create Mass Haul Analysis

17.

Run reports.

The Takeoff Report computes all of the material volumes and site improvement counts, areas, and lengths in a formatted report that can be saved to Microsoft^® Excel^® or Adobe^® Acrobat^® formats.

Set properties for the reports.

Report Options

Run an Earthwork Summary report.

Earthwork Summary

Run a Takeoff Report.

Takeoff Report

Run an Earthwork Report.

Earthwork Report

18.

Run a report on the mass haul analysis.

Site Mass Haul Report