# How Much Dirt?



## denick (Feb 13, 2006)

In your type of excavating, what kind of yardage do you move on an average job.

We rarely move bulk yardage. Most of our jobs everyone wants to keep every tree and bush. We move 300 yds and its usually an ordeal. To dig a basement and just bail 2,500 yards is rare. 

Many a day I'd just like to sit and bail or push dirt without interruption.

What do you do?


Nick


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## jmic (Dec 10, 2005)

Ditto, Ditto, and Ditto. On many of our jobs there isn't enough room on site for the spoils so we end up having it hauled away and then bring in new material when we're ready to backfill and get sub grades,


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## rino1494 (Jan 31, 2006)

On foundations, never really checked the yardage. Every one of them is different. Most of the lots we do, there is plenty of room for the dirt. 

On our big jobs, it is nothing to 10,000 - 50,000 yds. This fall, we have a 180 acre subdivision to do. Hopefully we'll get the plans in a few months. There is going to be alot of dirt (I mean rock since it is gonna have to be blasted) to be moved on that job.


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## dayexco (Mar 4, 2006)

a 1000 yd basement would be rare! most of our basement excavations average 5-600 yds. we do some contaminated soil jobs, had one gas station we took out 4700 yds., ended up 27 feet deep. looked like a frickin mine


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## digger1 (Apr 22, 2006)

denick said:


> In your type of excavating, what kind of yardage do you move on an average job.
> 
> We rarely move bulk yardage. Most of our jobs everyone wants to keep every tree and bush. We move 300 yds and its usually an ordeal. To dig a basement and just bail 2,500 yards is rare.
> 
> ...


It just doesn't happen , every job has its pitfalls .Even when you get an apparent easy job and bid it low , something always seem to bite you , about 10 years ago I just learned to live with it.
digger1


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## denick (Feb 13, 2006)

Digger,

Haven't seen you around before nice to see you here.

Nick


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## TMatt142 (Apr 28, 2006)

My last job as a superintendent for a large MN company we had a couple retention ponds to dig for the stormwater runoff. I'd say we averaged 3500 yards a day excavated. Our best day was 4200 yards. The pond we were digging was 56,000 cu/yrds. It did help we had a 345 Cat and close to 20 belly and side dumps! Now that I've moved on to bigger and better......I usually only move little piles around here and there!!


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## PipeGuy (Oct 8, 2004)

TMatt142 said:


> I'd say we averaged 3500 yards a day excavated. Our best day was 4200 yards. The pond we were digging was 56,000 cu/yrds. It did help we had a 345 Cat and close to 20 belly and side dumps!


That sounds right. In 'rip and gouge' mode a good operator with a 345 can throw, what, 6 - 8 yards a minute into a 25 yard truck? So that's 4 or 5 hundred yards an hour or 3200 - 4000 yards a day just bailing from the bank with a 100K# rig into a steady stream of trucks.
Drop that down to a 70K# machine digging selectively in close proximity to protected improvements and the numbers fall drastically. On a great day stabbin' watermain in the open field we're handling less than 400 yards; layin' sewer maybe half-again that much.


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## TMatt142 (Apr 28, 2006)

yep, our best day putting in watermain I think we did 2100 ft. 6 hydrants. That was open ground 8ft cut with a Cat 235 (70,000) machine. And.....a lot of pre-planning!


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## dayexco (Mar 4, 2006)

2100 feet. how big of a crew? all compacted back? how long of a day?
that's damn near a half a mile dude


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## dayexco (Mar 4, 2006)

i've dug a LOT of basements...in a 150-200 sized machine....by the time you figure in staking, setup, and your trim passes...the average operator is going to run about 65 yards per hour. we've gone to a 4' deep minimum on our estimating for that reason. you need the volume to make any money. btw...what is the average you guys get for digging basements....just a throw and go....no haul away...here we are getting about $3.25-$3.50 per cubic yard


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## TMatt142 (Apr 28, 2006)

well, this watermain was under a frontage road on a big highway job. we had gone through and planned quite a bit. We had a 950 loader laying the pipe out, the 235 digging, I was running 710 and actually did the hydrants as we passed them. One pipe layer, a back-man, and a top man, who I helped bag the pipe before hand so that we had plastic around 4 to 5 pipe ahead of the crew. So really I was a 710/laborer. And on this job up in MN, it was all 12% or better sand! So,....had a D6 and a roller a bit back from us. It went REALLY well with all the help.


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## denick (Feb 13, 2006)

Day,

We have never bid house basements by the CY. In CT it's hard enough to find enough dirt to bale a lot of the time. Sites are very tight most of the time even out here in the country. Trees don't often get cut down around the house site if they aren't in the basement.

We do give contract prices. Just not CY prices.


Nick


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## dayexco (Mar 4, 2006)

denick,

i have 3-4 builders we work for....i give them my prices in the spring, for basements, excess haul away, water/sewer....with a contingency for increasing fuel prices, etc.....that way these guys can go ahead and bid the jobs without calling me on everyone....these guys are good, are typically within 5% of my quantities would or end up being.


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## PipeGuy (Oct 8, 2004)

TMatt142 said:


> yep, our best day putting in watermain I think we did 2100 ft. 6 hydrants.


???? Dude how long a day did you work? 14 hrs? That's a pipe every 4 minutes in an eight hour day (8' deep and in polywrap no less). If it took 45 seconds to lay the pipe and the ditch was dug with vertical sidewalls 30" wide you're talking about bailing almost 6 yards a minute. Your story is an amazing one, that's for sure.
And by the way, depending on the model and some of the options, most 235's weighed in right around 100K#.


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## rino1494 (Jan 31, 2006)

We do basements by the hour. A 2300 sq ft house usually takes me 1 day. Some of the bigger ones takes me about 1.5 days.


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## TMatt142 (Apr 28, 2006)

My fault on that spec for the 235 Pipe.....And yes....he was bailing but you gotta remember....SAND sand is like a breeze to dig in plus the sand buckets we had on the machines up there. To add to it....IT was a LONG day no way we could have done that much in even a 12 hour day. Sorry I didn't say that earlier. Can't really remember when we quit but it was dark


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