Bank Yards · Swell · Truckloads · Haul-Off Cost

Dirt Removal Calculator — Excavation Volume, Swell & Haul-Off Cost

Enter the dig's shape and dimensions, pick the soil, and get all three volumes — bank, loose, and re-compacted — plus tonnage, truck trips, dump fees, hauling charges, and the full cost of getting the dirt off your property.

✓ 6 excavation shapes⛏ Swell 10–35%🚚 Truckload count💲 Dump & haul fees

Before any dig: call 811 or file a free online locate at least 2–3 business days ahead. Utility marking is required by law in most states, and striking a buried gas or electric line turns a dirt removal project into an emergency.

Input Parameters

Excavation shape

Yards, pads, garden beds, foundation grade-up

Lengthft

✓ 30' 0" (360 in)

Widthft

✓ 20' 0" (240 in)

Cut depthin

✓ 3' 0" (36 in)

Soil Type & Swell

Soil being excavated

Sandy and gravelly soil bulges the least and stacks steeply on the truck.

Swell factor (bank → loose)

+12%

Typical bands: granular 10–15% · loam 15–25% · clay 25–35%. Wet, root-filled, or rocky soil sits at the high end.

Hauling Truck

Truck capacity (heaped)

Most residential deliveries.

Dump / Disposal Feeoptional

Disposal fee per ton

Clean soil $25–45/ton; mixed C&D loads $40–90/ton; contaminated soil far higher.

Hauling Chargeoptional

Hauling charge per load

Local residential haul-off typically $95–250 per truckload — confirm the load size the quote assumes.

Excavation Laboroptional

Equipment & productivity

yd³/hr (bank)

Operator / labor rate per hour

Set the rate to 0 to exclude labor from the total.

Your Removal Estimate

Loose yards to haul

74.7

cu yd at +12% swell · Granular soil

Bank volume (in ground)

66.67 yd³

1,800 ft³ dug

Weight

96.67 t

1.45 t/yd³ bank

Truckloads

Standard single-axle · 10 yd heaped

Re-compacted (reuse)

59.73 yd³

≈80% of loose volume

Disposal @ $30/ton$2,900

Hauling 8 loads $1,200

Labor 3.3 hr @ $75/hr$250

Total haul-off budget$4,350

Weight is billed on bank yards — digging adds air, not mass.

Digging in the opposite direction? This page sizes the dirt coming out of the ground. If you are buying material to fill a hole instead, the free dirt calculator on the Dirt Calculator homepage handles delivery-side volumes, materials, and freight — and every tool on the site, including this dirt removal calculator, is indexed on the Calculators hub.

The Three Volumes

Bank, Loose & Compacted Yards: The Three Volumes of One Dig

Every dirt removal project involves the same pile of soil measured three different ways, and quoting the wrong one is the most common way estimates fall apart. Bank cubic yards are the volume while the soil is still in the ground — it is what the excavation plan shows, what the machine removes, and what productivity rates like “20 yards an hour” refer to. Loose cubic yards are what those bank yards become after digging, when the soil fluffs up and refuses to pack back into the voids it came from — it is the number that fills trucks. Compacted cubic yards are what loose soil shrinks back down to when it is re-placed and compacted, typically about 80% of its loose volume.

The relationships are simple enough to run by hand. Loose = bank × (1 + swell ÷ 100), where swell is the soil-specific percentage from the table below. Compacted ≈ loose × 0.8. Weight never changes across the three states — digging only adds air — which is why the scale house computes tonnage from bank yards even though the trucks were loaded by loose ones. A 66.7 bank-yard loam dig therefore becomes 80 loose yards on the trucks, weighs about 108 tons regardless of state, and would backfill about 64 compacted yards if it stayed on site.

Tip

Quote haulers in loose yards — it is what physically fills their trucks. Quote machine productivity in bank yards. Keeping the two straight prevents the classic double-count.

Warning

Some haulers quote “a truck” without stating its heaped capacity — a “10-yard truck” quote from one company may be 8 yards of steel from another. Always ask for the heaped cubic-yard figure before comparing prices.

Don't

Don't multiply bank yards by swell and then add a waste buffer on top — swell already is the buffer between the hole and the truck. Stacking both inflates the truck count and the bill.

Volume state	Formula from bank	Who uses it
Bank (BCY)	1.00 × bank — the baseline	Excavation plans, machine productivity, weight bills
Loose (LCY)	bank × (1 + swell ÷ 100)	Truck counts, haul-off quotes, dump tickets
Compacted (CCY)	loose × 0.8 when re-placed	On-site reuse, backfill plans, grading checks

The 0.8 loose-to-compacted factor is the site engine's general residential compaction guidance; plate-compacted structural fill can shrink a point or two further depending on lift thickness and moisture.

Soil Factors

Dirt Swell Factors by Soil Type

Why digging makes soil take up more room

In the ground, soil is a three-dimensional jigsaw: mineral grains interlocked with the voids between them mostly filled by water and air at tight packing. An excavator bucket destroys that structure. The cut soil is a pile of angular clods with fresh air gaps between them, and the pile occupies measurably more space than the hole it came from — typically 10% more for clean sand, up to a third more for dense clay. That increase is the swell factor, and it is pure geometry, not moisture: dry and wet soil of the same type swell nearly the same amount.

How to calculate dirt swell

Take the swell percentage for your soil, add it to 100, and multiply by bank yards. A 40 bank-yard clay dig at 30% swell yields 40 × 1.30 = 52 loose cubic yards — 12 extra yards, one more tri-axle load, and a real line item. Run the same dig in sand at 12% and you get 44.8 loose yards: same hole, three fewer pickup trips. The calculator's preset buttons sit at the band edges so you can bracket the answer, and the slider fine-tunes between them for rocky, rooty, or freshly-rained-on soil that sits at the high end of its class.

Soil type	Typical swell	Loose ÷ bank	Bank density	Common jobs
Granular — sand & gravel	10–15%	1.10–1.15	1.45 t/yd³	Trenches, sandy pads, pool digs in sand
Loam — mixed garden soil	15–25%	1.15–1.25	1.62 t/yd³	General residential excavation, foundation digs
Clay — dense & sticky	25–35%	1.25–1.35	1.72 t/yd³	Pond digs, wet-site excavations, expansive clay regions

Densities mirror the site engine's material table (sandy fill 1.45 · sandy loam 1.62 · clay fill 1.72 t/yd³). Swell bands follow general civil-engineering practice for moist, ordinary soil — not laboratory values, and not a substitute for a geotech report on engineered work.

Excavator loading loose dug soil into a dump truck on a construction site

Dug soil bulges 10–35%Photo: Unsplash

Rocky soil rule of thumb

Broken rock and boulder-rich soil swell far more than the bands above — 40–60% is common once rock is blasted or hammered. If your dig is mostly rock, add the extra percentage manually with the slider at its 40% maximum plus your own judgment.

Truckloads

From Loose Yards to Hauling Trips

Haulers do not think in yards — they think in loads. Converting is one division: loose cubic yards ÷ the truck's heaped capacity, rounded up. The rounding matters more on small trucks: 25 loose yards is exactly 10 heaped pickup loads but only 1.79 single-axle loads, which still books as 2. Every partially-filled last load costs the same as a full one, so matching truck size to job size is one of the cheapest optimizations in dirt removal — a 60-yard dig is 24 pickup trips or 4 tri-axle trips, and the difference in driving hours alone usually decides it.

Truck	Heaped capacity	25 loose yd	50 loose yd	100 loose yd
Pickup bed	2.5 cu yd	10 loads	20 loads	40 loads
Standard single-axle	10 cu yd	3 loads	5 loads	10 loads
Tandem axle	14 cu yd	2 loads	4 loads	8 loads
Tri-axle	16 cu yd	2 loads	4 loads	7 loads

Trip counts use the site engine's truck table (pickup 2.5 · single-axle 10 · tandem 14 · tri-axle 16 cu yd heaped), computed as loose yards ÷ capacity rounded up.

Capacity is only half the constraint — the other half is payload. A heaped pickup load of moist loam weighs around 3 tons against a half-ton payload rating of 1–1.5 tons, which is why DIY hauls of heavy soil realistically fill the bed to a yard or a yard and a half per trip. On the commercial side, tri-axle dump trucks are usually weight-limited before they are volume-limited with clay: 16 loose yards of clay at roughly 1.4 tons per loose yard is about 22 tons, right at the legal edge. Heavy soil, long distances, and scale tickets all push toward more, smaller loads than the volume math alone suggests.

Dump truck tipping a load of excavated soil at a fill site

Know the gate before the truck rollsPhoto: Unsplash

Contamination changes everything

Soil from gas stations, industrial parcels, or structures with lead paint may require lab testing before any facility accepts it — and accepted loads can cost 3–10× clean-soil rates. If the dig site has a suspect history, test before you quote.

Disposal

Dump Fees & Disposal Minimums for Excavated Soil

Where the dirt goes decides what the dirt costs. The same truckload can be nearly free at a clean-fill site and several hundred dollars at a construction-and-demolition landfill, because each facility values (or merely tolerates) soil differently. Clean-fill sites want uncontaminated soil because they are reshaping land and need volume; recyclers want it as feedstock for screened products; landfills charge by weight because everything they take costs them airspace forever. The calculator's two disposal modes — per ton with a scale ticket, or per load with a flat gate fee — cover how these facilities actually bill.

Facility type	Typical fee	Accepts	Note
Clean-fill site	$0–25 / ton or free	Soil, clay, sand only — no roots, sod, or debris	Cheapest legal outlet for uncontaminated soil
Soil & compost recycler	$10–30 / ton	Weed-free soil as screening feedstock	Sometimes free — your dirt becomes their product
Municipal landfill (MSW)	$25–60 / ton + gate minimum	Tested soil; organics often banned	Per-vehicle minimums apply at the scale house
C&D landfill / transfer station	$40–90 / ton	Mixed loads — soil with rubble, roots, trash	The default outlet for demolition-adjacent hauls
Contaminated-soil facility	$75–250+ / ton + lab testing	Soil with documented test results only	Required near fuel sites, industry, or lead-paint structures

Typical 2026 planning bands — gate fees, minimums, and acceptance rules vary widely by state and even by individual facility. Call ahead: some clean-fill sites are free but appointment-only, and most reject loads with visible roots, sod, or trash on arrival.

Clean fill — what qualifies

Soil, clay, sand, and gravel with no visible debris
No roots, sod, stumps, or brush at most sites (organics go to composters)
No asphalt, concrete, or brick unless the site explicitly takes it
No odor, staining, or fill history suggesting fuel or chemical release
Load tarped and sorted — one mixed load can reprice the whole day

Cost Guide

Dirt Haul-Off Cost: Building the Full Budget

A complete dirt removal budget has three cost lines, and the calculator adds them the same way a contractor would. Disposal is what the receiving facility charges — by the ton on a scale ticket or by the load at the gate. Hauling is what the truck charges — a flat per-load rate for local work, or a per-mile rate that scales with the round trip to the facility. Excavation labor is the machine and operator that turn the ground into a pile — hand digging manages about 3 bank yards an hour, a mini excavator around 20, and a full-size machine 40 or more. Each line is optional in the calculator; set a rate to zero to exclude it.

Worked example — a 30 × 20 ft garage pad dig 3 ft deep in mixed loam. Bank volume is 1,800 ft³ ÷ 27 = 66.7 bank yards, weighing 66.7 × 1.62 ≈ 108 tons. At a 20% swell the trucks must carry 80 loose yards, which is 8 single-axle loads at 10 yards heaped. Disposal at a C&D gate of $30/ton costs about $3,240; hauling at $150 per load adds $1,200; a mini excavator clears 66.7 bank yards in about 3.3 hours, roughly $250 at $75/hour. Total: about $4,690, or right around $70 per bank yard — a realistic planning number for small-diameter excavation haul-off in many markets.

Disposal line

$25–90 per ton

Clean soil $25–45/ton, mixed C&D $40–90/ton, contaminated far higher. Per-load flat gates and minimums apply at many facilities.

Hauling line

$95–250 per load

Local residential band per truckload, or roughly $3–8 per loaded mile. Confirm the heaped yardage a “load” includes before comparing quotes.

Labor line

$60–95 per hour

Operator and machine. Productivity: ~3 yd³/hr hand digging, ~20 mini excavator, ~40 full-size — measured in bank yards.

How to read a haul-off quote

1. Ask what one “load” means — 8, 10, or 16 yards changes the trip count by 2× on the same job.
2. Ask where the dirt goes — a clean-fill destination is often half the price of a C&D landfill, and some recyclers take soil free.
3. Ask whether disposal is inside the per-load price or billed separately by weight — the second invoice surprises people.
4. Ask about wet-weather weight — rain-soaked clay can add hundreds of pounds per yard onto a scale-ticket disposal bill.

FAQ

Dirt Removal Questions, Answered With Numbers

Swell math, truck counts, dump fees, and the difference between the three volumes — each answer checkable against the calculator above.

How do I calculate cubic yards of dirt removal?

Multiply the excavation's length × width × depth in feet, then divide by 27 — a cubic yard is 27 cubic feet. A dig 30 ft long, 20 ft wide, and 3 ft deep holds 1,800 cubic feet, which is 66.7 bank cubic yards. For circles use π × radius² × depth; for a trench use the average of top and bottom width. The calculator above runs each shape for you and adds the swell factor automatically.

What is soil swell and how do I calculate it?

Swell is the percentage of extra volume soil takes up once it is dug out, because excavated material no longer fits the voids it occupied in the ground. Loose yards = bank yards × (1 + swell ÷ 100). Granular soils swell 10–15%, mixed loam 15–25%, and clay 25–35%. A 66.7 bank-yard dig in loam at 20% swell produces 80 loose cubic yards — that is the number that has to ride on trucks.

What happens if my dirt excavation estimate neglects swell?

You under-order trucks by exactly the swell percentage. On that same 66.7 bank-yard loam dig, ignoring the 20% swell leaves 13.3 loose cubic yards unquoted — two more 10-yard loads, which at $150 hauling plus per-ton disposal lands $500–$700 of unplanned cost, plus a pile sitting in the driveway while you re-book. The calculator's swell slider exists so the first quote is the right one.

How do I calculate how much dirt to remove from a slope?

A tapering cut is a wedge — take half of the bounding box: (length × width × max depth) ÷ 2, then ÷ 27 for yards. A 40 ft cut, 10 ft wide, 4 ft at the deep edge is 800 ÷ 27 = 29.6 bank cubic yards. If the slope changes direction or steepness, split it into two or more wedges and add them — the site's home calculator supports multiple zones if you would rather sum rectangles than wedge halves.

How many pickup-truck loads are in 25 cubic yards of dirt?

By volume, a heaped half-ton pickup bed carries about 2.5 cubic yards, so 25 loose yards is 10 trips. By weight it is worse: moist loam runs roughly 1.3 tons per loose yard, so a heaped load weighs around 3 tons — about twice the truck's payload. Realistically plan 1–1.5 yards per trip (17–25 trips), rent a trailer, or book a dump-truck haul-off instead.

How much does it cost to have dirt hauled away?

As a 2026 planning band, all-in haul-off for clean residential soil runs roughly $150–$400 per single-axle load, or $25–$90 per ton when the dump charges by weight and the truck passes the scale. A loaded 10-yard truck of loam weighs about 16 tons, so a $40/ton gate pushes disposal alone past $600 — which is why clean fill that a recycler accepts cheaply saves real money on big digs.

What are dump fees for excavated soil, and why do they vary so much?

Facility type sets the price. Clean-fill sites take uncontaminated soil for little or nothing because they need material to reshape land. Soil recyclers pay little or take dirt free as screening feedstock. Municipal landfills charge $25–60 per ton with gate minimums, C&D landfills $40–90 per ton for mixed loads, and contaminated-soil facilities $75–250+ per ton once lab testing is involved. Know which category your dirt falls into before comparing quotes.

Bank, loose, or compacted — which volume do I quote the hauler?

Quote loose cubic yards: that is what physically fills the truck, and haulers price by the load they can carry. Bank yards are the excavation-side number — it is what the machine digs and what productivity rates assume. Compacted yards only matter if the dirt is reused on site, because re-compacted fill settles back to roughly 80% of its loose volume. The calculator shows all three so each conversation gets its own number.

How much does a cubic yard of excavated dirt weigh?

In the ground, granular soil weighs about 1.45 tons per yard (2,900 lb), mixed loam 1.62 tons (3,240 lb), and clay 1.72 tons (3,440 lb). Excavation does not change weight — swelling only adds air — so the tonnage bill at a scale house is computed on bank yards even though the trucks are loaded by loose volume. Wet weather can add hundreds of pounds per yard on top of these typical figures.

Do I need to call 811 before digging?

Yes — it is free, it is the law in most of the US, and it applies to rented mini-excavators just as much as shovels. Call 811 or file online at least 2–3 business days before breaking ground, and utility crews will mark buried gas, electric, water, and telecom lines. Hitting an unmarked line stops the job, and the repair bill and liability land on the digger, not the utility.

Can I reuse excavated dirt instead of paying to haul it off?

Often, yes — and it is the single biggest cost lever. Re-compacted fill settles to roughly 80% of loose volume, so 80 loose yards backfills about 64 compacted yards. Use the dirt for on-site grading, backfilling the same foundation, building berms, or filling low spots. Do not reuse clay or organic-rich soil as structural fill under drives or footings — it holds water and moves. Whatever you keep, subtract from the truck count before booking.

What is the cheapest way to get rid of dirt?

In order: reuse it on site; list it free on local fill-wanted boards where gardeners and graders collect it; drop it at a clean-fill site or recycler instead of a C&D landfill; and book the fewest, fullest truckloads by matching truck size to volume. Keep loads clean — one load with construction rubble or sod forces the whole trip to the expensive mixed-waste gate.

Data & sources: truck capacities (pickup 2.5 · single 10 · tandem 14 · tri-axle 16 cu yd heaped) and soil densities (1.45 / 1.62 / 1.72 t/yd³) mirror the site calculation engine. Swell bands (granular 10–15% · loam 15–25% · clay 25–35%) and the 0.8 loose-to-compacted factor follow the site's soil-guidance pages. The ÷27 bank-yard conversion is a unit definition, not an estimate.

Planning estimates to verify locally: disposal fees, hauling rates, labor rates, and facility acceptance rules vary by region and vendor — all money figures on this page are typical 2026 planning ranges, not quotes. Contaminated-soil handling always requires local lab testing and regulation checks.

Author: Dirt Calculator editorial team · Last updated: October 26, 2026. This page is a planning aid; it does not replace a geotechnical report, a utility locate, or your hauler's written quote.

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