A Site Contractor Tightened Earthwork Bids and Won More Sitework
Precise cut-and-fill, utilities, and paving takeoffs gave a civil contractor the confidence to bid leaner without exposing itself to risk.
About the Client
/
Bedrock Site Works
Bedrock Site Works performs grading, underground utilities, and paving for commercial and municipal projects. Earthwork is the riskiest line on any sitework bid — get the cut-and-fill wrong and a job can lose money before equipment ever mobilizes.
Client
Industry
Civil / Sitework Contracting
Year
2025
Services
Earthwork, Utilities & Paving Takeoffs
"
We stopped padding our dirt numbers out of fear. The volumes are right, so we bid to win.
Hector Salgado, Estimating Manager at Bedrock Site Works
The Challenge
Bedrock's estimators padded earthwork numbers to protect against uncertainty in their own quantities. That conservatism kept them safe but priced them out of competitive bids, while the few times they bid aggressively they risked underestimating haul and import volumes.
They needed quantities they could actually trust before deciding how lean to bid.
25%
more sitework awarded
±3%
earthwork volume accuracy
0
jobs lost to bad cut-and-fill
The Solution
EstimatesPro delivered detailed earthwork takeoffs — cut-and-fill volumes, topsoil strip and respread, import and export quantities — alongside underground utility runs by size and paving areas by section. Each came with the assumptions clearly documented.
For the first time, Bedrock's estimators could see exactly where the dirt balanced and stop guessing at haul volumes.
Results & Outlook
With reliable volumes in hand, Bedrock trimmed the contingency padding out of its bids and won 25% more sitework without taking on hidden risk. The accuracy of the cut-and-fill numbers meant the jobs they won performed close to estimate in the field.
Bedrock now runs every earthwork-heavy pursuit through EstimatesPro before committing a number.
End Note
You can only bid as lean as you can trust your quantities. Solid earthwork takeoffs let Bedrock compete hard and still protect its margins.
