Earthwork billing and scheduling both depend on volumes. Here's how a quick daily GPS pass keeps cut-and-fill numbers honest.
Earthwork is billed and scheduled by volume, but volume is invisible until someone measures it — and by the time a formal survey confirms a shortfall, the crew has often already moved on to the next phase.
A quick daily pass beats a monthly survey
Walking or driving the current grade boundary at the end of each day gives you a running area and rough progress picture without pulling in a full survey crew. It won't replace a final as-built, but it catches problems while they're still cheap to fix.
Compare against the plan, not just yesterday
Daily area and boundary captures are most useful measured against the design grade, not just the previous day's pass — that's what actually shows whether the site is tracking to schedule or slipping.
What to log each pass
- The current disturbed-area boundary, so scope creep beyond the permitted limits shows up immediately.
- Any area that's reached finished grade, tracked separately from areas still in cut or fill.
- Photos tied to GPS points, so progress reports reference an exact location rather than "the north corner."
FieldCalc makes that daily boundary capture fast enough to actually happen every day, with area and location logged automatically.
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