How to Bid Excavating and Grading 

I wish my school teachers did stuff like this in class, things that may help in life, not doing Romeo and Joliet that I'll never use, your a good teacher.

Im just starting out in this industry have a bobcat and equipment, I love the fact how you actually describe how to do it, why you do it and how to estimate a job. I have not seen another contractor go into it this deep. This helps a lot to understand how to estimate a job. Its always a little iffy when you have never done this before and saving us from some major mistakes right of the bat :-) Thx mate.

I am a PE in Connecticut as well as an excavation contractor for over thirty years . Everything you said is absolutely correct. You do know your business. You just gained another subscriber.

Thanks for taking the time to make this Video Man, Currently an Operator in my Past Owned a Small Business , People do not want to Teach these things, Very awesome of you to take your time to make this Video, And break it down Where it can be Understood.

In business 4.5 years. I learned alot from this. Thanks Dirt Monkey.

I appreciate you passing along your knowledge; thanks for posting!

I really enjoy how you explain the amount it cost and you spend and how the profit works. another good thing you do is explain about the crown and how you get the correct loads. keep making these videos they are very helpful.

I need to add some clarification to your video. First Stanley and everyone else. you need to do a "site analysis" as the video shows. However you need to look at existing grades. For example, the slope or grade of this lot naturally drains to one corner. So you don't always want a "crown". For those that don't know, 3/16 to a 1/4 of an inch in 10 feet will drain water. So you may want or need to check grades before you do your estimate. For example. in the project in the video, you may have to haul in clay spoils to create a crown in the center. Otherwise, cutting the outside edges will create standing water on the two-sides. If you have natural vegetation such as grass as it looks like in this video, remember that it was slow down the water and cause ponding in a heavy rain as the storm water tries to run through the grass. This would be true even if Stanley hauled in clay spoils to build a crown. So please be thorough, check natural drainage, existing catch basins and grades By doing so will save you time, headaches, and cost later on. Now let me also add some clarification to sub bases. Not only am I a contractor, I am an inspector for the Ohio Department of Transportation. Stanley makes it sound easy however he left out some major things that you all NEED TO KNOW! If you are grading for a parking lot or anything that is going to be paved, if you are NOT sub-contracting the paving, find out who is! Ask the owner, client, developer etc. The reason is simple, you need to grade it the same way it is going to be paved! It needs to be paved the same way it was graded! Why is this important? Say you are the grading contractor as Stanley was on the Menard's I think he said, who is doing the stone grade? Most big jobs like that someone is going to topo the site to check grades If the grade is off then it will cost the paving contractor heavily for extra asphalt. Asphalt is far more costly than stone! Stone is more costly than sub-base! The stone base or grade is to allow water to drain under the asphalt or concrete without soaking into the sub-base and making a soft spot. So the question will be who is paying for the correction??? The paving contractor will put it on the excavating and grading contractor.... YOU! Allow me to stress there is huge difference between landscaping and excavating! If you are doing ANY grading where there will be live load or traffic constantly driving on it or with heavy weights... trucks, forklifts, warehousing materials, do yourself a favor and compact the sub-base and any stone grades. If you don't own a smooth drum roller, RENT one! They are more than reasonable! This will seal the sub-base and stone to help prevent rain and storm water from soaking into the sub-base and creating a sub-base where you have to come back and do re-work. Stanley talked about driving a loaded dump truck around and around. That is called "STATIC ROLLING" We use this method to "test proof" the contractors work. There are tolerances for rutting. As far as compaction, there are a number of factors... the material type, moisture content and compaction. All of these must be just right to obtain "optimum compaction" For example if you are using a granular stone material such as #304 Limestone, if it is too dry, it won't compact! If it is too wet, again it will not compact! What Stanley is talking about is Proctor test is using a nuc gauge to test form moisture per material and the compaction required to obtain "optimum" or mimic mother nature. Tpyically this is going to fall between 96% to 98%. You can gain more as he stated, however, say you over roll it, then there is a point where you will lose compaction. So say you hit 104%, if you continue to try to compact it you could take your proctor back down below say 96%. So the rule or thumb is take your material and grab a handful. Squeeze it into a ball in your fist. It should not crumble! If so add water! It should also not squeeze into mush and come out between your finger. It should make a ball and leave a slight bit of moisture on you palm. It should break apart. It is somewhat hard to example but picture cookie dough. Not to wet or dry! If you have material to wet, you can dry it. If you have a dozer or a skid steer with a dozer blade angle your blade as far left or right and down on the down angle like a plow. Plow into windrows Allow to dry to where you see crusting. When you see this then you can roll it again. With a backhoe or excavator, use the teeth to rake the material. Allow to crust and repeat. Hope this helps and clears up some things!

Nice video... You are a Role Model as not many people are willing to take the time to teach others... I have only watched one of your videos but you covered the entire job from beginning to end. There is good money in these smaller one off private jobs. Keep up the good work.

This video, the way you describe it the way you made it look like when you went to look at the job inspire me now I got my own excavator and have my own company god bless you brother

This helped a lot! I'm going into the excavation business from the aviation business and need all the help I can. (KIS) Keeping it simple worked for your proposal and your video. As an amateur in this field I completely understood the Business process that your portrayed. Thank you! and Mahalo!! From the Hawaiian in Guam....

That’s very interesting for my small business. I’m learning. Thank you !

Excellent vid.....I used to underbid jobs and as I looked at what I was bidding I found that it literally cost me money to do work for others. Fact is that materials are expensive, fuel is expensive and labor is very expensive. I really like how you justified every step of your process so the customer could see what he's paying for. I have issues with not building in factors by which the customer can track your progress and material use. If I use less material I have already built enough profit built into the bid to add funds to my materials escrow. I always over build like you do and ALWAYS keep my word even if it costs me money. But over all this is a fabulous video.....thanks for the info.....

I develop estimates for reclamation in Kentucky. That's how we do it - break the activity down into hours and quantify it with a cost. Yes, we also call it guestimate! You can get very techincal and specific, but it's always a guestimate until the project is completed.

“You deserve to make money on every component of the job” amen brother. Well said.

@Dirt money Stanley. I am a home renovation contractor that specializes is finish and rough carpentry services. Even though I don't do the same line of work as you. Estimating and customer/contractor relations are the same across the board. keep up the great vids. Your helping me get my business to the next level!

Thank you. I’ve been searching for this information to work out how many tonne I need and you just showed me. So grateful I’m going to subscribe I think you’ll be teaching a lot more yet. Again thank you I’m so grateful

Build profit into every portion. Got it thanks Stan.

Thank you my brother , I been enjoying your videos over the years . Thank you for sharing your helpful knowledge and making a difference. Best ! Andy

Ya know I’m just a machinist but I watch you cause I like toys like this! Your business advice is fantastic!!

I know this is an old one, but I've watched a good amount of your videos over the past month. This fantastic tutorial is the one that made me subscribe. Great info for my startup, Thanks

You Rock Bro!!! Your time is greatly appreciated, even if the people who disliked the video don't think so....

Great vid. Some questions for those in the comments or even Stan if he even looks at these comments still: 1) You said you charge roughly $6 to get class 5 transported per ton to the site, and $8/ton for the class 5 itself. Say you're doing a job and a customer wants you to bring another 2 tons at the end. Would you really go to get 2 tons of class 5 in a dump truck or pickup/trailer for $20? How do we protect ourselves in these situations that don't make sense unless they're at a large scale? 2) How do you deal with clients who decide to go another direction and instead of signing you up for the whole contract, they only choose you for 1 small part. Even though you have profit and etc in all your parts, are you really going to go do one small part of the job for say $250, needing to allocate labour and equipment that could be doing something else and not get the rest of the contract? Doesn't seem worth it. For example, I'm making a quote right now to strip a lawn and level the remaining soil. I'd like to price it by the square foot, but then if I get on site and the client starts to nitpick about how I didn't do 2 square feet there and another 5 square feet there (if they didn't need stripping), just seems like you could get nitpicked to hell by customers and at the end of the day make way less than you predicted since there are only so many hours in a day to perform work.

It's late in the evening. But, tomorrow morning I'm looking at this video and writing the formula down and framing it because I will be using it in the near future!

already had a general idea on the math never could understand how to make square yards into tons though but man u just answered so many of my questions thanks

YOU ARE A GREAT TEACHER. I'M TRYING TO BREAK INTO THE BIZ AT 71, I MAY BE AN OLD F**K, HOWEVER, I WILL DO IT SOMEHOW!!!

I do need to get back to work! great comprehensive brake down of the estimate! people ask me this all the time!

Stumbled on your channel. Love it. Thank you

Good video! I always say it's not rocket science and you help break it down pretty well for beginners in grading like me. Soil compaction was always pretty scary before for me, but I can see how it's not as scary as I originally thought.

Very Good video Stanley. I just realize spent my whole day watching at you. I learned a lot. Thant you so much.

I just subscribed, I find your channel very interesting and informative even though we are in different industries. Keep the good work up.

Thank bud for that,getting ready to bid a car wash and sub grade is going to be a bear!

Thank you! I appreciate your content.

The. Compression compaction is a great way to compact you made a very great Point .

Thank you so much for your informative videos, I am a full time Supervisor at a Engineering company that specializes in Soil Engineering. I'm a state contractor as well and i have my own company, it's my first construction business and its overwhelming when it comes to bidding and estimating when I'm still a beginner but your channel has given me confidence and I'm learning things i never got the chance to learn, specially when you reflected to the one mistake you did at the commercial site. "its good to learn from your mistakes. It's better to learn from other peoples mistakes" ~ Warren Buffet

Your videos are nothing short of awesome. I wish I could come work for you just to learn. Thanks.

I love your videos. I started a tree company and hearing some of your business philosophies are very helpful. Keep up the great videos

really cool these aren't behind a pay wall. I'm watching this while thinking about my painting business. very applicable

The break down on your quote is very helpful to see makes quoting seem less daunting!

Stan, awesome information on, well, EVERYTHING! I find your "Estimating" videos extremely beneficial. Have you done or will you do a estimating segment on DECKS? I wish I had someone like you as a mentor years ago. Keep up the amazing work. Thank you

hey man I really appreciate you for breaking these concepts down

I'll never do this in my profession but I've done stone, gravel and pacer driveways. Same concepts but I'm intimidated by those big jobs. Another impressive video Stan da man!

your videos are amazing!!! you help out so many people!!

Gonna GC my new house, I’m gonna wanna see all the material on site before the job starts per the contract! If you don’t use it I’m keeping it!!

This is the same way I do my bids. Spot on

Thanks for sharing your expertise through RU-vid channel. I am running a small concrete pumping business and I learnt many useful tips from your videos

Nice. Full of good advice.

Now I know it's not a full engineered spec job. but technically you will have to add swell/compaction to your cubic yards on the stone if you wanted a true 6" of material. 22% swell can burn you too. You obviously mentioned how much stone you'll have invested and charge more of needed but customers always hate when prices go up.

I learn alot from your videos and I love watching them there very full of learning I wanna start my own lawn care service and by doing that I've couht on how to do that from your videos

One of the most important things to keep in mind during the bidding process is that multiple estimates from different contractors is what keeps everybody honest. I have seen two different contractors bid the same job with the first contractor coming in at $25,000 and the second contractor coming in at $50,000. The contractor that bid $50,000 very rarely wins any of our business now that we are always getting three or four bids on every job. It is fine that he charges more than most other contractors, but he is usually going to miss out on work when the customers are getting multiple bids. If someone does not get multiple bids, then they are taking a chance that they will be paying more than they could have paid.

I think you meant that's our minimum amount. Love what you do Stan you the man.

A time lapse on this job would be awesome, (if follows through)

Great info, Watch all your stuff. Like your no bullshit approach.

Thank you great info after appreciate the honesty and advice in making money on every component of the job

very helpful video thanks a lot looking forward to your others videos. I am a small contractor who does demolition and some grading but would like to tackle bigger grading jobs. Thanks again

you wont get much work like this and even if you do you wont make money. You are placing 6 inches over the area if you didn't estimate enough its on you, you will get more work by convincing the customer of 6 inches no mater what, any mistake is on you, simple math and a phone call to the local material testing company will tell you the weight of material per yd3 at 95% compaction, always figure 10% over and put that in your pocket. Don't forget to overlap the fabric 2 feet if the job calls for 9 rolls bid and buy 10, take the left over to the next job. Heres an example for the people just out of collage, if the job calls for 700 feet of sewer pipe BUY 750 feet or two extra sticks if a labor makes an incorrect cut your coverd. You can still break everything down to the customer they like that but don't pass on your mistake to them,

Another great video, Stanley! I'm an office bum (unless it's 75 and sunny, then I find a reason to get out into the field) and I love the video shots you do from your office.

Thank you You are very helpful

I don't like Crown in the parking lot , it's not a road. 6 inches in the parking lot no way , you should talk to your customer and trying to put 8" in. or more. Because remember it's a heavy duty parking lot, you going to have big truck and heavy equipment every day . Do it ones and don't come back . Recommend a water truck, small grader, and smooth roller, trust me you will see the difference, them only the skid steer. I like your video how are you explain everything it just took me a minute everything you show instruction and everything and the job is a piece a cake for me I can do by myself everything step-by-step. But I can't do it what you doing how find a jobs like that, estimate. Bid, And all that. Thanks

Thank you for this video it’s helped me my business is small but growing daily

Thanks man. Seriously I always feel like a lone cannon in my business. Great explanation.

Awesome. But overwhelming at the same time. Trying to learn all this

Great video Thank you 🙏

A crowned area is a whole lot easier to get the water to roll away from the area . Don't know what the best gravel but I know you have to have it . That roll of fab will sure do a great job

THANKYOU, PRETTY SLICK W YOUR BIDDING. I LIKE HOW U BID IT W THE FABRIC

Awesome content!! We have a grading contracting business in CA and I am delving into this part of the front office. Great video.

this is a very good video and more along the lines of how i expect a contractor to run his business for the customer. unfortunately i've dealt with a few contractors who've robbed myself and my family blind in work hours by dragging it out, as well as materials and incorrect estimates (ie. leaving the job unfinished and not taking it as a lesson learned). big jobs, $20-$50k. it's much easier to fudge your customer when you're going to be working there every day for 3 months. now, i get receipts for all materials purchased, receipts for any deliveries, and i show up on the job site nearly every day at random times to assess labor hours and progress. I shouldn't have to do this. i have my own career to focus on . but, i have to cover my ass as a legit customer, as much as any legit contractor would. seemingly every contractor wants to give me a general blanket bid, without breaking anything down. "oh we've done it for so long we know how to estimate." bull crap. I practically have to argue with them to break it down to a level i can appreciate, or i walk. half of them have never even produced a written bid in the manner you held up to the camera. i've received bids on fastfood napkins. I've had contractors turn down my $20k jobs because they didn't want to break down the costs, not because they were being shady, but simply because they were too lazy to do the office work. the lucky ones seem to have wives that handle these details. i remember one contractor went to the wrong damn house to begin excavation! he had actually sent his cronies the first day, rather than showing up himself to discuss the job in detail. regardless, you can't explain the details to your cronies over the phone monday morning and expect them to get it right. didn't say much to his 35years in the business. the main point is, you have to cover your ass, whether you're the customer or contractor, because there are too many bums on either side who would shut their mouth given the opportunity. court stinks.

Thank you very much

The only thing that I could possible see doing differently is not calculating it at what it's going to be at the compacted depth. At work I've found that basecourse will compact almost like asphalt does. So if you want a compacted depth of 6 inches typically we'd lay it a 1/4 inch higher for every inch of depth. So for your 6 inches we would lay it at 7 and 1/2 inches. Then once its compacted it's pretty close to that 6 inches. Small jobs I'm sure it's not to much extra but we do a lot of big jobs and sometimes our formans or supervisor forget that or fail to acknowledge it and it ends up costing them thousands of dollars because they calculated for the compacted depth. Not what we have to lay it at to reach that compacted depth. Atleast that's how some of us calculate it and were usually pretty close if not right on the money.

Very informative. Thanks for sharing!

Amazing video

If you only use 8 rolls then you should only charge for 8 rolls. You shouldn’t cheat people, honesty is always best

If you are ever in the Va area let me know I’ll take you to lunch certainly have a lot to teach and I’m trying to learn

Interesting to see how others break down bids. I do mine a hair but differently but i have a small crew and don't separate them often. My main work is asphalt but I do plenty of base and gravel work as well. But like I said I don't charge per price of equipment because I have it all with me each day, I do however charge for what I want profit wise per day plus material. Obviously bleach job is different and little driveways aren't a Wal-Mart parking lot but in between those 500k jobs, you keep your crew in work and make a little change as well.

Thanks for all your videos my business is going great thanks to all the information

Awesome info. Thanks for sharing!

I would add the total on the bill and I would also make the deposit at least 5%-10% instead of $100. If the customer cancels $100 doesn’t cover your time/labor for giving the bid!

hey stanley can you please do a video on how to start a execovating buisness and what you first need becuse im a landscaper and window cleaner but i want to go into execovating

Love it all Stan! Even if you're not grading or doing lots.. The Information can be used on almost every job site such as "make money on every single thing you do" oh you want me to.. Ok let me just get you a price for that lol

Is that Think and Grow Rich sitting on the top shelf of your desk? That book has helped me tremendously with business and setting goals

Well done!Thanks!

Thanks

Thank You

Love the videos bud! I'm an operator now. I'm looking forward into the future. I'd like to build my own empire.

How do you break down and figure the hourly cost for different equipment

if your proposal says you will lay 10 rolls of fabric and you needed to lay 11 rolls you say your covered (and honest) for any extra needed because you only said 10 rolls to begin with in the proposal. However, if you only needed 7 rolls because you didn't need 10 rolls and you didn't inform the customer of that then you either owe the customer three rolls of fabric or a refund for not suppling what you said you would. And, therefore your not being honest and the customer can sue you for not doing what you said you would i.e.: laying down 10 rolls. And people wonder why they don't trust people in the trades. (?) Just my 2 cents.

just found your channel yesterday good vids!!

Hey Stanley love your content just remember on conversation of yard to tons there are variables moisture content rock content I know you did Roadbase at point 1.3 up here in the Rockies our multiplier is 1.75 or 2.2 if it’s processed and wet Any ways man I have learned a lot from you I just started my business a year and a half ago and I have definitely referenced your videos for a few things

The weight of a yard of #5 recycled material depends on the ratio of concrete to asphalt and whether it's compacted. Your bid specified compacted and that factor is closer to 1.39 metric tons / yard. The extra truck load should cover it.

Very good video good information thank you very much keep up the good videos

Stan. You're the man. Thankyou

In a previous video you made you said all of your bids are lump sum and now this one you’re saying don’t do lump sum bids. Which is better?

Awesome video! Great details! Well made! Learned a........wait for it.......Metric Ton! :)

Great video. Lots of help and fast

Great job with the yards to tons conversion, guys often forget that step

Great business sense bro haha love this.

Stan I want to thank you for doing these videos! You have taught me soooooooo much! How would you recommend that I start into an excavating business? I would appreciate if you would do a video explaining how to get into the business, from ground zero. Thank you sir and God bless you!

Hey Dirt Monkey, Great info!! Thx Small correction - "Linear" or "Lineal" when refering to a line. Lineal refers more so to a direct line of descent or ancestry. Sorry, I was a journalism major! lol

Great video Stan! Hey sometime can you do a video on leveling using a laser?

Thanks. nice video. I was an operations supervisor at a facility and worked with contractors quite often. Not sure if they were just used to working for me or if something else was happening but I would often review bids like the one you submitted. Before I would sign off, it was a,mutual understanding that the job would get done to the specs listed, regardless if the contractor had enough allowances built immediately. In other words, if he said 500 metric tons to get the base at x depth, and he had to use 520, I was paying no more than the original bid price