Soil Excavation Volume Calculator
Calculate excavation volume, soil weight, trucking loads, and state-specific disposal costs for UST removal and remediation projects. A typical 550 gallon tank removal excavates 15 to 30 cubic yards.
Soil disposal cost can exceed the cost of the tank itself when contamination is found. A 30-yard pit of petroleum-contaminated soil in California can cost $10,000+ to dispose of. Plan for contingency until soil testing is complete.
| Volume | Tons (compacted) | Equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| 5 cu yd | ~7 tons | a single dump truck |
| 10 cu yd | ~14 tons | a small bedroom of soil |
| 20 cu yd | ~28 tons | a 2-car garage half-full |
| 50 cu yd | ~70 tons | a backyard pool worth of soil |
| 100 cu yd | ~140 tons | a small house foundation excavation |
| 200 cu yd | ~280 tons | a commercial UST removal pit |
Estimates based on regional averages. Actual disposal costs depend on lab classification, hauling distance, facility availability, and seasonal demand. Trucking costs vary by route distance and fuel prices. This calculator does not include excavation labor, equipment rental, permits, dewatering, site restoration, or extended cleanup if contamination spreads. Get contractor quotes for accurate project pricing.
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For contractors: integrate this into your bid sheets
This calculator's output mirrors the soil cost line items in a typical UST removal bid. Use the embed code above to add this tool to your company's website, or contact info@ustcontractors.com for a co-branded estimating template.
Every excavation bid starts with the same number: how much soil is coming out of the ground. This calculator computes it from the dimensions of the hole, then carries the math through to the questions that follow. How many cubic yards is that? How many tons? How many truckloads? And what will it cost to dispose of, given the state you are in and what is actually in the soil?
Enter a rectangular pit's length, width, and depth, or a cylindrical excavation's diameter and depth, and the tool returns volume in cubic yards, cubic feet, and cubic meters, plus estimated tonnage. Select a state and a soil classification and it adds disposal pricing per ton and trucking costs per load from a dataset covering all 50 states and DC. Presets fill in typical excavation dimensions for the common UST removal sizes, from a 275 gallon residential tank up to a 10,000 gallon commercial one.
Contractors can use it to sanity-check bids and load counts. Property owners can use it to understand the disposal line on a quote, which is often the least transparent number on the page. Environmental consultants can use the unknown-soil mode to bracket a project's cost before lab results come back.
How the math works
Volume is straight geometry. A rectangular pit is length times width times depth. A cylindrical excavation is pi times the radius squared times depth. The tool converts everything to cubic inches internally, then divides by 46,656 to get cubic yards, the unit the rest of the industry math runs on.
Weight is volume times density, and here the tool shows two numbers. Tons loose uses 2,400 pounds per cubic yard, representing soil after excavation has broken it up. Tons compacted uses 2,800 pounds per cubic yard, representing soil in its undisturbed, in-ground state. Both figures describe the same hole; they differ because density differs between bank soil and an excavated pile.
Disposal cost applies your state's per-ton rate to the compacted tonnage, which is the conservative choice since scales at the disposal facility weigh actual soil mass, and mass does not change when soil fluffs up. Rates vary enormously by classification. Across the dataset, clean fill runs $12 to $150 per ton, petroleum-contaminated soil runs $65 to $500 per ton, and hazardous-classified soil runs $250 to $2,500 per ton, varying by state and site conditions. If you select unknown because lab results are pending, the calculator shows all three scenarios side by side, which is the honest way to present a cost you cannot know yet.
Trucking adds per-load pricing, $150 to $1,500 per load depending on the state, with load counts computed for 10, 14, and 18 cubic yard trucks. The total estimate assumes the 14 yard truck, a common tri-axle dump size.
When to use this
Checking a removal quote's disposal line. A homeowner holding a quote with $4,800 for soil disposal can reconstruct the math: pit dimensions to yards, yards to tons, tons times the state's rate. If the quote implies double the tonnage the hole can produce, that is a question for the contractor. The disposal line also interacts with everything else on the quote, so run what the whole removal project should cost alongside it.
Bidding excavation work. A contractor pricing a tank pull can pull preset dimensions, get load counts for the trucks actually available, and apply real per-ton ranges for the destination state instead of a habit number carried from the last job.
Bracketing a contamination scenario. A consultant managing a site with results pending can hand a client three defensible numbers instead of one guess: the clean fill case, the petroleum-contaminated case, and the hazardous case, all from the same yardage.
Planning fill and grading. The same volume math works in reverse for estimating imported fill to close a hole, with the caveat that compaction requirements add volume beyond the bank measurement. Owners who need the site characterized before anyone digs can request free quotes from site assessment contractors in Pennsylvania or any other state through the directory.
Soil swell, compaction, and trucking loads
Soil does not keep its volume when you dig it up. In the ground it is compacted by years of overburden pressure; broken loose by an excavator bucket, the same material occupies more space because of the air voids introduced. Estimators call the increase swell, and the calculator's own density pair quantifies it: the same soil mass at 2,800 pounds per cubic yard in the ground and 2,400 pounds per cubic yard loose occupies about 17 percent more volume after excavation.
The calculator handles this by working in weight wherever money is involved. The hole's dimensions give bank volume, the undisturbed in-ground quantity. Multiplying bank yards by 2,800 pounds per cubic yard gives the tonnage that will actually cross the disposal facility's scale, because excavation changes a soil pile's volume, not its mass. That is why disposal pricing uses the compacted figure even though the truck is carrying fluffy, swelled material.
Truck capacity is the one place swell still bites. The tool computes loads by dividing bank yards by truck capacity and rounding up, so a 30 yard excavation shows three 10 yard loads. In the field, those 30 bank yards become roughly 35 loose yards in the truck beds at the tool's own 2,800 to 2,400 density shift, and loose yards are what fill a truck. Weight limits compound the issue: a 10 yard truck filled level with soil at 2,400 pounds per loose yard is carrying roughly 12 tons of material, which can exceed what the truck may legally haul before the bed is full. Treat the tool's load counts as a floor, and expect the hauler's count to run one or two loads higher on bigger jobs.
Manifesting is the other trucking reality. Every state in the dataset requires manifest documentation for contaminated soil transport, which ties each load to a generator, a hauler, and a disposal facility. That paper trail exists because regulators track contaminated soil from excavation to final disposition, and it is part of why contaminated trucking costs more per load than clean fill hauling.
What this estimate doesn't account for
The volume is the hole as you specify it, not the hole as it ends up. Real excavations grow: sidewalls are sloped or benched for safety, over-dig captures visibly impacted soil beyond the plan, and discovering contamination at the planned floor means going deeper. A UST removal that hits a release can multiply its yardage well beyond any preset.
Groundwater is not modeled. Saturated soil weighs more per yard than the densities used here, dewatering is its own cost center, and wet soil can require stabilization before a facility accepts it.
Classification is taken as you select it, but in reality the receiving facility decides based on lab data. Soil that fails the petroleum-contaminated assumption and classifies as hazardous waste under RCRA moves into a different regulatory regime, with different facilities, transport requirements, and the $250 to $2,500 per ton pricing tier. The boundary depends on laboratory results measured against regulatory thresholds, not on smell or color at the excavation.
Disposal facility minimums, fuel surcharges, distance-based trucking premiums in rural areas, and backfill import costs all sit outside the estimate. So does the tank itself; this tool prices dirt, and the tank capacity figures from its dimensions are a separate calculation feeding the removal scope. All figures vary by state and site conditions, so treat the output as a planning bracket rather than a bid.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I calculate the volume of soil to be excavated?
For a rectangular pit, multiply length by width by depth in consistent units, then convert to cubic yards by dividing by 27 (cubic feet) or 46,656 (cubic inches). For a cylindrical pit, the formula is π × radius² × depth. Industry standard reports excavation volume in cubic yards. Add 10 to 15 percent for sidewall stability and over-excavation typical of UST removal pits, and account for soil swell of roughly 25 to 40 percent when soil is excavated and loaded loose.
How much does contaminated soil disposal cost?
Petroleum-contaminated soil disposal typically runs $65 to $350 per ton depending on state and facility. RCRA hazardous-classified soil costs $250 to $2,500 per ton because it requires permitted Subtitle C facilities. Clean fill disposal is the cheapest at $12 to $80 per ton. Trucking adds $150 to $1,500 per load (10 to 18 cubic yards per truck) depending on hauling distance. EPA's Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) defines the classification thresholds.
What's the difference between petroleum-contaminated and hazardous soil disposal?
Petroleum-contaminated soil contains detectable hydrocarbons (gasoline, diesel, heating oil) but stays below RCRA hazardous waste thresholds defined in 40 CFR 261. It can usually go to a state-permitted petroleum-impacted soil facility at moderate cost. Hazardous soil exceeds RCRA characteristic or listed-waste thresholds, typically because of benzene above 0.5 mg/L TCLP, lead above 5.0 mg/L, or other regulated contaminants. It must go to a Subtitle C hazardous waste facility at three to ten times the cost. Lab classification is required to determine which path applies.
Do I need a manifest to dispose of soil from a UST removal?
Yes, in essentially every state. Federal RCRA hazardous waste manifests (EPA Form 8700-22) are required for hazardous-classified soil under federal law. Petroleum-contaminated soil requires state-level manifest tracking under each state's environmental regulations. Every state has its own version, typically managed by the state environmental agency (NJDEP, TCEQ, CADTSC, etc.). Manifests track the soil from generator through hauler to disposal facility and document chain-of-custody.
How is soil weight calculated from volume?
Standard soil weight assumptions for disposal calculations are 2,400 pounds per cubic yard for loose excavated soil and 2,800 pounds per cubic yard for compacted soil. Actual density varies with soil type. Sandy soils run 2,500 to 2,700 lb/cy, while heavy clay or wet soil can exceed 3,000 lb/cy. Most disposal facilities charge by ton (2,000 pounds), so cubic yards × density / 2,000 gives ton weight. Compacted weight is the standard for disposal billing because soil is compacted in transport trucks.
Why does disposal cost vary so much by state?
State variation reflects differences in landfill availability, regulatory complexity, hauling distance, and disposal-facility competition. Northeast and West Coast states have higher costs due to limited landfill space, strict environmental review, and union labor rates. Rural Midwest and South states have lower costs because of larger and more numerous facilities and shorter hauling distances. Alaska and Hawaii carry severe logistics premiums because soil often must be barged or shipped to mainland disposal facilities.
How much does a cubic yard of dirt weigh?
In this calculator, 2,400 pounds loose and 2,800 pounds in compacted, undisturbed ground, or 1.2 to 1.4 tons per yard. Actual weight varies with soil type and moisture; saturated clay runs heavier, dry sandy loam lighter. For disposal budgeting, the compacted figure matters because facility scales charge by actual mass.
What is a soil swell factor?
Swell is the volume increase when soil is excavated from its compacted natural state into a loose pile, caused by air voids the digging introduces. The calculator's density figures imply the factor: 2,800 pounds per cubic yard compacted against 2,400 loose works out to about 17 percent. Swell changes how many truck beds the soil fills, but not its weight, which is why this tool prices disposal by tons rather than loose yards.
How many cubic yards fit in a dump truck?
The calculator models three common sizes: 10, 14, and 18 cubic yards, using the 14 yard tri-axle as the standard for its total estimate. Bed volume is only half the constraint; soil is heavy enough that legal weight limits often cap a load before the bed is physically full, so real-world counts can exceed the calculated minimum.
How much does contaminated soil disposal cost?
Petroleum-contaminated soil runs $65 to $500 per ton across states in the dataset, before trucking at $150 to $1,500 per load. A typical 275 gallon tank excavation produces roughly 11 bank yards, about 15.5 tons compacted, so disposal alone spans about $1,000 to $7,800 depending on state and the rate your facility charges. Hazardous classification raises the per-ton range to $250 to $2,500.
How deep is an oil tank excavation?
The calculator's presets run from 5 feet deep for a 275 gallon residential tank to 12 feet for a 10,000 gallon commercial UST, with footprints from 10 by 6 feet up to 30 by 18 feet. Actual depth depends on the tank's burial depth plus any over-dig needed to chase impacted soil beneath it.
Do I need a manifest to haul soil away?
For contaminated soil, yes. Every state in the calculator's dataset requires manifest documentation tracking the load from the excavation through the hauler to the disposal facility. Clean fill rules are looser and vary by jurisdiction, but receiving facilities typically still require source documentation and may require analytical data before accepting any soil.
Methodology: disposal cost benchmarks were compiled by USTContractors.com from published facility tipping fees and state disposal data. Last updated June 2026.
Authoritative references:
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