Equipment Rate Calc

Dirt Work Bid Calculator

Estimate dirt work pricing with machine hours, operator labor, materials, trucking, disposal, mobilization, and margin. Results update automatically as inputs change.

Inputs

Job assumptions

Enter planned machine time for excavation, loading, grading, and jobsite movement.

Use the machine's loaded cost per hour; include the operator only if labor is not entered below.

Use current supplier quantities and prices for fill, stone, fabric, pipe, or other job materials.

Include truck time, disposal or import fees, load limits, waiting, and all planned material moves.

Include equipment transport, loading, unloading, permits, and site setup for this job.

Operating cost

Enter paid hours for helpers, grade labor, spotters, or other labor outside the machine rate.

Use wage plus payroll burden, benefits, and workers' compensation for the extra labor.

Profit & protection

Margin is profit divided by the final selling price, not a markup on cost.

Calculations stay in this browser unless you explicitly save or share.

Recommended Bid 0

How this calculator works

Bid price = direct costs / (1 - target margin). Direct costs include machine, labor, mobilization, materials, hauling, and disposal.

Read the methodology and editorial policy

Use the result as a cost checkpoint

Use this calculator to assemble a compact dirt-work bid from machine hours, labor, material, hauling, disposal, mobilization, and target margin.

This tool is best for building grading, prep, cleanup, and general dirt-work bids. Use the result to decide whether a dirt-work bid covers every direct cost before adding profit. When truck cycle time drives the hauling allowance, build that line in the Dump Truck Cycle and Hauling Cost Calculator. Review material quantity changes, trucking delays, drainage surprises, rework, access problems, and customer expectations that were not written into the scope before relying on the result.

Worked example

A dirt job with $1,950 direct cost and 28% target margin should quote around $2,708.

Walk the site for slope, drainage, access, debris, compaction expectations, and material quantity risk.

Input and quote review

  • Write down what is included and what is excluded.
  • Separate material allowances from machine labor when quantities are uncertain.
  • Add hauling and disposal as real costs, not afterthoughts.
  • Use a higher margin when the site has unknowns.

Keep the final scope, assumptions, exclusions, allowances, change triggers, and post-job results with the estimate so future defaults are supported by evidence.

Common questions

Is this the final customer price?

No. It is a planning checkpoint. Walk the site, confirm scope and access, verify current costs, and apply contract, permit, tax, utility, safety, and professional requirements.

Where are saved inputs stored?

Only an explicit Save stores inputs in this browser's localStorage. Share places inputs in the URL hash. The calculator does not send them to Equipment Rate Calc.

Should I copy a competitor's rate?

Use market prices as a reasonableness check after calculating your own cost, scope, utilization, risk, and margin.

Build machine hours from production

Before entering machine hours, use the Equipment Production and Unit Cost Calculator to compare planned quantity, measured cycle performance, schedule requirements, and internal unit cost.

Important disclaimerPlanning estimate only. Verify current costs, measurements, production, scope, access, customer requirements, contracts, permits, insurance, taxes, and local rules before quoting or committing money.