Context

The first phase of the project, quantified from the model.

Before any foundation exists, the earth to move and the retention to build already dictate cost and schedule. Cubica extracts these values directly from the topography and building footprint in a BIM environment, with full traceability to the source element.

On your side

What we need

Revit (.rvt) or IFC model with terrain modelled (Topography or Toposolid)
Building footprint defined and slab-on-grade level
Retention system chosen — diaphragm walls, micro-piles, slopes, gabion walls
Short briefing: design levels, earthworks clearance, specific stripping requirements

On our side

What you receive

Bulk excavation volume (m³) per zone and level
Localised excavation volume for footings, foundation beams and lift pits (m³)
Peripheral retention volume (m³) and retaining wall area (m²)
Average thickness and retention height per zone, for cost calibration
Fill volume and transport-off-site volume (m³)
Topsoil stripping (m³) — excavation envelope area by the thickness you set
Closed, verified earthworks balance — excavation = fill + off-site transport, checked on every run. If it doesn't close, we tell you before delivering
Full traceability to the source BIM element — every value maps back to the model object
2D/3D drawing (DXF/DWG) of the excavation and retention zones — layered and colour-coded by category, with each element's ID and level/zone, matching directly to the Excel and the model

How we measure

Prism by prism, not by scaling off a section.

Excavation volume is not the average of two levels. Our engine splits the footprint into a grid and computes, cell by cell, the height between the existing ground and the excavation base — the foundation slab where there is one, and each footing's underside where it goes deeper. That is why a stepped basement, a lift pit or a sloping site come out with the right volume instead of an average.

1 · Existing ground — the modelled topography becomes an elevation field. If there is more than one surface, we tell you which one is governing.
2 · Platform — detected from the lowest buried slab-sized element, minus the blinding layer. The level used is written in the report: it is arguable, so it is visible.
3 · Working clearance — the excavation envelope is expanded by the clearance you agree (0.60 m by default). That clearance is what later comes back as fill.
4 · Balance — total excavation, less the buried structure volume, gives the fill; the rest goes off site. The sum has to close. When it does not, the report opens in red and the job is not delivered.

Every parameter that changes the number — clearance, stripping, bulking, grid resolution — is written on the Excel cover sheet. Nothing is assumed silently, and a design revision reprocesses with the same parameters in minutes.

Sample deliverable

Volumes between surfaces, with the cut/fill balance closing.

Excerpt from Earthworks.xlsx — simplified example. The real file includes additional tabs per zone and elevation.

Mov_Terras.xlsx

Reference project: residential building · 44 units · 7 floors + basement · 2 145 m² plot.

Item	Unit	Quantity
Excavation
Bulk excavation	m³	3 760
Localised excavation (foundations)	m³	620
Lift pit excavation	m³	48
Excavation subtotal	m³	4 428
Peripheral retention
Retention volume	m³	132
Retaining wall area	m²	640
Material movement
Transport-off-site	m³	3 520
Fill	m³	908

The check that runs on every measurement

What comes out of the ground has to go somewhere. On the figures above: 3,760 + 620 + 48 = 4,428 m³ excavated, closing against 908 m³ of fill + 3,520 m³ off site. If that sum does not close, the report opens in red and the measurement does not ship.

Alongside the Excel comes the drawing (DXF): the excavation as prisms from base to ground, the retaining works, the plot boundary and the footprint — one layer per line item, colour-matched to the Excel row, with each element's ID on a layer you can switch off.

Every value is auditable back to the source element — filter by zone, by level, by block. At each design revision it reprocesses with no manual remeasuring.

Difference

Why not by hand, and why not a generic tool

Better than measuring by hand

Volume is calculated over the real terrain, point by point.An average-levels calculation is right on flat ground. On broken ground it is off by up to 40%, and not always in the same direction.
Where a slab, a footing and a pit overlap, the volume counts once.The result is the same regardless of the order elements appear in the model — and every resolved overlap is recorded.
Excavation, fill and haul to tip have to balance against each other.A measurement that does not balance is not delivered. When there is a caveat, it goes into the filename itself, so it travels with the attachment.
An item that was not measured comes out as «not measured», never as zero.A zero closes the budget with a gap inside it. A «not measured» forces a decision.

What generic tools do not do

The volume of earth to remove is not a field in the model — it has to be calculated.It sits between two surfaces, the existing ground and the bottom of the excavation. No schedule adds it up, because it is not a field.
The method's error is known and bounded.It is not an advertised precision: it is measured, against geometry whose right answer is known in advance.
The drawing and the takeoff come out of the same calculation.Linked by the same identifier, one layer per item with the colour of the Excel row. They are not two jobs someone later tries to reconcile.
The deliverable comes out in Portuguese, English and Spanish.With no label left untranslated, checked on every run.

The method is validated against control geometry, where the right answer is known in advance — that is how you demonstrate a calculation of this kind converges. On flat ground, an average-levels calculation reaches the same figure. It is on broken ground that the measurement decides the budget.

Every number in this section comes from real measurements and can be substantiated on request. What we have not measured, we do not claim.

Scope

Cubica measures every modelled element and returns the 3D/DXF of everything measured, so each quantity can be checked against its geometric origin. The scope of the measurement is, by definition, the content of the model supplied: elements that were never modelled, or modelled incorrectly upstream, cannot be measured by any extraction method — which is why we report in writing the omissions and inconsistencies we find along the way.

The service is delivered from the model and documentation supplied, without a site visit: we measure what that information represents. Existing conditions it does not represent therefore fall outside the scope — changes made on site, deterioration, concealed elements and pre-existing works. Where a divergence between the model and what is built is identified, we reprocess the measurement on the corrected information.

Earthworks.