Excavation Estimate Job Walk Checklist

The strongest excavation estimate starts before the price. It starts with a job walk that captures the conditions most likely to change production, cost, or the promise made to the customer.

This checklist is not a substitute for utility locating, engineering, permits, or professional judgment. It is a practical way to keep obvious field facts from disappearing between the site and the proposal.

1. Access and Staging

• Measure gates, driveways, overhead clearance, and turning room
• Note soft ground, slopes, traffic, neighbors, and restoration needs
• Identify where equipment, material, and trucks can stage
• Confirm working hours and access restrictions

Access can change the equipment choice, cycle time, and restoration scope. Put it in the job record instead of trusting yourself to remember it later.

2. Existing and Finished Conditions

Photograph the current grade, drainage path, structures, surfaces, vegetation, and visible utilities. Then define the finished outcome in plain language.

“Regrade driveway” is not the same as “restore positive drainage away from the garage, place and compact aggregate, shape the shoulder, and leave the entrance ready for normal passenger access.”

3. Utilities and Unknowns

Record what is known, what needs locating, and what cannot be confirmed until work begins. Do not bury unknown conditions inside confident wording.

Common flags include:

• Public and private utilities
• Septic, wells, drain tile, irrigation, or buried electrical
• Unverified soil, rock, groundwater, or unsuitable material
• Survey, elevation, permit, or engineering dependencies

4. Quantities and Production Assumptions

Capture lengths, widths, depths, material type, haul distance, disposal location, equipment, crew, and expected sequence. If a quantity is an allowance or estimate, label it that way.

The goal is not to make AI choose the number. The goal is to give the owner-operator enough organized facts to choose and defend it.

5. Included, Excluded, and Owner-Supplied Work

Write down who handles permits, utility locating, testing, material selection, trucking, disposal, final seeding, hardscape repair, and cleanup. Clear exclusions prevent a short proposal from becoming a long argument.

Build the First Draft While the Site Is Fresh

Use Tulboxx Job Capture to organize voice notes, photos, field facts, and missing decisions. Review every assumption, scope item, quantity, and price before sending.

The useful habit is simple: capture first, check what is missing, then quote.