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Cut and fill calculator for Wisconsin house pads

Most cut and fill calculators make you type in the depths yourself. This one reads the existing ground for you: draw the pad on the map, anywhere in Wisconsin, and it measures the ground under every cell from the USGS 3DEP lidar model, then works out the earthwork volume in cubic yards to level it at an elevation you set, or at the elevation where cut and fill balance.

Use it to size the excavation for a building pad before getting bids, to compare pad elevations, or to sense-check a bid. The volumes are in-place cubic yards with no side slopes, topsoil stripping or swell, so real quantities run higher; the limits below spell out what is left out.

Free to run · pay to download

See the full result on the map free, with no account. Download the cut and fill depth grid as a GeoTIFF with a pass: US$29 for 24 hours, US$99 for 30 days or US$399 for 12 months, a one-off payment in US dollars that never renews. Every download on the site is included while the pass lasts.

Open Cut & Fill on the map →Pass prices and what’s included

Who uses this

  • Excavation contractors. Sanity-check a bid, or price a job before the site visit.
  • Lot owners and owner-builders. Know whether the pad is a small job or a big one before asking for bids.
  • Architects and designers. Compare pad elevations at concept stage to keep hauling down.

When to use it

  • Sizing the excavation for a house pad, a shop pad or a parking area before getting bids.
  • Comparing candidate pad elevations to keep hauling to a minimum.

Tools for your job

Cut & Fill is one step in a bigger question. These are the jobs it helps with, and the tools that go with it.

For the job: Choosing a house site

Where on this property should the house go?

  1. 1.Find Matching Areas — Narrows the property to the patches that are flat, sunny and facing the right way.
  2. 2.Slope & Aspect — Shows gentler and steeper ground for a designer to assess.
  3. 3.Sunlight — Checks winter sun on the candidate pad, hour by hour.
  4. 4.Cut & Fill (this tool) — Estimates the excavation to level the pad before you ask for bids.
  5. 5.Viewshed — Models terrain visibility from a chosen eye height; surface blocking is regional.

For the job: Excavation, driveways and farm roads

How much digging, and can a driveway or farm road make the grade?

  1. 1.Cut & Fill (this tool) — Cut and fill in cubic yards to level a pad, at an elevation you set or the one that balances.
  2. 2.Elevation Profile — Grade along a proposed driveway, section by section.
  3. 3.Route Explorer — Finds a line between two points that stays under a maximum grade.
  4. 4.Contour Lines — Site contours at 1 or 2 ft to hand to a designer.

How to use it

  1. Select or draw the pad outline. Keep it to the pad itself, not the whole property.
  2. Enter a pad elevation, or leave it blank to have the tool find the balancing elevation.
  3. Run. The map shows cut in orange and fill in blue; the panel gives the volumes in cubic yards.

Step by step: rural land near Blue Mounds

We size the earthwork for a level house pad on sloping ground near Blue Mounds.

1.Draw the pad itself, not the whole lot. Leave the elevation blank and the tool finds the elevation where cut equals fill.

2.Run the analysis. The panel gives the balancing elevation and the volume, in cubic yards, cut on the uphill side (orange) and filled on the downhill side (blue).

What it showed

  • A balanced pad means nothing has to be hauled in or out. Type in an elevation to see what raising or lowering the pad costs.
  • These are in-place volumes to a level plane. Side slopes, topsoil stripping, swell and retaining walls come on top.
Try it yourself on rural land near Blue Mounds →

How it works

For each cell, the difference between the existing ground and the pad elevation is multiplied by the cell area. Ground above the pad counts as cut, ground below as fill. Balancing searches for the elevation where the two totals are equal.

Reading the results

Volumes are in-place (bank) cubic yards of vertical difference only.

Fill minus cut tells you whether material has to be brought in or hauled away.

Limits and caveats

  • No side slopes at the edges, no topsoil stripping, no compaction or swell factors, no retaining walls. Real quantities are usually higher.
  • The pad is perfectly level. Sloping pads and terraces are not modeled.
  • Outside the finest lidar work units, 3DEP can use older lidar at about 9.8 ft per pixel or a coarser model at about 33 ft per pixel. Fine output spacing cannot recover missing source detail. Lidar coverage and source dates vary across Wisconsin. Check your site against the USGS 3DEP work-unit index; an unavailable lookup means coverage is unknown.

Data and attribution

Results come from the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) bare-earth elevation model: lidar at 3.3 ft per pixel where it has been flown, with older lidar at about 9.8 ft per pixel and coarser sources at about 33 ft per pixel elsewhere, with elevations above NAVD 88. The optional surface model is limited to Brown County. Outside usable regional data, Sunlight, Viewshed and Sightline fall back to bare earth; Object Heights needs usable surface data. Surface and ground source dates can differ.

USGS 3DEP elevation data and USGS maps are U.S. Government works in the public domain: you may use the results, including commercially. A credit to the USGS 3D Elevation Program is appreciated, and every file you download carries it. Wisconsin parcel boundaries are aggregated local-government data, not legal surveys; the parcel disclaimer accompanies the selection. Brown County surface data is credited separately when used. The Esri aerial basemap follows Esri’s terms and is display-only; downloadable aerial photos use USGS NAIP.

Questions

How accurate is a lidar cut and fill estimate?

It is as good as the lidar and its date. On open ground the model follows the real surface closely; under dense brush, on ground graded since the flight, or where the site has been built on, it will not. Side slopes, topsoil stripping, swell and compaction are not included. Treat the result as a first estimate; contract quantities need a surveyed grade.

Can it find the balance point?

Yes. Leave the pad elevation blank and the tool searches for the elevation where cut equals fill, which is usually the cheapest level because nothing has to be trucked in or out.

Do I need a grading permit for this work?

That depends on your county or city, which sets when excavation and fill need a permit. Use the volumes here when you ask; the tool itself does not know the local rules.

Ready to try it?

Open Cut & Fill on the map →

Free to use, no account. The analysis runs in your browser on public-domain USGS 3DEP data. Downloading the results needs a pass: see pricing.