Civil Mesh

Field Checklist

What to Send Before a Takeoff or Model

Seven things decide whether your model comes back in three days or three weeks. None of them are hard. Most jobs that stall, stall on one of these.

  1. 1

    The current, full plan set (PDF)

    Every sheet, not just the grading sheets. Utilities and paving details change subgrade. If there have been addenda or revision clouds, say which revision is the one to build from.

    Modeling to a superseded sheet is the single most common cause of a rebuild.

  2. 2

    CAD files, if you have them

    The engineer's .dwg is worth days. We can work from PDF alone, but we're rebuilding geometry your engineer already drew. If the contract entitles you to the CAD, ask for it.

    PDF-only adds roughly 1-2 days to a typical site.

  3. 3

    Existing ground

    A topo survey, aerial surface, or the engineer's existing contours. Whatever you have. Cut and fill is meaningless without a surface to measure from.

    No existing ground means no quantities, only a design surface.

  4. 4

    The limits of work and any phasing

    Mark the boundary you're actually responsible for, and note whether the site gets built in phases. Quantities for phase one are not one-third of the quantities for three phases.

    Wrong limits are the most common source of a bad bid number.

  5. 5

    What your machines run

    Trimble, Topcon, Leica, Cat Grade, Komatsu IMC. Include the data collector and firmware if you know it. The model gets exported in the format your box actually reads.

    Wrong export format means a crew standing around waiting on a re-send.

  6. 6

    Your geotech report

    Strata, unsuitable material, subgrade prep, and shrink/swell factors all move the earthwork number. If a report exists, send it. If it doesn't, tell us what assumptions to use.

    Shrink/swell guesses can swing an earthwork total by double digits.

  7. 7

    Your deadline, and whether you're bidding or building

    A bid takeoff and a construction model are different deliverables with different tolerances. Tell us which one you need and when the number has to be in hand.

    The wrong deliverable arrives on time and is still useless.

Missing half of it? Send it anyway.

We would rather tell you what's missing on day one than find out on day four. Send what you have and we'll come back with the gap list before the clock starts.

Send Us a Job