The excavation columns in a utilities export, and splitting a run across depth ranges.
A utilities export carries the excavation as well as the pipe. The data sheet has its own column toggles, and one feature that has no equivalent in materials: depth banding.
Turn on what the estimate needs:
| Column | What it adds |
|---|---|
| Elevations | Rim and invert at each end of the run. |
| Slope | The grade, derived from the two inverts and the length. |
| Depth | The dig depth at each end. |
| Interpolated depth | The run's length split across depth bands. See below. |
| Trench | The excavation quantities. See Trench and excavation. |
| Rock | Rock excavation. |
| Stages | Breaks the sheet out by stage. |
Merge Systems combines the utility systems into one sheet instead of one per system.
Pipe is usually paid in depth ranges - 0 to 6 feet at one rate, 6 to 8 at another, and so on. A run rarely sits in one band: it starts shallow at the upstream structure and ends deep at the downstream one.
Two settings define the bands:
With First at 6 and Remaining at 2 you get 0-6, 6-8, 8-10, and so on.
The run's length is apportioned linearly between its two end depths. A 100-foot run from 5 feet deep to 9 feet deep does not land in one band and does not get halved arbitrarily; the length that falls in each band is worked out from where the run crosses each boundary.
A run whose two ends are at the same depth sits entirely in one band, which is the degenerate case and is handled as such.
Structures are counted into the bands the same way, so a deep manhole is reported against the band it actually sits in.
Set First and Remaining to match the bid schedule's depth ranges and the export lines up with the pay items directly, with no re-banding in the spreadsheet afterwards. That is the whole point of the feature.