As dirt estimate specialists, our services make up one portion of the earthwork estimating pie. Earthwork tasks include all of the excavation and embankment work that must be completed for any construction project. This is a crucial part of the construction process, and it struck us recently that earthwork and construction projects in general can be a metaphor for a well-lived life.

Embrace The Dirt

With earthworks, the focus is, as the name suggests, on earth. This includes excavating topsoil and muck and rocks, and every project brings new challenges. To edit Forrest Gump’s philosophy a bit – life is like earthworks estimating, you never know what you’re going to get.

Some projects are more challenging than others. Sometimes you encounter rocky terrain, and sometimes you’ll find excessive amounts of water and muck. Sometimes you can use excavating materials for embankment, and sometimes you have to bring in new materials.

Every project is like a new journey, and complex projects teach us how to better solve problems and use our creativity to come up with the most affordable and practical solutions. So, in life, rather than worry about all of the rocks and muck you encounter, embrace the dirt, so to speak, as every difficulty teaches you something.

Create A Solid Foundation

Every construction project, whether it’s a skyscraper, a business park, a single-family home, a bridge or something else entirely needs to rest on a solid foundation. In the construction industry, we know that the earth is unpredictable and changes over time, but a solid foundation can keep your building or structure secure for decades and perhaps centuries.

In life, a solid foundation ensures that you can stay grounded when the unpredictable occurs. Life throws a lot at us, but with a strong foundation built around friends and family, we can better handle the challenges we inevitably will have to face.

A Well-Planned Life Yields Results

A poorly planned construction problem can yield catastrophic results. Each step of the construction project must be planned carefully, including earthwork estimating and takeoff, construction takeoff, labor estimates and the 1,000 (or more) tasks that need to be accomplished by a certain date.

Without planning, the construction process would be chaotic, not to mention dangerous, and a life without some planning can be equally chaotic. What happens when we don’t plan, a least a little?

Let’s take an easy example – traveling, and dissect it a bit. If you plan ahead, booking flights and hotel rooms and rental cars, you can save money and reduce stress. If you wait until the last minute, you’ll pay more and face uncertainty as to whether or not your travel plans will be successful.

In life, planning can keep you focused and on track. Certainly, circumstances and plans change, and you have to be flexible and go with the flow sometimes, but a well-planned life can be a well-lived life. Making daily, weekly, monthly and yearly plans can keep you focused on whatever goals are important to you and ensure that crucial tasks aren’t forgotten.

Technology Can Be Your Friend Or Foe

These days, just about everyone uses technology throughout the day. You might work, as we do, in front of a computer screen much of the time. For earthwork estimating and our own dirt estimate tasks, we use complex software programs that help use create extremely accurate dirt estimates.

We’ve been using AGTEK, Trimble and other software programs for decades and have the skill and know-how to complete huge and complex projects. In our capable hands, these computer software programs yield amazing results. However, if you select a company with less experience or expertise, these software programs can cause more harm than the old-fashioned methods. Technology is a boon, but only if it’s used well.

This is true in the construction industry, but also in life. Technology can connect us like never before, allowing us to see and talk to friends and family that might be far away. We can connect with former classmates and friends, help others through tough times by donating money online, and learn about events around the globe in real-time.

Computers make it easy to quickly gain knowledge about any subject. We can plan our finances, schedule appointments and buy just about anything we might need in just a few seconds.

On the flip side, technology also can be a foe. Technology allows people to say just about anything they want via social media. Sometimes what’s said is angry, hurtful and inaccurate, leading not to any type of positive conclusion, but to more strife. Sometimes people become too fixated on their technology and forget to focus on the people in their lives and on their goals. When used well, technology can enhance your life, but when placed in the wrong hands, technology can be dangerous.

Building Relationships

The construction industry is, of course, all about building. But, we in the industry also build solid professional relationships and these relationships are one of the biggest keys to success. To build a reputation as a quality provide of earthwork estimating services, you have to build solid relationships with your clients and the team at EarthCalc focuses on this every day, providing the best possible services as quickly and affordably as possible.

Building relationships is as crucial for building a happy life as it is for creating a flourishing business. In life, if you are dependable, hard-working and collaborate well with others, you can go far. But building relationships is something that needs constant focus or the foundation of these relationships can start to crumble.

After all, buildings and bridges and homes are inspected to ensure that their foundations are still solid, and as people, we all need to check on our relationship foundations from time to time to see if any improvements or shoring up needs to be accomplished.

Now that we’ve waxed poetically about life, let’s talk a little about earthwork estimating and how we can help. At EarthCalc, we’ve been providing our clients with quality dirt estimates since 1983, and we can come in during any part of the construction process.

Clients sometimes call us in during the bidding stage or perhaps the grading stage. Engineers also call us in during the design process or simply hire us to double-check a large or complex project. We’ve handled dirt estimates for large-scale projects around the globe, including construction at George Bush Airport, Pearl Harbor, the UFC headquarters and many more.

In addition to dirt estimates, as part of earthwork estimating and construction takeoff, we also can provide you with precise machine control files. We can create files for your Trimble, Topcon or AGTEK machine control systems. If you need dirt estimates or machine control, contact us and we’ll get start on your unique project.