Fill is sold loose and placed compacted, and those are two different volumes — order the finished figure and you end up short. This works in both, tells you which grade of fill the job actually calls for, and tells you when you already have enough on site.
For raising a level, backfilling, and filling a hole. Enter the area and depth you want filled, and get the loose amount to order — with compaction already allowed for.
Works in metric and US imperial — you choose at the start and can switch at any time. Every figure this calculator uses is published with its source, and the result comes with a printable order sheet. No account, no email, and nothing you type leaves your browser.
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Fill is sold loose and placed compacted, and if you order the finished figure you end up short. Enter the space you want filled; the calculator adds about 25% and gives you the loose volume to order. A 4 × 3 m area raised by 300 mm is 3.6 m³ compacted — about 4.5 m³ loose, or roughly 7.2 tonnes. And 300 mm is two lifts, not one drop.
Unscreened fill is uncharacterised excavation arisings and the cheapest thing on any yard's list — fine deep in a void, wrong under anything that matters. Screened fill has been through a 10 or 20 mm screen, so it places more evenly. Granular or engineered fill is specified material for work that has to carry load. Buying the cheapest grade for a job that needed the middle one is the usual mistake.
Clay-heavy fill settles 15–20% even after compaction; sandy and granular fill settles 2–3%. So if the finished level matters — a slab, a path, anything you will build on — the grade of fill decides the outcome more than the quantity does. Place it in 150–200 mm lifts and compact each one before the next goes on: a metre of fill tipped in one go will not compact through, and it will find its own level later.
Measure the space you want filled, then add about 25% — fill is sold loose and placed compacted, and those are different volumes. Ordering the finished figure leaves you short. This calculator does the conversion, so order the loose figure it returns.
150–200 mm (6–8 in) of loose material per lift, compacted before the next goes on. A metre of fill tipped in one go will not compact through, and the bottom of it will settle unevenly for years.
Yes, and how much depends on what is in it rather than how much you bought. Clay-heavy fill settles 15–20% even after compaction; sandy and granular fill settles 2–3%. If the finished level matters, pay for the better grade.
Yes. Fill has to be inert and free of contamination, and both markets regulate it — clean-fill requirements across much of the US, duty-of-care rules in the UK. Cheap fill of unknown origin is a liability you inherit with the load, so ask where it came from.