Groundworks Quote Template: Dig, Drain and Base Lines Written With AI

A groundworks quote needs five blocks of lines: set-up and strip, excavation, spoil, drainage, then hardcore and base. Each line carries a quantity, unit, rate and a basis column saying whether it is fixed, provisional or dayworks. AI can turn site-walk notes into those lines, but you supply every measurement, rate and unknown.

The quote that causes arguments is the one with a single lump sum for "groundworks". The one that avoids them says what was measured, what was assumed and what happens when the ground disagrees. Below is a filled-in template for a small job, the sums behind each line, the unknowns priced as provisional items, a prompt, and the corrections an assistant's first draft will need.

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The template: columns that stop arguments later

Use eight columns and keep them in this order: Ref, Item, Unit, Quantity, Rate, Total, Basis and Assumption. The last two do the real work. Basis takes one of four values. Fixed means the price holds. Remeasure means the rate is fixed and the quantity is measured on completion. Provisional sum means an allowance for work that cannot yet be defined. Dayworks means labour, plant and materials recorded and charged at stated rates. Assumption is one short sentence per line that the customer can read: "formation level 350 mm below stripped ground", "ground is clay, no rock expected", "existing chamber is sound".

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The assumption column is where AI helps most and can hurt most. It helps because an assistant can write a plain sentence for every line quickly. It hurts because it will happily write a plausible assumption that you never made. The rule is that every assumption must come from your site notes, and anything the notes did not say becomes a question for the customer, not a statement on the quote.

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A worked job: a 6 by 5 metre base, a 22 metre drain and a soakaway

A groundworks firm has walked a rear garden. The customer wants a 6.0 by 5.0 metre concrete base for a detached garage, a 22 metre foul drain from the back corner to an existing chamber with one new inspection chamber on the way, and surface water sent to a soakaway at the bottom of the garden. Topsoil is about 150 mm deep over clay. The measurements and the sums behind them come first, because the quote is only as good as these figures. Everything here is an illustrative job, not a price guide.

Three of those lines carry traps. The spoil is counted loose, not in the ground: dug clay takes up more space, and the 30% is an assumption. Published bulking tables disagree widely. One widely used engineering reference lists clay at 20% to 40%, sand and gravel at 20% to 30%, and wet gravel with clay at 50% to 60%, and other tables give different figures again, so take your figure from your own tipper loads. On bank volume the job looks like 19.75 divided by 8, or about 2.5 loads, which rounds to 3. On loose volume it is 3.2, which rounds to 4. That one missing load is $185 at the rate used below. The hardcore conversion uses 2.1 tonnes a cubic metre compacted, a figure many sub-base calculators use, but one supplier's own calculator lists its compacted sub-base at about 1.8. At 1.8 the same 4.5 cubic metres is 8.1 tonnes, more than a tonne below the 9.45 above, so ask your supplier for the figure behind its product. Finally, mesh sheets overlap, so three sheets that cover about 35 square metres on paper do not cover 30 once laps are allowed.

The priced lines, block by block

The rates below are illustrative all-in figures that include labour, plant, overheads and profit, and they are rounded to whole dollars. Take yours from your own price book, not from this table.

About a fifth of this quote is provisional ($2,090 of $10,065, or 20.8%), and the customer should see that on page one, not in the small print. The cost of an unknown does not vanish because it is hard to price. It moves to whoever carries it, and a provisional line is how you stop that being you by default.

Dig and spoil lines

Give each excavation its own line, because the depths differ and so do the rates. A trench is dearer per cubic metre than a wide reduced dig, and the drain's depth comes from the levels at each end, not from a guess: measure the invert at the chamber and at the start, and average them. Say where the topsoil goes (stockpiled and spread back, here) and where the rest goes. Line C1 is marked Remeasure so that a fifth load, if the ground turns out wetter or heavier than expected, is charged at the same $185 rather than argued about.

Drainage lines

Price the pipe, the bed and surround, the chamber, the connection and the test as separate lines. The connection to an existing chamber carries the assumption "chamber is sound", so if the benching or channel is broken, repairs become dayworks. The soakaway is provisional because it depends on a percolation test that has not been done. If the test fails, the line says an alternative will be priced separately, which is far better than discovering that on site.

Hardcore and base lines

The thicknesses (150 mm of hardcore, 25 mm of blinding, 150 mm of concrete) come from the drawing or the engineer. If there is none, write your assumed build-up on the quote and make clear that a different specification changes the price. Quote the base per square metre because that is how customers compare it, but keep the hardcore tonnes, the concrete volume and the mesh sheets in your own sheet for ordering. If you want help checking concrete volume lines, see the concrete estimate template for volume, pump and finishing lines.

Provisional items: how to price what nobody can see

The ground always has an opinion. The honest way to deal with it is to name each unknown, say how it will be priced if it appears, and keep it out of the fixed total. Do not hide unknowns in a "contingency 10%" line. It reads as padding, invites a negotiation, and tells the customer nothing about what could go wrong. Named provisional items are more credible, and "provisional" does not mean the price will rise: it may fall.

Notice that only two of these appear as priced lines in the quote above, the soakaway and the rock. The others appear as rates, so they cost nothing unless they happen, and the customer can see what a surprise will cost before they sign. Once the job is running, pricing variations and change orders as they come up carries the same discipline into the build.

From site notes to quote lines: the prompt

Dictate the site notes on the drive away from the job, while the ground is still in your head. A voice note is enough, and it should include the things you did not measure.

SITE NOTES (voice note, walk of 12 May)
Garage base six by five behind the house, ground falls slightly to
the right. Topsoil about 150, clay under it. Foul run from the back
corner to the existing chamber by the gate, about 22 metres, chamber
depth 1.4, one new chamber halfway. Surface water to a soakaway at
the bottom of the garden, no percolation test yet. Possible old clay
pipe near the gate. Access: 3-tonne digger through the side passage,
tipper can reach the gate. Customer wants the topsoil kept.

You are writing quote lines for a groundworks firm. Use the SITE
NOTES and my RATE CARD only. Output a table with: Ref, Item, Unit,
Quantity, Rate, Total, Basis (Fixed, Remeasure, Provisional sum or
Dayworks), Assumption. Show the working for every quantity. If a
measurement or a rate is missing, write [MISSING] instead of
guessing. Never invent a specification, a grade or a depth. Anything
the notes call unknown must be Provisional or Dayworks. Finish by
listing every number you used that is not in the notes.

Keep the customer's name and address out of the prompt: the assistant needs quantities and your rates, not who the job is for. Here is a typical first draft (illustrative), and it is wrong in instructive ways.

B1  Excavate drain trench      14.52 m2    $26     $378  Fixed
B2  Excavate base area         36.96 m3    $22     $813  Fixed
C1  Remove spoil               3 loads    $185     $555  Fixed
D2  Soakaway                   1 item   $1,850   $1,850  Fixed
E1  Hardcore, 20 mm crushed limestone  30 m2  $30  $900  Fixed
E2  Concrete grade C35, 150 mm 30 m2       $58   $1,740  Fixed
F1  Contingency 10%                                $624  Fixed

Read it line by line against the notes and the sums. B1 has the wrong unit, square metres for a volume. B2 has the base's floor area, 36.96, in the quantity column where the 12.94 cubic metres belongs, which inflates the line from $285 to $813, an error of $528 that the total would have buried. C1 counts three loads from bank volume, and the corrected figure is four. D2 marks the soakaway Fixed although the notes say there is no percolation test, so it must be a provisional sum. E1 invents a hardcore specification and E2 invents a concrete grade, neither of which was in the notes, so each becomes a question for the engineer or the customer. F1 adds a 10% contingency, which should be replaced by the named provisional items above. And the draft quietly dropped the set-up, topsoil strip, pipe, chamber, connection, test, shuttering and mesh.

Send the corrections back as a list, ask for the full table again, then ask a second question: "List every line where a quantity or rate does not trace to the notes or the rate card." The numbers in the assistant's closing list, such as the 30% bulking and the 8 cubic metre load, are your assumptions to confirm, not facts. Arithmetic is where chat assistants slip, which is why why AI is bad at maths is worth a read, and why every total in your own sheet should be a formula that you spot-check by hand.

A plain-English cover page the customer will actually read

A 20-line table is hard going for a customer, but half a page on top of it is easy to read. Once the table is corrected, ask the assistant for a summary written only from the final lines, so it cannot add promises.

Write a half-page summary for the customer from the final table
only: what we will do, what is provisional and why, what is not
included, and how changes are agreed. Plain words, no jargon, no
dates, no promises about timescales.

A sound result (illustrative) reads like this, and the numbers should match the table exactly.

What we will do: strip the topsoil and keep it on site, dig and lay
a 22 metre foul drain with one new inspection chamber and connect it
to your existing chamber, then build a 6 by 5 metre concrete base on
150 mm of compacted hardcore with mesh reinforcement. Price for these
lines: $7,975.

What is not yet known: the soakaway cannot be priced properly until a
percolation test shows how well the ground drains. We have included
$1,850 as an allowance and the final figure follows the real cost. We
have also allowed 2 cubic metres of rock breaking at $120 a cubic
metre, which we charge only if we meet rock.

What is not included: engineer's fees, utility connection charges and
reinstating the lawn.

If something changes: we will tell you before doing extra work and
agree the cost in writing.

Extra-over rates: price the likely changes now

The changes you can predict are cheaper to settle before the job than during it. Work out a short list of extra-over rates from your own lines, so that "the drain needs to be deeper" has an answer on the day. Each one is a small sum on numbers already in the quote.

The trench figure shows why the sum is worth doing. A drain that has to go 300 mm deeper along its whole length is three times $74, or $222, before anyone has had to phone you about it. Put the table on the last page of the quote, labelled as the rates that apply if the ground or the drawings change. If you ask an assistant to build the table, give it the lines and tell it to show each working, because this is exactly the kind of multi-step sum where a confident but wrong figure is easy to miss.

The last read: units, sums, unknowns and exclusions

• Units and sums. Every volume is in cubic metres, every area in square metres, every run in metres. Recompute three lines by hand, including the biggest.
• Loose against bank. Spoil loads come from loose volume, rounded up, and the bulking figure is stated in the assumption column.
• One unknown, one item. Every unknown in the site notes appears as a provisional item or a dayworks rate. Nothing is hidden in a contingency.
• Specification. Every grade, thickness and material class traces to the drawing, the engineer or a stated assumption of yours.
• Exclusions. Name what the price leaves out: engineer's fees, utility connection and adoption charges, fees for permits or inspections, reinstatement of lawns and paths, work outside stated hours, and any site access narrower than the machine you assumed.
• Dayworks and variations. Hourly and daily rates for labour and plant are listed, and the quote says how a change is agreed in writing before the work starts.
• Validity. A date after which the prices lapse, because material and haulage prices move.

Run the same checks every time and the template pays for itself quickly. A realistic failure (illustrative) shows why. Imagine a firm that prices spoil from bank volume on every job for a season, so each quote is one load short. At $185 a load and ten jobs, that is $1,850 of unrecovered cost with nobody noticing, because each job looks fine alone. Putting the bulking figure and the loose-volume sum into the assumption column makes the gap visible on the first quote that uses it. When the job grows into a bigger package, the same lines carry into a formal bid, and how to price excavation work hourly, per load or fixed helps you decide which basis suits each line.

Groundworks quote questions

What is the difference between a provisional sum and a provisional quantity?

A provisional sum is an allowance for work that cannot be defined yet, such as a soakaway pending a percolation test, and the final price follows the actual cost. A provisional quantity is a defined item at a fixed rate with an estimated amount, such as rock breaking at $120 a cubic metre, remeasured on completion. Say which is which on the quote, because customers often assume both mean a fixed price.

Should the quote show unit rates or only a total?

Show quantities and rates for the items that can change, such as excavation, spoil loads and extra depth, because they let you price a change without an argument. A lump sum is fine for set-up. If you do not want to show margin, build overhead and profit into the rates and keep the build-up in your own spreadsheet. A bare total invites disputes about extras.

How many tipper loads should I allow for the spoil?

Work from loose volume, not bank volume, because dug ground takes up more space. Published bulking tables vary widely: one widely used engineering reference lists clay at 20 to 40 per cent and sand and gravel at 20 to 30, so use your own history and your haulier's real loose capacity, round up, and state that extra loads cost the same rate each.

Is it safe to paste my rate card into an AI assistant?

Use a business plan where content is not used for training by default, or switch off the model-training setting on a personal plan, and leave out the customer's name and address. The assistant needs quantities, units and your rates, not who the job is for. Treat the rate card as business information and share it only with tools you would trust with your price list.

Further reads

• Concrete Quote Template: Slab Prep, Finish and Weather Clauses With AI — A closer look at slab prep, finish and weather clauses.
• Paving Contract Template: Payment, Base and Weather Clauses With AI — Contract clauses for base and paving work.
• Groundworks Tenders: Build a Tender Pack and Method Statements With AI — Take the same work into a formal tender pack.
• Can AI Do Construction Bid Levelling? What It Catches and Misses — Compare subcontractor quotes line by line.
• Landscaping Estimate Template: Itemise Labour, Plants and Waste With AI — Itemising labour, materials and waste in a similar way.
• AI Tools for Construction Estimating: Bid Checks After the Takeoff — Checks to run after a takeoff.
• AI for Civil Construction: Plant Pre-Start Checks and Service Schedules — How a small civil contractor drafts plant pre-start checks, service intervals and a defect log from manuals with AI, with every line traced to a manual page.
• Demolition Estimate Template: Scope, Waste and Disposal Lines With AI — A demolition estimate template for a rear extension: scope, asbestos and services exclusions, tonnes by waste stream, and skip and disposal lines.
• Earthworks Estimating: Can AI Calculate Cut and Fill Volumes? — Build a cut and fill sheet with end-area volumes and swell factors, see where AI goes wrong, and check the answer by hand.
• How to Price a Fence Job: Can AI Turn Run Length Into a Materials List? — A worked 20-metre fence job: posts, panels, gravel boards, concrete, labour and waste, with AI used for the maths and checked by you.
• AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.

Sources: published engineering tables for soil bulking factors, which differ between sources, and supplier and calculator figures for compacted sub-base density, which vary by product (checked November 2026). All quantities, rates and totals in the worked job are illustrative arithmetic.