RHACOVA

Free contractor tool

Concrete Footing Calculator

Enter the footing length, width and depth — and how many identical footings — to see the cubic yards, the allowance you choose, and the quantity to order.

Footing dimensions

For a continuous footing, enter the total run length and leave the count at 1. For pads or piers, enter one pad and set how many.

Units

Switching converts what you typed, so the size stays the same. Units only — this never changes a currency.

Length of one footing

Your number, not ours. RHACOVA does not publish a standard allowance because the honest answer depends on your subgrade, forms and crew.

The step your supplier actually sells in. 0.25 is only a starting value.

Your result

Quantity decision

Order volume

Order quantityWaste-adjusted volume rounded up to your increment1.50 cu yd
Waste-adjusted volume1.449 cu yd
Base volume (geometry only)1.317 cu yd

Same volume in cubic feet

Base volume35.56 cu ft
Waste-adjusted volume39.11 cu ft
Waste allowance10.00% · 0.132 cu yd
Why this number?

cubicInches = count * lengthIn * widthIn * depthIn; cubicYards = cubicInches / 46656; adjusted = cubicYards * (1 + waste); order = ceilToIncrement(adjusted)

Inputs

Length
480.00 in
Width
16.00 in
Depth
8.00 in
Count
1
Waste allowance
10.00%
Order increment
0.2500 cu yd

Results

Theoretical volume (cu ft)
35.56 cu ft
Theoretical volume (cu yd)
1.3169 cu yd
Waste allowance volume
0.1317 cu yd
Waste-adjusted volume
1.4486 cu yd
Order quantity
1.5000 cu yd

Formula concrete.footing · engine shared.concrete@1.1.0 · rectangular-volume · rounding half-even to 6 decimals.

A quantity is not a bid

Cubic yards tell you what to order. What you charge still depends on material cost, loaded labor, equipment, overhead and the margin you need. RHACOVA carries this quantity into the job bid so you price it instead of guessing.

Price this pour: build the job bid

Still no account, and nothing you type leaves your device. Signing in only comes up if you choose to save the bid as an estimate.

Continuous footings and pad footings

Both are rectangular prisms, so both use the same arithmetic: length × width × depth, then multiplied by how many. A continuous strip footing is one long run — measure the total centre-line length of the run, including the corners once, and leave the count at 1. Pad or pier footings are identical blocks: enter one of them and set the count.

If a job has strip footings and pads together, or footings of different sizes, run each group and add the order quantities, or add them as sections in the main concrete calculator.

Formula and units

  • Cubic inches = count × length (in) × width (in) × depth (in)
  • Cubic yards = cubic inches ÷ 46,656
  • Waste-adjusted volume = base volume × (1 + your allowance)
  • Order quantity = waste-adjusted volume rounded up to your increment

Footings are usually specified in inches for width and depth and in feet for the run, so the calculator converts everything into one unit before multiplying — the most common source of a wrong footing quantity is a feet-times-inches multiplication.

What RHACOVA does not decide for you

This tool takes no position on how wide, how deep or how reinforced a footing must be, on frost depth, bearing capacity, or whether a design meets code. Those are engineering questions answered by the drawings, the soils report and your local jurisdiction. RHACOVA calculates the volume of the footing you describe — nothing more.

Common footing mistakes

  • Measuring outside face instead of centre-line on a continuous run, double-counting corners.
  • Using the trench width instead of the formed width when the trench over-digs.
  • Forgetting that an over-dug trench holds real concrete — that is what the allowance is for.
  • Pouring footings and slab the same day but ordering only the slab volume.

Worked example

A 40 ft continuous footing, 16 in wide and 8 in deep, with a 10% allowance and a 0.25 cu yd order increment:

  • Base volume: 35.56 cu ft
  • Base volume: 1.3169 cu yd
  • Waste allowance: 0.1317 cu yd
  • Order quantity: 1.50 cu yd

Other concrete quantities

After the quantity: cost, price, profit

  • True Job Cost Calculator

    A quantity is not a cost. Add material, loaded labor, equipment, disposal and the rest to see what the pour actually costs you.

  • Markup & Margin Calculator

    Turn that cost into a price, and see the margin the price actually leaves.

Learn the method