Cost guide
Earthworks survey cost
What cut and fill, topsoil strip and muck-shift surveys cost, from a single pre-start survey to a monthly valuation programme.
Guide price: an earthworks volume survey costs from £595 for a site up to about two hectares (5 acres), including the comparison with your design or an earlier survey, the heat-map and volumes by area. Repeat surveys on the same site cost from £395. Before VAT, with travel included within 50 miles of Corby.
| Job | Guide price | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-start ground survey (baseline) | from £450 | Original ground before any strip or dig: from £450 up to ~1 ha, from £850 up to ~5 ha; see drone survey cost |
| Earthworks survey up to ~2 ha, with comparison | from £595 | Cut and fill to design, topsoil strip, muck-away check |
| Repeat survey on the same site | from £395 | Monthly valuation or end-of-operation figure |
| Larger sites | quoted | Priced from the site plan and programme |
| Design surface built from 2D drawings | quoted | When no LandXML or 3D DWG is available |
Guide prices before VAT for accessible sites with open airspace. Volumes are surveyed in-place volumes; bulking and compaction factors are for your engineer or estimator to apply.
What drives the price
Site size and shape
Larger sites take longer to control and fly, and long, narrow sites need more control along their length for the same accuracy.
What the comparison is against
A 3D design surface from your engineer goes straight into the comparison. If the design is only on 2D levels drawings, we build the surface first, which takes office time.
How the volumes are split
One total for the site is quick. Splitting the quantities by roads, plots, open space or by phase, to match a bill of quantities, takes longer and is priced when we quote.
Ground the drone can't see
Hedges, trees and standing crops hide the ground. Those areas are levelled with the RTK GNSS rover so the volumes are complete.
How our prices compare
Published UK guides in 2026 put drone mapping of a 10-hectare development site at £1,500–£4,000 (Dronedesk's UK drone survey price guide, May 2026), and volume analysis is often an extra. Our prices are for the finished quantities, comparison included.
Included on every earthworks survey
- RTK GNSS control and check points
- Comparison with design or a previous survey
- Cut and fill volumes and heat-map
- Spot differences on a grid
- Surfaces and point cloud
- Results in 2–3 working days
How it works: earthworks volume surveys. All services: price guide.
Earthworks surveys across the area
Questions we get asked
How much does an earthworks volume survey cost?
With Dimensure, an earthworks survey of a site up to about two hectares (5 acres), compared with the design or a previous survey, costs from £595. Each repeat survey on the same site costs from £395. Larger sites are priced individually. Prices are before VAT, with travel included within 50 miles of Corby.
What does a cut and fill survey cost in the UK?
Published UK guides in 2026 put drone mapping of a 10-hectare development site at around £1,500 to £4,000, with smaller sites less. Volume calculations against a design are often charged on top of the mapping. Our price includes the comparison, the heat-map and the volumes.
Is a pre-start survey worth paying for?
Almost always. It is the only record of the original ground, and every later volume, from the topsoil strip to the final muck-away figure, is measured against it. Once the ground has been moved it can't be recreated, so a few hundred pounds at the start can settle disputes worth thousands at the end.
What makes an earthworks survey cost more?
A large or long, thin site, heavy vegetation or standing crops that need levelling with the rover, a design that has to be built from 2D drawings rather than supplied as a 3D surface, many separate areas to report, and urgent turnaround.
Book a scan or ask a question
Send the drawing, the location and when you need it. We reply the same working day with a fixed price.