Substrate and Container Volume Takeoff
Converts container count and filled volume into bulk cubic yards and compressed bales.
Example
You enter
- Containers to fill 5000
- Filled volume per container (cu in) 160
- Compaction and spill allowance (%) 10
- Bale label volume, compressed (cu ft) 3.8
- Bale loose yield (cu ft) 2.8
- True US gallon (cu in) 231
You get
- Loose volume 463.0 cu ft = 17.15 cu yd
- Loose volume yd3 17.1468
- With the allowance 509.259
- Ordered volume yd3 18.8615
- Compressed bales 182 bales at the loose yield
- What the label volume would order 135
- The trade-gallon mistake 27.2312
- True gallon over (%) 44.375
Details, formula, and sources
Converts container count and filled volume into bulk cubic yards and compressed bales, and prices the trade-gallon error beside it. A bale's label describes the truck, not the bench, and a true gallon assumption orders 44% too much; the two errors push opposite ways.
loose volume = containers x filled volume per container, at 1,728 cubic inches per cubic foot and 27 cubic feet per cubic yard, plus a compaction and spill allowance.
The supplier's own loose-yield figure and a measured container fill govern.
Public arithmetic; loose yields are published by substrate suppliers.
Estimate. AHJ and licensed professional govern.
Field names used by the API: container_count, filled_volume_in3, allowance_pct, bale_label_ft3, bale_loose_yield_ft3, true_gallon_in3, loose_volume_ft3, loose_volume_yd3, ordered_volume_ft3, ordered_volume_yd3, bale_count, label_bale_count, true_gallon_volume_yd3, true_gallon_over_pct
- Filled volume varies with the container and how it is filled; a measured fill beats a nominal sizeyard measurement
- Bale yield the loose yield, not the compressed label volume, is what fills containerssupplier data