A project owner is constructing a compacted fill section. The owner offers to pa

Question

A project owner is constructing a compacted fill section. The owner offers to pay a grading contractor $17.00 per compacted cubic yard of fill section placed by the contractor. The contractor’s costs (including overhead and profit) are $5.00 per bank cubic yard for excavation, $5.00 per loose cubic yard for hauling, and $5.00 per compacted cubic yard for shaping and compacting the fill. Assume the swell factor is 20% and the shrinkage factor is 10%. Should the contractor accept the owner’s offer? Why or why not? Show the work for your reasoning.

Explanation / Answer

Note that the shrinkage factor is 10%, so the loose soil will shrink to 10% lesser volume, and the swelling factor is 20%, so the bank soil after excavation will be 20% more in volume.

So say contractor excavates 1 cubic yard, cost = $5, then with 20% swelling, the hauling volume = 1+0.2 = 1.2 cubic yards, cost = 5+0.2*5 = $6, then this gets shrinked to 10% lesser, so compacted volume = 1.2 - 1.2*0.1 = 1.08 cubic yards,

cost of compacted 1.08 cub yards =$5*1.08 = $5.4,

so total cost of 1.08 cubic yards = $5+ $6 + $5.4 = $16.4

cost per cubic yards = 16.4/1.08 = $15.185

As the cost is lesser than that of the paid amount of $17, yesconctractor should accept the offer.

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