Concrete Footing Calculator
Concrete footing calculator for trenches, wall footings, and grade beams.
Estimate concrete for continuous strip footings, trench footings, retaining wall footings, foundation runs, deck beam trenches, and grade beams. Use the main concrete calculator to enter length, width, depth, quantity, waste, and price.
How to calculate concrete for a footing
For a concrete footing or trench, multiply the total length by the footing width by the footing depth. If you have multiple footing runs with the same dimensions, multiply the result by the quantity.
Formula
Length × Width × Depth × Quantity = Concrete Volume
Footing dimensions often depend on structure type, soil conditions, loads, frost depth, reinforcement, and local code. Use this page for estimating material volume, then confirm requirements with a qualified professional when needed.
Concrete footing example
A footing that is 40 ft long, 12 inches wide, and 12 inches deep has a volume of 40 cubic feet. Since one cubic yard equals 27 cubic feet, that is about 1.48 cubic yards before waste. With 10% waste, the estimate is about 1.63 cubic yards.
Bags vs Truck Delivery
Should you use concrete bags or ready-mix for footings?
Small footing runs, deck footings, fence post holes, and short trenches can sometimes be handled with bagged concrete. Longer wall footings, retaining wall footings, grade beams, and foundation runs usually make more sense with ready-mix truck delivery.
Bagged concrete
Best for smaller footing projects where access is limited or the quantity is low. The main concrete calculator can estimate 80 lb bags, 60 lb bags, pallet counts, and bag cost.
One-pallet rule
One common pickup-load pallet is about 42 bags of 80 lb concrete or 56 bags of 60 lb concrete. If your footing estimate exceeds one pallet, ready-mix delivery may be the better option.
Ready-mix truck
Ready-mix is typically better for long trenches, wall footings, grade beams, and structural pours. A standard concrete truck is commonly limited to about 10 cubic yards per legal load.
Related footing tools
Use these related calculators to estimate project area, concrete volume, slab quantities, wall pours, sonotubes, gravel base, and overall construction material needs.
Area Calculator
Calculate square feet, square yards, square meters, acres, waste-adjusted area, and material cost before estimating footing materials.
Concrete Calculator
Estimate concrete volume, waste, and material cost for slabs, footings, piers, walls, stairs, curbs, and columns.
Concrete Cost Calculator
Estimate footing concrete price, base material, rebar, labor, prep, delivery fees, and total project cost.
Concrete Stairs Calculator
Estimate concrete stair volume, risers, treads, formwork, reinforcement, labor, and total cost.
Rebar Weight Calculator
Estimate rebar weight by size, length, quantity, pounds, tons, and material cost.
Rebar Calculator
Estimate rebar runs, stock length, total feet, weight, waste, and cost for concrete footings.
Concrete Bag Calculator
Estimate bagged concrete needs for small footings, post holes, pads, repairs, and support pours.
Concrete Slab Calculator
Estimate concrete needed for patios, pads, driveways, garage floors, and slab projects.
Concrete Wall Calculator
Estimate concrete for foundation walls, retaining walls, stem walls, and poured wall sections.
Sonotube Concrete Calculator
Estimate concrete for round piers, post holes, deck posts, fence posts, and sonotube forms.
Gravel Calculator
Estimate gravel, crushed stone, road base, cubic yards, tons, waste, and cost for footing base preparation.
Footing calculator FAQ
What measurements do I need for a footing estimate?
You need the total footing length, footing width, footing depth, quantity if there are multiple runs, waste percentage, and concrete price.
Can this estimate trench footings?
Yes. Use the Footing / Trench mode in the main concrete calculator and enter the trench length, width, and depth.
Does this account for rebar?
No. This page estimates concrete volume only. Rebar, chairs, tie wire, labor, excavation, gravel, and inspections are separate.
Can I use metric units?
Yes. The Numeravo concrete calculator supports metric footing estimates using meters, centimeters, and cubic meters.