Topography & meshes

Im working with a site plan containing hundred of levels obtained by the surveyor. I know the floorplan of the building which is to be constructed and its intended levels. I need to do a quick exercise to calculate the volume of earth which will need to be dug away to accommodate the building.

I have already calculated this volume to a suitable degree of accuracy but was wondering if it would've been possible to create a sort of 3D mesh from the topographical information. i could have then dropped in a 3D box representing the building to the desired level and worked out the volume where the 2 elements intersect.

my knowledge of 3d solids is reasonable but meshes and surfaces are completely new to me, am i right in thinking this can be achieved? if so what command will do it?

ur on the right direction, do you know how to use Civil 3D?

we usually generate profile sections from the topo, then project the depth of excavations to be made on the profile sections generated, then loft the profile sections and projected lines of excavations to create a solid, then use massprop to check out the volume of the solid,,, whew.

There's an easier way in Civil 3d itself but im still unaware of how to do it

cool thanks for the reply. the way you described is pretty much how i did it originally i just thought there was probably a better way to do it. from what you've written its seems there is however plain old vanilla autocad might not be the correct tool for the job & i cant see my company forking out for civil 3D due to the minimal amount of civil work we do

thanks again