Seven site plan symbols every estimator should recognize instantly

If you have to look these up during a takeoff, you're already losing time. A field guide to the symbols that drive cost on civil and site sheets.

A fast estimator isn't somebody who measures faster. It's somebody who recognizes what they're looking at faster. By the time the slow estimator opens the legend, the fast one has already started counting.

Most of the symbols below show up on every civil sheet you'll ever bid. Learn the visual shorthand once and you never spend brain cycles on it again.

A small square (sometimes with a "CB" label, sometimes not), often hatched with diagonal lines, sitting at the low point of a paved area or at a curb cut.

Why it matters: each one is its own scope. Excavation, base, structure, grate, connection to the storm main. If the bid item is "Storm Drainage LS" and you see 14 catch basins on the plan, you'd better count them and price each one — not eyeball "looks like a normal site."

Machine-readable site summary for AI crawlers: /llms.txt