Foundation geometry and rules derived from ANSI/ASAE/NFBA EP486.3, USDA/NRCS PA-12 and the NFBA design manual: a prescriptive 40in embedment floor, an 8ft auger ceiling, an 18in-diameter by 6in footing pad, 2000 psf presumptive bearing, and a per-site frost depth field defaulting to a central-US 3ft.
Also called: post embedment · footing pad · concrete collar · frost depth · uplift anchorage
- 1Each embedded member's drawn box extends below grade by postEmbedment; its cutLength already counted it.
- 2A footing pad lands under each post and a concrete backfill collar is drawn around it, visible in the foundation layer where the ground renders translucent.
- 3The pass runs AFTER additions merge, so lean-to and porch columns get the same treatment for free.
- 4Interior columns (a monitor's raised-centre lines) get the same poured collar — skipping them left bare wood in the hole while every wall post sat in concrete.
- 5The takeoff emits post-hole concrete in cubic yards, footing pads each, and an uplift-restraint line per hole.
- 6Validations flag embedment below the prescriptive floor and a footing that does not bear below the site's frost depth.
Post-frame buildings carry lateral and uplift load through the soil — the concrete around the post is the restraint — and none of it is visible once the dirt goes back, which is why it gets argued about after the fact and left off orders. Below grade is drawn: the hole, the footing pad, and the treated post cast inside its poured collar at the embedment the design specifies. A builder can point at exactly what the concrete line on the quote is paying for.
- Concrete quantities guessed per hole.
- Foundation work invisible in the model and therefore missing from the price.
- Embedment set below the prescriptive minimum without anyone noticing.
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