Capacity predictions are made for two piles and two drilled shafts. The basis for these predictions was to characterize relevant parameters as functions of depth, and use these functions in conventional static capacity equations. Using spreadsheet software, such functions can be manipulated as conveniently as single values are with a calculator, and the designer is not restricted to assigning one or a few 'design' values for parameters. Such functions can also be treated as random variables if a probabilistic analysis is desired.