Method of settlement after construction is often used to decide unloading time. To avoid the confusion that residual settlement is regarded as settlement after construction,two equations between the residual settlement and settlement after construction are given based on the analysis of their difference. The final settlement in the method of settlement after construction is corresponding to the design load. For surcharge and undercharge conditions,the equation between final settlement and filling height should be achieved through monitoring results. The final settlement responding to the design load should be got with the above equation. For multi-layer ground,the presented method often leads to early unloading and over settlement after construction. For this kind of ground,the settlement after construction of each layer should be analyzed;and the total settlement after construction can be achieved by superimposing the settlement after construction of each layer.