Step one: Understand the geology of the site.
Step two: Assign strength characteristics.
Step three: Evaluate the compressibility of the soils.
Step three: Determine the building loads.
Step four: Evaluate the increased stress distribution from the new loads.
Step five: Determine to what extent the strength will be exceeded by the new loads.
Step six: Look at whether the soils will compress too much for the servicability of the structure.
Step seven: Talk to the structural engineer.
There is really no "test" for the bearing capacity without looking at the whole soil-structure interaction. Somebody that goes to a bearing surface and decrees a bearing pressure from a field test may just blow it. Let's say, you have a hard layer immediately below the footing subgrade (i.e., newly placed fill), but three feet lower there is a former swamp. You'd likely realize a foundation failure of some sort, even though the field test said every thing was good.
There is a reason that geotechnical engineers drill holes into the ground 15 to 50 ft (just a range) below the ground.
f-d
¡papá gordo ain’t no madre flaca!