A Bill of Quantities (BOQ) is an itemised schedule of the measured work in a project — each item described, quantified in its own unit, and priced with a rate and a total. It converts a set of drawings into a number that can be compared, valued and paid against.
Site establishment, supervision, temporary works, protection, access, permits, insurance and the cost of simply being on site for the duration. Bidders who under-price preliminaries recover them through variations.
Civil, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fabrication, joinery, façade and finishes, each measured in its proper unit — square metres, linear metres, numbers or item.
An allowance for work that is known to be needed but not yet designed. It is expended against actual cost, so a bid full of provisional sums is not a fixed price.
An allowance for a supplied item whose supplier is not yet chosen — a floor finish, a light fitting, a sanitaryware range. The contractor prices the installation, not the item.
Rates for labour, plant and material used on instructed work that cannot be measured. Check them at tender: they are the rates you will be charged when something changes.
A client-held allowance for the unknown. It belongs to the client, not the contractor, and is released only on instruction.
A provisional sum covers work that has not been designed yet. A prime cost item covers a supplied product whose make and model has not been chosen yet. Both are placeholders, and both convert to actual cost when instructed.
Usually because the bidders measured different quantities, made different assumptions about the base-build condition, or excluded different scope. Compare the rates item by item before you compare the totals.
On a larger project, the client's quantity surveyor. On a single retail unit, the contractor commonly measures from the drawings and submits their own BOQ — which also shows you how carefully they read them.
Only for the measured items, and only if the scope does not change. Provisional sums, prime cost items and contingency are all expended against actual cost, so the tender total is a forecast for those lines.
Preliminaries, followed by builder's work in connection with services — the cutting, chasing, forming and making good that every other trade depends on and no trade wants to own.
We bid retail and commercial fit-out tenders across the Gulf from our Jeddah base.
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