First things first, what is the full form of BoQ? BoQ stands for Bill of Quantity and is prepared by the cost estimator or a civil quality surveyor. The bill mentions the rate of the items required for a particular project. BoQ is the most important document for contracting and tendering as it gives a clear cost estimate of a project in hand.
2 Types of BoQ in The Construction Biz
Now we know the full form of BoQ is a bill of quantities but what does the word ‘quantity’ suggest? Quantity means whatever is required during the completion of the project. Typically, it’s labour and materials which means a BoQ contains BoM and BoL. Check out what they imply:
● Bill of Materials (BoM)
The bill of materials is a detailed list of all the materials (ingredients for construction) that a particular project requires like cement, bricks, sand, rods, etc. Say, per bag of cement costs ₹300 and the project needs 400 cement bags. The BoM will show this calculation
The total cost of cement is,
₹300 multiplied by 400 = ₹1200
● Bill of Labour (BoL)
This bill will likely have fewer calculations to do. It’s the estimate of what labour charges the upcoming project will incur. Labour charge changes for each type of work and the basic price may vary. Here’s an example
Say you need 5 workers for 2 days to complete a work. Their labour charge per day is ₹400 which results in a ₹4000 (₹400 × 5 × 2) bill for 2 days.
Advantages (or Purpose) of a BoQ
BoQ documents are the backbone of a successful business in construction. Why? Because that’s the first document one needs to kick-start a project. These are the points of advantages you have in a project with a BoQ in hand:
- You are supplied with all the details of work in one place, in one document.
- You get to do a comparison and evaluation analysis of the entire budget of the project.
- Any problems in the assembling of labour, materials, or finance can be detected through BoQs.
- Project planning requires estimations of the A to Z of items, their rate, quantities, and more.
- Good suppliers always check if the BoQ is accurate or not.
- Zero guesswork is required when it comes to budgeting and planning with a BoQ in hand.
- BoQ is a time-saving tool as everything a project manager needs is on the list.
- Reduces construction costs by eliminating guesswork, estimation errors, and the like.
- BoQ makes the finance of a project transparent (zero chances of money laundering).
How to Prepare a BoQ: The Format of a BoQ
It’s pretty simple! Follow these two steps and your BoQ is ready to be presented:
- Estimate the quantity of all the materials needed and write them down in a table format.
- Find the unit rate of the listed items, now that you know how many of those items you need. You can take help from the SOR (Schedule of Rate) to get the unit rates. Oh, remember that the SOR is updated periodically for 3 years.
A Final Word on BoQ Full Form, Format, and Its Advantages
A Bill of Quantities is made to get a clear picture of the following points in a civil construction project:
- The number of items required
- The unit rate of each the item
- The total rate of all the items
- Number of men required for labour for each type of work
- The base charge of their labour
- The number of days they will be put to work
- The total charge of labour for the project
This information set crisply on a single document makes sure that anyone involved in the project can look into the finance of the whole work. The major advantage? The budget once set down in a BoQ is final and any discrepancies can be easily pointed out. No one can charge each other extra or syphon off materials from the worksite when all of them have been mentioned in the BoQ. It’s a true saviour when it comes to construction.
