Free bill of quantities template

A bill of quantities template is a six-column sheet, Item, Description, Unit, Qty, Rate and Amount, with a subtotal, a tax line and a grand total underneath. This free one comes as an Excel file with working formulas and as a Word file for printing. Download it, type your lines, and the totals add themselves.

What must a BOQ template contain?

A usable BOQ template needs six columns in a fixed order, a header that identifies the quote, and a totals block that cannot be miscalculated. Anything less and the client cannot compare your price line by line, which is the whole point of a BOQ. The file you are downloading has all of this already laid out.

• Header block: your business name, address, phone and tax number; the client's name and site; a quote number; the date; a validity date; payment terms.
• Item: a running number so the client can refer to "line 7" on the phone.
• Description: what is supplied and installed, specific enough to price from. "Tiles" is not a line; "porcelain floor tiles 600 × 600 mm, including adhesive and grout" is.
• Unit: m, m², m³, nos, kg, lot or hr. One unit per line, and the same unit for the same kind of work throughout.
• Qty and Rate: the measured quantity and the price for one unit.
• Amount: Qty × Rate, calculated, never typed.
• Totals: subtotal, tax at an editable percentage, grand total.
• Assumptions and exclusions: what you took for granted and what you are not pricing.

Rate: the price for one unit of an item, materials and labour included unless the description says otherwise. For example PKR 3,200 per m² of porcelain floor tiles, laid.

What does a filled-in BOQ look like?

The table below is a small bathroom renovation in Pakistan priced in PKR, ten lines, mixed trades. The rates are illustrative, not a price list: your supplier invoices and your labour cost set the real ones. In the UAE the same lines would be priced in AED with 5% VAT in place of 17% sales tax.

How do you fill in the template?

Filling the template in takes five steps, and the order matters: measure first, price second, and write the exclusions before you send. Skipping the measurement step is how a BOQ ends up with "lot" on every line, which is a lump sum pretending to be a bill of quantities.

1. Complete the header. Replace the bracketed placeholders with your business details, the client's name and site address, a quote number you have not used before, today's date and a validity date (30 days is common).
2. List the work in installation order. Demolition before screed before tiles before sanitaryware. The client reads it as a sequence, and it stops you forgetting a stage.
3. Measure each line and pick its unit. Areas in m², lengths in m, countable items in nos. Use "lot" only for work you genuinely cannot measure, such as making good.
4. Enter your rate per unit. Materials plus labour plus your margin for that item. In Excel the Amount column and the totals fill in as you type; in Word, multiply and add by hand and check the arithmetic twice.
5. Set the tax rate and write the assumptions and exclusions. Type 17, 5 or 0 in the tax cell, then fill the two lists at the bottom. Read the exclusions as the client would: anything they might assume is included must be named.

Which assumptions and exclusions should it list?

The assumptions and exclusions block is where disputes are settled before they start. Assumptions describe the conditions your price relies on; exclusions name the work you are not pricing. Every line in either list is a conversation you will not have to have after the job begins.

• Site access: working hours, lift or stairs, parking, where materials can be stored.
• Services: water and electricity available on site for the works.
• Existing condition: walls and floors sound; hidden damage priced as a variation.
• Supplied by client: fittings, fixtures or materials the client is buying themselves, named.
• Excluded trades: electrical, civil, painting, or whichever you are not doing.
• Permits and fees: building approvals, utility connection charges, society or building management fees.
• Validity and payment: how long the price holds, the advance, and when the balance is due.

What are the common errors in a BOQ?

Most BOQ errors are not arithmetic; they are description and unit problems that leave the price open to argument. The five below account for nearly every variation dispute we hear about from contractors, and each one is avoidable at the typing stage.

• Typing the amounts. A typed amount is wrong the moment a quantity changes. Use the formula column.
• Mixing units for the same work. Cable in metres on one line and "lot" on the next looks like something is being hidden.
• Vague descriptions. If the client could not buy the item from your description, you cannot defend the rate.
• No validity date. Material prices move; a BOQ with no expiry is an open offer.
• Empty exclusions. The client assumes everything is included. Say what is not.

How is a BOQ different from a quotation?

A BOQ is the itemised list; a quotation is the commercial offer built on it. On a small job they are the same document: the BOQ lines plus a header, totals and terms, which is exactly what this template gives you. On a large project the client issues the BOQ with quantities and each contractor fills in rates, so bids can be compared line for line. For the full explanation see what is a bill of quantities and the annotated BOQ format example.