For buyers· Guide 2 of 15

Build your Bill of Quantities

Structure every item suppliers will price, section by section and item by item, so bids come back comparable from the start.

What you'll learn

Understand why structured line items produce better, more comparable bids
Add sections and line items with the right fields filled in
Use Importance levels, response modes, and Extra Parameters to sharpen your evaluation
Know which fields suppliers see and which are private to you

~7 min

When you email a list of needs to five suppliers, each one interprets the list differently. One quotes by the metre, another by the roll. One includes delivery, another does not. Before you can compare anything, you are rebuilding a spreadsheet from scratch.

The Bill of Quantities fixes that. Every supplier who bids on your request prices exactly the same items in the same units, in the order you defined. The comparison is already done before a single bid arrives.

Why this matters

A precise Bill of Quantities is not bureaucracy. It is the contract brief in its earliest form. Suppliers price what you actually need, not what they guessed you meant. You get bids that reflect real scope, in comparable units, against a defined quantity, which makes both the evaluation and any eventual contract faster to negotiate.

When to invest in a detailed Bill of Quantities

Your situation	What to do
I know exactly what I need, item by item	Build a detailed Bill of Quantities with specific quantities, units, and importance levels. This produces the most directly comparable bids.
I have a project goal but the scope may vary by supplier	Define sections with approximate quantities and use the Requirements step to describe what you need in words. Suppliers can adjust within your structure.
I already have the bill in a spreadsheet	Import it instead of retyping. The quick importer handles a clean sheet; the AI import handles full workbooks. Values are copied exactly, never guessed.
This is a construction project I will split into trade packages	Turn on the Construction bill toggle and see the Construction projects section of this hub for the full master-BoQ workflow.

You can edit the Bill of Quantities any time before you publish. After publishing, editing requires amending the request.

Before you start

Have a clear list of items or services you need. Grouping them by phase, location, or category makes the Bill of Quantities easier to read.
Know your preferred units of measure (pieces, hours, metres, kilograms, etc.) for each item type.
If you want suppliers to answer structured commercial questions alongside prices, read Add a Questionnaire as well.
Scale plan only: Extra Parameters and spreadsheet import are gated; the BoQ step will show an upgrade prompt if your plan does not include them.

Building your Bill of Quantities, step by step

Open the BoQ step in the wizard
The BoQ step follows the Requirements step in the wizard. The wizard has already created one section. You can rename it, add more, and populate each with line items.
Every Bill of Quantities has at least one section. Sections group related items and each carries its own estimated delivery date, useful when different parts of your order arrive at different times.
Set up each section
Each section needs two things:
- Section title: name it by what the group contains. "Electrical components", "Phase 1 civil works", or "Offshore installation services" are all clearer than "Section 1".
- Estimated delivery date: the date you expect delivery for items in this section. This becomes the baseline suppliers are measured against when they propose their own delivery dates.
Use Add Section to create multiple sections. You can reorder them at any time before publishing.
One section works fine for simple requests. Multiple sections shine when you need to track delivery by phase, when different parts of the scope should be weighted differently in scoring, or when a section will later become its own trade package on a construction project.
Add line items
Each line item inside a section has five fields:
- Item name (required): what you need, written clearly enough that a supplier can price it without asking a follow-up question. Avoid abbreviations or internal codes the supplier will not recognise.
- Importance: how critical this item is to the overall evaluation. Options are Standard (Medium), Low, Medium, High, and Critical. AI Scoring uses these weightings to calculate the commercial score; a Critical item has more scoring impact than a Low one.
- Quantity (required): the number of units you need.
- Unit (required): the unit of measure. Select a category first (Weight, Length/Distance, Volume/Capacity, Time, and more) then pick the specific unit. This locks the unit suppliers bid in, keeping responses directly comparable.
- Estimated unit price (optional): your internal budget figure for this item. Suppliers never see this. It feeds the running budget total at the bottom of the step, for your own reference.
Use Details / specs below the item name to add technical specifications, standards, or tolerances for that item alone. Suppliers read this when they open the request.
Vague item names produce vague bids. "Pumps" gets you a range of guesses. "Centrifugal pump, 50 l/min, 316 stainless steel, ATEX Zone 2 rated" gets you prices for the thing you actually need.
Import instead of typing
If your bill already exists as a spreadsheet, do not retype it. Import Spreadsheet in a section reads a clean CSV or Excel sheet and maps the standard columns; Import full BoQ workbook (AI) handles multi-sheet workbooks, title blocks, and non-standard layouts, and lets you review the whole mapping before anything is applied. Either way, every value is copied from your file exactly: missing quantities or units are imported flagged for you to complete, never guessed. The full walkthrough is in Import your BoQ from a spreadsheet.
Construction bills: extra structure when you need it
For construction tenders, the Construction bill toggle on this step adds retention, advance payment, bid and performance bonds, a measurement standard, and BoQ structure: sub-sections, item codes, a Line type (Measured, Provisional Sum, PC Sum, Preliminaries, Daywork), and a Quantity basis that lets a line carry an honest quantity state: Firm quantity, Provisional quantity (an estimate you may adjust before award), or Rate only (no quantity; suppliers quote a rate and the quantity is measured on site).
Each section also carries a Bid response format: Itemized required (suppliers must price every line individually) or One price for the section (breakdown required) (suppliers give one price for the whole section and a priced breakdown behind it, which must reconcile to the section price; the breakdown gives you rates to value variations against later). There is no "lump sum allowed" middle option: a section is either itemized or one-priced, and whether a supplier may decline a section altogether is governed by the Part bids rule on the Requirements step. The full construction workflow, from master BoQ to client bill, lives in Run a construction project; the pricing rules are in Understand construction pricing.
Add Extra Parameters to a section (Scale plan)
Scale Extra Parameters let you collect structured data at the line-item group level: delivery lead times, warranty durations, compliance certifications, preferred incoterms, or anything else that affects your decision.
Each Extra Parameter has:
- A label (the question or data field) and an answer type: Text, Number, Yes/No, Date, Single Select, or Multiple Select.
- A scoring mode: Rule (the system checks the answer against a defined criterion) or AI (the system interprets open-ended text answers intelligently).
- A required toggle: whether supplying an answer is mandatory before a bid can be submitted.
Use Quick add to insert common parameters in one click (lead time, warranty, payment method, etc.), or Add Custom to define your own.
If every supplier's delivery lead time matters to your decision, make it a required Extra Parameter rather than burying it in the Requirements description. You get a structured, comparable answer from every bid rather than a buried sentence in a free-text note.
Review the budget total and move on
As you add estimated unit prices, a running budget total appears at the bottom of the step. It sums your estimates across all sections, so you can see at a glance whether your Bill of Quantities aligns with your budget before you publish.
When you are satisfied, select Next to continue through the remaining steps to Review.

What suppliers see

What the supplier sees

Suppliers see the full structure of your Bill of Quantities: section titles, item names, quantities, units, specifications, each section's bid response format, and any Extra Parameters. Provisional and rate-only lines are labeled so there is no ambiguity about what they are pricing. They do not see your estimated prices or your internal budget total. For each line item they price, they enter their unit price and the system calculates the line total; for Extra Parameters, they fill in structured answers according to the answer type you defined.

How it connects to the rest of the journey

The Bill of Quantities you define here determines the shape of every bid you receive. When bids arrive, the Bids tab shows each supplier's total against your structure. AI Scoring uses Importance levels to weight the commercial score, and its evaluation compares every bid against your criteria and recommends with written reasoning. A precise Bill of Quantities makes all of that faster and more reliable.

What good looks like

Each item name is specific enough that a supplier in an unfamiliar city could price it without calling you.
Quantities are exact where you know them, and honestly typed (provisional or rate-only on construction bills) where you do not.
Items that must be delivered on time and to specification are marked High or Critical so scoring reflects what matters to you.
Sections group items by delivery phase or by category, so delivery dates can be tracked separately per group and sections can become trade packages cleanly.
Extra Parameters capture the three or four structured data points that will genuinely affect your decision, not every possible question.

Next steps

Start your first request

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Create your first request and start receiving structured, comparable bids.

Build your Bill of Quantities

Structure every item suppliers will price, section by section and item by item, so bids come back comparable from the start.

What you'll learn

Understand why structured line items produce better, more comparable bids
Add sections and line items with the right fields filled in
Use Importance levels, response modes, and Extra Parameters to sharpen your evaluation
Know which fields suppliers see and which are private to you

~7 min

When to invest in a detailed Bill of Quantities

Your situation	What to do
I know exactly what I need, item by item	Build a detailed Bill of Quantities with specific quantities, units, and importance levels. This produces the most directly comparable bids.
I have a project goal but the scope may vary by supplier	Define sections with approximate quantities and use the Requirements step to describe what you need in words. Suppliers can adjust within your structure.
I already have the bill in a spreadsheet	Import it instead of retyping. The quick importer handles a clean sheet; the AI import handles full workbooks. Values are copied exactly, never guessed.
This is a construction project I will split into trade packages	Turn on the Construction bill toggle and see the Construction projects section of this hub for the full master-BoQ workflow.

You can edit the Bill of Quantities any time before you publish. After publishing, editing requires amending the request.

Before you start

Have a clear list of items or services you need. Grouping them by phase, location, or category makes the Bill of Quantities easier to read.

Know your preferred units of measure (pieces, hours, metres, kilograms, etc.) for each item type.

If you want suppliers to answer structured commercial questions alongside prices, read Add a Questionnaire as well.

Scale plan only: Extra Parameters and spreadsheet import are gated; the BoQ step will show an upgrade prompt if your plan does not include them.

Building your Bill of Quantities, step by step

Open the BoQ step in the wizard

The BoQ step follows the Requirements step in the wizard. The wizard has already created one section. You can rename it, add more, and populate each with line items.

Every Bill of Quantities has at least one section. Sections group related items and each carries its own estimated delivery date, useful when different parts of your order arrive at different times.

Set up each section

Each section needs two things:

Section title: name it by what the group contains. "Electrical components", "Phase 1 civil works", or "Offshore installation services" are all clearer than "Section 1".
Estimated delivery date: the date you expect delivery for items in this section. This becomes the baseline suppliers are measured against when they propose their own delivery dates.

Use Add Section to create multiple sections. You can reorder them at any time before publishing.

One section works fine for simple requests. Multiple sections shine when you need to track delivery by phase, when different parts of the scope should be weighted differently in scoring, or when a section will later become its own trade package on a construction project.

Add line items

Each line item inside a section has five fields:

Item name (required): what you need, written clearly enough that a supplier can price it without asking a follow-up question. Avoid abbreviations or internal codes the supplier will not recognise.
Importance: how critical this item is to the overall evaluation. Options are Standard (Medium), Low, Medium, High, and Critical. AI Scoring uses these weightings to calculate the commercial score; a Critical item has more scoring impact than a Low one.
Quantity (required): the number of units you need.
Unit (required): the unit of measure. Select a category first (Weight, Length/Distance, Volume/Capacity, Time, and more) then pick the specific unit. This locks the unit suppliers bid in, keeping responses directly comparable.
Estimated unit price (optional): your internal budget figure for this item. Suppliers never see this. It feeds the running budget total at the bottom of the step, for your own reference.

Use Details / specs below the item name to add technical specifications, standards, or tolerances for that item alone. Suppliers read this when they open the request.

Vague item names produce vague bids. "Pumps" gets you a range of guesses. "Centrifugal pump, 50 l/min, 316 stainless steel, ATEX Zone 2 rated" gets you prices for the thing you actually need.

Import instead of typing

If your bill already exists as a spreadsheet, do not retype it. Import Spreadsheet in a section reads a clean CSV or Excel sheet and maps the standard columns; Import full BoQ workbook (AI) handles multi-sheet workbooks, title blocks, and non-standard layouts, and lets you review the whole mapping before anything is applied. Either way, every value is copied from your file exactly: missing quantities or units are imported flagged for you to complete, never guessed. The full walkthrough is in Import your BoQ from a spreadsheet.

Construction bills: extra structure when you need it

For construction tenders, the Construction bill toggle on this step adds retention, advance payment, bid and performance bonds, a measurement standard, and BoQ structure: sub-sections, item codes, a Line type (Measured, Provisional Sum, PC Sum, Preliminaries, Daywork), and a Quantity basis that lets a line carry an honest quantity state: Firm quantity, Provisional quantity (an estimate you may adjust before award), or Rate only (no quantity; suppliers quote a rate and the quantity is measured on site).

Each section also carries a Bid response format: Itemized required (suppliers must price every line individually) or One price for the section (breakdown required) (suppliers give one price for the whole section and a priced breakdown behind it, which must reconcile to the section price; the breakdown gives you rates to value variations against later). There is no "lump sum allowed" middle option: a section is either itemized or one-priced, and whether a supplier may decline a section altogether is governed by the Part bids rule on the Requirements step. The full construction workflow, from master BoQ to client bill, lives in Run a construction project; the pricing rules are in Understand construction pricing.

Add Extra Parameters to a section (Scale plan)

Scale Extra Parameters let you collect structured data at the line-item group level: delivery lead times, warranty durations, compliance certifications, preferred incoterms, or anything else that affects your decision.

Each Extra Parameter has:

A label (the question or data field) and an answer type: Text, Number, Yes/No, Date, Single Select, or Multiple Select.
A scoring mode: Rule (the system checks the answer against a defined criterion) or AI (the system interprets open-ended text answers intelligently).
A required toggle: whether supplying an answer is mandatory before a bid can be submitted.

Use Quick add to insert common parameters in one click (lead time, warranty, payment method, etc.), or Add Custom to define your own.

If every supplier's delivery lead time matters to your decision, make it a required Extra Parameter rather than burying it in the Requirements description. You get a structured, comparable answer from every bid rather than a buried sentence in a free-text note.

Review the budget total and move on

As you add estimated unit prices, a running budget total appears at the bottom of the step. It sums your estimates across all sections, so you can see at a glance whether your Bill of Quantities aligns with your budget before you publish.

When you are satisfied, select Next to continue through the remaining steps to Review.

What suppliers see

What the supplier sees

How it connects to the rest of the journey

What good looks like

Each item name is specific enough that a supplier in an unfamiliar city could price it without calling you.

Quantities are exact where you know them, and honestly typed (provisional or rate-only on construction bills) where you do not.

Items that must be delivered on time and to specification are marked High or Critical so scoring reflects what matters to you.

Sections group items by delivery phase or by category, so delivery dates can be tracked separately per group and sections can become trade packages cleanly.

Extra Parameters capture the three or four structured data points that will genuinely affect your decision, not every possible question.

Start your first request