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A BOQ template every bidder prices identically

A bill-of-quantities spreadsheet with sections, specification columns, and automatic totals: the format that makes construction and materials bids comparable line by line.

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Real .xlsx files in English and Arabic, with formulas in place.

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What is a bill of quantities?

A bill of quantities, or BoQ, is an itemised list of every measured part of a project: the work, the materials, and the quantity of each, grouped into sections by trade or package. The buyer fixes the description, the unit, and the quantity; every bidder prices the same list against a rate and an amount. Because the scope is identical for every bidder, the totals are directly comparable, and the lowest price is the lowest price for the same work, not for whatever each bidder assumed the drawings meant.

From the BoQ to the bids

See a construction tender run on VEXORSThe client's BoQ split into trade packages, quotations back in one structure, and every bid levelled and evaluated by AI before you submit.Get the Bid Levelling Checklist25 exclusions and qualifications that move a package price in the Middle East, the question to ask for each, and how to price it back in.

One structure, every time

As a spreadsheet, this structure holds only if everyone plays fair. Import it into a request and VEXORS locks it for you: every bidder prices against your lines and never touches the row, the description, or the quantity.

Every gap counted

An item a bidder leaves unpriced does not vanish from the total. VEXORS counts it and prices it back in at your estimate or the median of the other bids, so the ranking reflects the whole scope, not just what each bidder chose to answer.

A record that outlives the inbox

Revisions, clarifications, rate flags, and the scores behind an award stay with the tender, not scattered across email threads and personal copies of a spreadsheet nobody can find six months later.

What's inside

Sectioned structure (A/B/C) for packages, trades, or material groups

Item number, description, and specification/standard columns

Unit and quantity columns you fix, so bidders touch only rate and amount

Amount formulas per row and an automatic grand total

A notes column for assumptions, exclusions, and alternates

Anatomy of the file
  1. 1
    Sectioned structure
    Packages, trades, or material groups in build order
  2. 2
    Item and description columns
    Item number, description, and specification or standard
  3. 3
    Unit and quantity
    Fixed by you, so bidders touch only rate and amount
  4. 4
    Amount formulas
    Per-row amount and an automatic grand total
  5. 5
    Notes column
    For assumptions, exclusions, and alternates

What a real BOQ looks like

Five rows from a building works BoQ. You own everything shown here. The rate and amount columns stay empty in the file you send out, because that is the part each bidder fills in.

  • A.1

    Description and specification
    Excavation in ordinary soil for foundations, up to 2 m deep, including disposal off site
    Unit
    m3
    Quantity
    480

  • A.2

    Description and specification
    Plain cement concrete blinding, mix 1:3:6, 75 mm thick, under footings
    Unit
    m2
    Quantity
    320

  • B.1

    Description and specification
    High tensile deformed reinforcement bars to BS 4449, cut, bent and fixed in position
    Unit
    tonne
    Quantity
    46.5

  • C.1

    Description and specification
    Blockwork, 200 mm solid concrete blocks in cement mortar 1:4, internal walls
    Unit
    m2
    Quantity
    1,240

  • D.1

    Description and specification
    Provisional sum for builder's work in connection with MEP services
    Unit
    sum
    Quantity
    1

Notice what the descriptions carry: the mix, the standard, the thickness, whether fixing is included. That detail is what stops three bidders pricing three different jobs. Row D.1 is a provisional sum, an allowance you carry openly instead of pretending you have a firm quantity.

Using it well

OWNERSHIP

Decide who owns which column

A bill of quantities works because the buyer owns one side and the bidder owns the other. Item number, description, specification, unit, and quantity are yours: they define the job. Rate and amount are theirs: they define the price. The moment a bidder edits a quantity, you are no longer comparing the same project, and you usually will not notice until the totals refuse to reconcile. In practice that means sending the file with the rate and amount columns empty and the quantity column populated, then asking for it back in the same structure. If a bidder believes a quantity is wrong, the right response is a written clarification you issue to everyone, not a silent edit in their private copy.

  • Item number, description, specification, unit, and quantity are your columns
  • Rate and amount are the bidder's columns, never touched by you
  • An edited quantity breaks the comparison without raising an alarm
  • A quantity you believe is wrong gets a written clarification to everyone, not a private edit
MEASUREMENT

Get the quantities and the wording right

Quantities should be measured against a standard your bidders recognise, whether that is POMI, CESMM4, NRM2, or SMM7, and the BoQ should say which one. A description that names the mix, grade, thickness, standard, and whether fixing and disposal are included removes the assumptions that later become variation claims. Vague wording is not neutral: every bidder resolves it in their own favour, and the cheapest bid is usually the one that assumed the least work. Where a quantity genuinely is not known yet, say so rather than inventing a number. A provisional sum carries an allowance you expect to adjust, and a rate-only item asks for a unit rate against work that will be measured on site. Both are honest positions. A fabricated firm quantity is not, and it flows into every total as though it were real.

  • Measure against a standard your bidders recognise: POMI, CESMM4, NRM2, or SMM7
  • Name the mix, grade, thickness, and standard in every description
  • Use a provisional quantity when the figure may still move before award
  • A provisional sum carries an honest allowance, never a fabricated firm figure
FROM FILE TO TENDER

From spreadsheet to live tender

A spreadsheet still has to be emailed, chased, collected in different formats, and re-typed into something comparable. That re-typing is where quantities drift and where the audit trail dies. Importing the same file into a request removes the step: the rows become structured line items, and every supplier prices them in place. From there the comparison is automatic rather than manual, and the AI evaluates each bid against the criteria you weighted and recommends a winner with written reasoning you can defend. The template is a good starting point, but it is the structure behind it, not the file format, that produces comparable bids.

  • Every row becomes a line item every bidder prices in the request
  • Bids land already structured, with nothing to re-type into a master sheet
  • AI evaluates each bid against the criteria you weighted, with written reasons
  • The comparison and the award decision stay with the tender's record

BoQ templates by trade

Same workbook engine as the BoQ template: sections in build order, the specification written into each description, units and quantities you fix, rate and amount for the bidder, section totals and a summary with contingency and VAT kept apart from the rates. Quantities in the sample rows are illustrative.

Villa BoQ templateTwelve sections from preliminaries to external works, forty measured items for a G plus one villa.
Electrical BoQ templateEight sections from the main LV panel to testing and commissioning, thirty-four items with authority fees kept at cost.
Fit-out and kitchen BoQ templateNine sections from strip-out to the kitchen, with cabinets, worktops, and appliances priced properly.
Labour and material BoQ templateEvery rate split into material and labour, for labour-only and supply-and-fix packages.
The same file, two ways

What happens to the file once you send it

  • Getting it to bidders

    Sent by email
    Attached to an email, one copy per bidder, with no way to see who has even opened it.
    Sent as a tender on VEXORS
    Sent as an invitation inside the request; your bidder list shows exactly who you invited.

  • Filling it in

    Sent by email
    Each bidder edits their own copy of the spreadsheet offline, in whatever version of Excel they have.
    Sent as a tender on VEXORS
    Bidders price the same lines in a browser or on a phone, no download required.

  • Keeping the structure

    Sent by email
    Rows get added, deleted, or renumbered, and nobody notices until the totals stop reconciling.
    Sent as a tender on VEXORS
    The structure is locked; every bid comes back on the same lines.

  • Unpriced items

    Sent by email
    Found by scrolling down the sheet and squinting for blank cells, if anyone thinks to look.
    Sent as a tender on VEXORS
    Counted automatically and priced back in at your estimate or the median of the other bids.

  • Rate outliers

    Sent by email
    Caught only if someone happens to compare rates by eye across five different files.
    Sent as a tender on VEXORS
    Every rate with three or more prices is checked against the median and flagged with its ratio.

  • Comparing bids

    Sent by email
    Five files pasted into a master sheet by hand, with formulas breaking somewhere along the way.
    Sent as a tender on VEXORS
    Bids arrive already comparable; levelled totals are ranked without any re-typing.

  • Clarifications

    Sent by email
    One bidder emails a question directly to you; the other bidders never see the answer.
    Sent as a tender on VEXORS
    A question is answered once and published to every bidder, with the asker kept anonymous.

  • The record

    Sent by email
    Scattered across email threads, personal drives, and whoever happened to keep a copy.
    Sent as a tender on VEXORS
    Scores, revisions, questions, and the award decision stay with the tender.

Who this template is for

Contractors tendering trade packages

Split a project BoQ into packages by trade, send each to the right prequalified subcontractors, and get pricing back in a structure you can compare package by package.

Procurement teams on quantity-heavy purchases

Fit-outs, maintenance contracts, bulk supply, and spare parts all benefit from the same discipline: fixed quantities, one rate column, and a total that means the same thing for every supplier.

Consultants preparing tender documents

Issue a BoQ as part of the tender package so every bidder returns pricing your client can compare on the same items, not five different interpretations of the same scope.

Four steps

How to use it

1

Itemise everything

One row per priced item, with the specification or standard named. Lump sums are where comparability dies.

2

Lock quantities

You own the quantity column. If bidders can change quantities, you are comparing different projects.

3

Import it into a request

VEXORS reads BOQ spreadsheets directly into a structured request, so the same rows become live line items suppliers price.

4

Compare bids as they land

Once bidders submit, gaps are priced back in, outlying rates are flagged, and the levelled totals are ranked automatically, ready for AI evaluation against your criteria.

Importing a BoQ into VEXORS and splitting it into trade packages are part of the Scale plan. The template itself is free, and RFQs, RFPs and RFIs with line items run on every plan, including the free Explore plan.

BOQ template FAQ

Keep exploring

Stop re-typing bids into a master sheet

Import this BoQ into a request, invite your bidders, and let every bid land already comparable. Free to start.

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