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.
Download the free BOQ template
Real .xlsx files in English and Arabic, with formulas in place.
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
How to use it
Itemise everything
One row per priced item, with the specification or standard named. Lump sums are where comparability dies.
Lock quantities
You own the quantity column. If bidders can change quantities, you are comparing different projects.
Import it into a request
VEXORS reads BOQ spreadsheets directly into a structured request, so the same rows become live line items suppliers price.
What a real BOQ looks like
Five rows from a building works bill. 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.
| Item | Description and specification | Unit | Quantity |
|---|---|---|---|
| A.1 | Excavation in ordinary soil for foundations, up to 2 m deep, including disposal off site | m3 | 480 |
| A.2 | Plain cement concrete blinding, mix 1:3:6, 75 mm thick, under footings | m2 | 320 |
| B.1 | High tensile deformed reinforcement bars to BS 4449, cut, bent and fixed in position | tonne | 46.5 |
| C.1 | Blockwork, 200 mm solid concrete blocks in cement mortar 1:4, internal walls | m2 | 1,240 |
| D.1 | Provisional sum for builder's work in connection with MEP services | sum | 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
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.
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 bill 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.
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.