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Bill of Quantities explained

A Bill of Quantities (BQ, or BoQ and sometimes ref erred to as a Bills of Quantities) are prepared by
Quantity Surveyors to provide an extensive and itemised trade list, including a description and quantity,
of each of the components or items required f or a construction project.
In Australia the f ormat and content are generally based on the Australian Standard Method of
Measurement (ASMM). T he ASMM has been prepared in agreement between T he Australian Institute of
Quantity Surveyors and T he Master Builders Construction and Housing Association Australia Inc.
T he main purpose of a Bill of Quantities is to itemise and def ine a project so that all tenderers are
preparing their price and submission on the same inf ormation.
A BQ helps to eliminate the guesswork and also minimise discrepancies in the tender documents. When
preparing and measuring a BQ, the Quantity Surveyor needs to build the building almost in its entirety
on paper bef ore the real bricksnmortar construction starts. Discrepancies in the documents (i.e. the
drawings stating one thing and the specif ication asking f or another) are greatly reduced as documents
across all disciplines are checked.
Other advantages
As well as the items mentioned above, the preparation of a BQ also has other advantages, such as:

Assisting the comparison and assessment of tenders, as tenders will be based on the same
inf ormation;

Providing a good and f air basis f or assessing variations during construction;

Hint A Bill of Quantities can only be as good as, and as accurate as, the documents it is based on.
Incomplete drawings, vague schedules and performance-based specifications do not form a good basis for
a useful and comprehensive BQ.

Being a basis f or assessing and recommending progress claims and payments;

Helping to reduce the tender period (and its associated costs) as the tenderers then do not have
to each reproduce the tender documents f or their own quick (though it may take weeks), and sometimes
rough or abridged, measurement and builders quantities;

And it also provides a basis f or project cost analysis, so that f uture cost planning ef f orts have
reliable inf ormation to ref er to.
Timing
Suf f icient time needs to be set aside (well in advance) in the design and documentation schedule and
bef ore tendering f or the preparation of the BQ, which will take several weeks the BQ is best based on
complete documentation And it really is not helpf ul f or the consultants to be using this measurement
period as a chance to f inish-of f incomplete documents (or even start new ones), which then need to be
re-issued to the Quantity Surveyor f or re-measurement and inclusion into the BQ.
Note: If a BQ is prepared in the correct and agreed format, they may form part of the Contract that is, they
become a contract document. And so the Contract Sum can be adjusted against the items, quantities,
descriptions and rates included within it.