How to read a fit-out BOQ line by line
A BOQ is a contract in spreadsheet form. Six checks tell you whether the one in front of you is priced or padded.
A bill of quantities is the only document in a fit-out that states, in numbers, what you are buying. Most clients read the total and the timeline. The value sits in the columns between them.
1. Check the unit before the rate
Partitions in running metre and partitions in square metre are not comparable. Ceiling quoted per sq ft of ceiling area is not the same as per sq ft of carpet area. Before comparing any two quotes, normalise every unit, a surprising number of "cheaper" bids are simply measured differently.
2. Tie quantities back to the drawing
Take five lines at random and measure them off the plan yourself: partition length, ceiling area, number of light fittings, number of data points, doors. If the quantities do not reconcile, the rate analysis behind them will not either.
3. Read the specification inside the line
"Modular workstation, 1200×600" tells you nothing about worktop thickness, edge banding, raceway, or whether the screen is fabric-wrapped. Lines that name a make, model and finish can be priced. Lines that describe a category can be substituted downward after award.
4. Find the lump sums
- Electrical as a single lump sum. Ask for a point schedule, light points, power points, DB schedule, cable sizes.
- HVAC as tonnage without a load calculation. Ask which method sized it and at what occupancy.
- Fire and sprinkler modification "as required". Required by whom, to what drawing, priced at what quantity.
- Miscellaneous or site development. If it is more than 2% of the total, it is a scope gap wearing a hat.
5. Read the exclusions twice
Exclusions are where a competitive total is manufactured. Common ones worth pricing yourself before you compare: statutory approvals and liaison, landlord deposits and NOCs, after-hours working charges, hoisting and material movement, debris removal, and testing and commissioning.
6. Ask for the reconciliation clause
A BOQ is a pre-construction document. What matters at handover is whether final accounts are measured against it. Get the clause in writing: variations only by written instruction, rates for extra work fixed at BOQ rates, and a final measured account reconciled line by line.
A note on benchmarking
Reviewing a BOQ in isolation only catches internal inconsistency. Catching an inflated but internally consistent rate needs a comparison set, real rates from delivered projects in the same city and the same year. That is the reason we keep a rate library rather than a price list.
Have a quote or a BOQ in front of you? Send it across and we will read it line by line.
