Guide
What does it cost to price a BOQ?
There is no standard price. Pricing a BOQ costs the estimator's hours multiplied by a loaded hourly rate, plus any rate data you pay for. Hours depend on line count, how many lines have no benchmark rate and how clean the document is. EstimateNext prices one BOQ free, returned in 24 hours.
Why no one can quote a single number
Two BOQs with the same number of lines can differ by a large factor in effort. A repetitive residential bill where most items have a known rate is quick. A bill with many specialist, one-off or poorly described items is slow. A published "cost per BOQ" figure hides that spread, so treat any such figure with suspicion, including ours: we do not publish one.
The formula
The internal cost of pricing a BOQ is:
cost = hours spent x loaded hourly cost of the people involved + rate data and software cost
Loaded cost means salary plus employer on-costs, not salary alone. Hours include the review by a second person, not only the first pass.
What drives the hours
| Driver | Effect on time |
|---|---|
| Number of lines | More lines, more time, but not in a straight line. Repeated items speed up |
| Share of lines with no benchmark rate | Each unmatched line needs a quote or a build-up. This is usually the largest driver |
| Quality of the BOQ | Vague descriptions force questions and assumptions. Scanned or retyped bills add transcription time |
| Measurement standard | Unfamiliar rules mean more checking of what each rate must cover |
| Location and date | Adjusting an old or distant rate takes work |
| Review depth | A tender that needs senior sign-off adds hours that do not show on the first pass |
The costs people forget
- Time chasing supplier and subcontractor quotes for unmatched lines.
- Rework when the client issues an addendum and quantities change.
- Rate data subscriptions or books, which are a fixed cost shared across every bid.
- The cost of a missed or mis-keyed line, which only appears after award.
How to work out your own figure
- Pick three recent BOQs of different size and note the line count of each.
- From timesheets or memory, record the hours each took from receipt to a reviewed price.
- Count the lines that needed a quote or build-up because no reference rate existed.
- Multiply hours by the loaded hourly cost of the people who worked on it.
- Divide by line count. You now have a cost per line for your own mix of work, which is the only figure that matters to you.
A worked structure, with no numbers filled in
Use this layout for the three BOQs from the list above.
| BOQ | Lines | Lines needing a quote or build-up | Hours to a reviewed price | Loaded cost | Cost per line |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small job | (count) | (count) | (hours) | (hours x loaded rate) | (cost / lines) |
| Medium job | (count) | (count) | (hours) | (hours x loaded rate) | (cost / lines) |
| Large job | (count) | (count) | (hours) | (hours x loaded rate) | (cost / lines) |
If the cost per line rises with the share of unmatched lines, your bottleneck is rate data, not typing speed. That tells you where to invest.
Where software changes the arithmetic
Software does not remove the unmatched lines, but it can shorten the matched ones. EstimateNext reads a BOQ in PDF, Excel, Word or scanned form, matches each line to a rate in its library, shows the source and a confidence badge, and flags lines it could not match so the estimator spends time only there. The estimator remains the reviewer. Rates are indicative; verify before tender.
The free check
The quickest way to compare is to put one of your own BOQs through it. You send one bill of quantities, any format, and get it back priced within 24 hours with the rate source on each line, the assumptions listed and a short note on where the margin risk sits. There is no card and no obligation, and you can set the result against your own hours.
Send one BOQ. Get it priced in 24 hours. Free.
No card and no sales call first. Any format, any trade.
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