Module 42 · Core · 8 min read

The bill of quantities in Zeyto

You will be able to: Explain what a BOQ line contains and how the sell and cost amounts are formed; Read a BOQ total and its margin; State which BOQ fields the project hub shows and where they come from.

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A bill of quantities (BOQ) lists the work of a contract in measured items. Each line has a description, a quantity, a unit and a rate. The client prices the work from it, and the contractor uses the same lines to bill progress, so the BOQ is the common language of tender, contract, cost control and billing.

From the BOQ to the budget of a project · 1:01 · no sound yet, captions are on
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1. Open Projects and choose a project 2. Structure: the breakdown the BOQ is built on 3. BOQ: quantity, sell rate and unit cost of each item 4. Scroll to read the margin line by line 5. Budget: what you plan to spend, by item and nature 6. Finance: budget against open orders and actual cost 7. Tenders: where the estimate behind the BOQ is built 8. The Rate Library holds the components of every rate

In Zeyto Construction & Contracting the BOQ is not a separate document. It is the set of items (the leaves) of the project's breakdown. The BOQ tab of the project hub lists them with quantity, unit, sell rate, unit cost, sell amount and cost amount, plus the BOQ versions. Because items are the same nodes that carry budget, cost and progress, a change to an item shows everywhere at once.

The BOQ tab of a project listing the measured items with quantity, unit, sell rate, sell amount, unit cost and cost amount.

BOQ tab: the items of the contract with sell and cost side by side.

BOQ tab: the items of the contract with sell and cost side by side.
  • Sell rate is what the client pays per unit; sell amount is quantity times sell rate.
  • Unit cost is what you expect to pay per unit; cost amount is quantity times unit cost.
  • The difference is the planned margin of the line, and the sum of all sell amounts is the contract value shown on the project.
A small BOQFive items are priced. The table shows sell and cost side by side. The contract value is AED 518,000, the planned cost is AED 410,350 and the planned margin is AED 107,650, which is 20.8% of the contract value.
ItemQtyUnitSell rateSell amountCost rateCost amount
Excavation in soil800m34536,0003225,600
Concrete C40250m3620155,000505126,250
Reinforcement steel30t3,900117,0003,25097,500
Blockwork 200 mm1,400m278109,2006185,400
Cement plaster2,800m236100,8002775,600
Total518,000410,350

Look at the margin line by line, not only in total. Excavation earns 13 per m3 (about 29% of its sell rate), concrete 115 per m3 (about 19%) and plaster 9 per m2 (25%). A BOQ whose total margin looks acceptable can hide a line that loses money, and the BOQ tab lets you see it before you lock.

Watch outQuantities in the contract BOQ are the client's measured quantities. If the contract is remeasured, the final account has a remeasurement adjustment, but the rates stay. Do not change a sell rate to fix a loss; raise a variation instead.
TipWhen a provisional sum, a lump sum or a daywork item is part of your contract, model it as an item with the quantity and unit the contract uses (for a lump sum, a quantity of 1 and the unit LS). The product will bill it by percent complete like any other item.

Walk it through

  1. Price a five-line BOQ for a small building with a sell rate and a cost rate for each line.
  2. Compute the margin per line and in total.
  3. In the demo, open a project's BOQ tab and compare the totals with the Structure tab. Without access, add the totals up on paper and check that parent categories would equal their items.
Open the live demo

Public demo company, sign in as admin / demoAdmin123. Data refreshes nightly.

Key takeaways
  • The BOQ is the set of items of the breakdown, not a separate file.
  • Sell amount and cost amount are quantity times rate, and their difference is the planned margin.
  • Check margin by line as well as in total.

Check yourself

3 questions on this lesson. Not timed, not the exam, and you can try again. Score 60% or more, and read the lesson, to complete it.

1. In Zeyto Construction & Contracting, the BOQ is:

2. Sell amount of an item is:

3. The BOQ of five items has sell amount AED 518,000 and cost amount AED 410,350. What is the planned margin?

Practice questions for this module · Printable study sheet