Billing of Quantities (BOQ)

Bill of Quantities also referred to as BOQ, is a document formulated in the construction

industry to specify materials, labors, and their cost. It serves as a communication tool
between client, consultant & the contractor. It is usually prepared by a cost consultant or
a surveyor. Primarily there are two types of BOQs.
• Bill of Materials
• Bill of Labour
Basic Format for preparing BOQ
The main sections included in the bill of quantities are Form of Tender, Information,
Requirements, Pricing schedule, Provisional sums, and Day works. For the preparation of
BOQ, 5 main components are to be considered which are as follows:

1. Item Description
2. Unit
3. Quantity
4. Rate per unit
5. Total Amount
 Process of preparation of BOQ for RCC
Taking off Quantities:
Taking off is the process of analyzing the drawing and its specifications to identify the
elements required for the preparation of BOQ.
Description:

In this step, the appropriate narrative of a particular work is provided to explain and
justify the work being done.

Working Up:

This step includes recording every measurement required into a sheet called the TDS
Sheet. The times column (multiplier column) is for filling up the number of repetitions of
the same work. It shows the factor of multiplication. Dimension column is the one where
all the dimensions like length, width & depth are recorded. Whereas in the Sums
column we simply multiply the previous elements (Multiplication factor x Dimension) to
get the total quantity of the work.
Calculation of materials for Reinforced
Concrete Construction
Materials requires for reinforced concrete are cement, sand, coarse aggregate and steel.
Let us assume a standard quantity of 1m3 Cement mortar and a mix proportion of 1:1.5:3
(1 part Cement, 1.5 parts Sand & 3 parts CA). The quantity can preferable calculated by
two methods, which are weight & volume method.
Let us consider the volume method for reinforced concrete construction. Dry volume of
total materials is equivalent to 1.54 times the volume of wet concrete. Hence let us take
the quantity of cement mortar as 1.54 m3.
Quantity of cement

The formula to calculate the volume of cement is as follows:

(1.54×1)/(1+1.5+3)=0.28 m^3

Since the cement is available in bags, volume of 1 cement bag is 0.0347 m3.
0.28/0.0347=8.07 bags of cement

Quantity of sand

Formula to calculate volume of sand is as follows:

(1.5×1.54)/(1+1.5+3)=0.42 m^(3 ) of sand

Quantity of Coarse aggregates

To calculate volume of CA is as follows:

(3×1.54)/(1+1.5+3)=0.84 m^(3 ) of CA

BOQ of Steel reinforcement

Percentage of steel reinforcement usually depends on the type of components used. The
values of percentage of steel differ from structure to structure. Some of which are
mentioned below:

• Slabs = 1.0% of concrete volume

• Beam = 2 % concrete volume
• Column = 2.5% of concrete volume
 • RCC roads = 0.6% concrete volume
Assuming 2.5% as the steel reinforcement required, the formula to calculate steel is:
2.5/(100×1)×7850=196.25 kg