City University of Hong Kong

CA3314
Surveying Studio

BQ & SOR Production

 Learning Outcomes
1. To understand the typical contents of BQ
and different bill format
2. To know the definitions of preliminaries,
preambles, provisional sums and prime
cost sums
3. To learn the professional practices of BQ
production
4. To understand the differences between
BQ and SOR
Lump sum contract
 In lump sum contracts, the contract sum is fixed
in advanced, subject to it being increased or
diminished by consideration of the value of
variations ordered in accordance with the
contract
 There are two variants:-

1) Lump sum contract based on bills of

quantities (BQ)
2) Lump sum contract based on drawings and
specification (schedules of rates SOR)
3
Bills of Quantities (BQ)
BQ is a part of tender documents and consists
of the following parts:-

1) Bill of Preliminaries

2) Bill of Preambles

3) Bills of Measured works

4) Bill of Prime Cost (PC) & provisional sums

5) General Summary
4
Preliminaries
 The 1st bill in BQ is usually reserved for
Preliminaries (i.e. Bill no. 1)
 This bill covers many important financial matters
which relate to the contract as a whole and are not
confined to any particular work section
 Preliminaries provides a high level overview of the
project, including a description of the project and the
site; details of the conditions of contract to be used;
detailed information about specific issues, e.g.
general obligations of the contractor, employer’s
specific requirements, etc.
 A preliminary bill loses much of its value unless it can
be priced in detail 5
Preliminaries
HKSMM4
 Section III: Preliminaries
 Three sub-sections:
(a) Preliminary Particulars
(b) Conditions of Contract
(c) General Matters
 Measure in “item”

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Preliminaries – Section III(a)
Preliminary Particulars (total 4 items)
1. Employer and Consultants (P1)
2. Description of the Works (P2)
3. Site and Inspection (P3)
4. Division of the Works into Sections (P4)

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Preliminaries – Section III(b)
Conditions of Contract (total 2 items)
1. Forms of Contract and Sub-Contract (C1)
2. Particulars to be inserted in Appendix to
Schedule of Conditions (C2)

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Preliminaries – Section III(c)
General Matters (total 33 items)
1. Working Hours, Rates of Wages, etc. (G1)
2. Plants, Tools, Sheds, etc. (G2)
3. Notices and Fees (G3)
4. Safety Precautions (G4)
5. Industrial Training Levy (G5)
6. Pneumoconiosis Levy (G6)
7. Setting out (G7)
8. Foreman (G8)
9. Protection of Public Property, etc. (G9)
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Preliminaries – Section III(c)
General Matters (Cont’d)
10. Sub-Letting (G10)
11. Artists or Tradesman not Sub-Contractors (G11)
12. Injury to Persons and Damage to Property (G12)
13. Insurances, etc. (G13)
14. Provisional and Prime Cost Sums (G14)
15. Conditions of Payment (G15)
16. Surety or Bond (G16)
17. Watching (G17)
18. Protection (G18)
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Preliminaries – Section III(c)
General Matters (Cont’d)
19. Treasure, Trove, Coins, etc. (G19)
20. Variations & Method of Measuring & Valuing (G20)
21. Samples (G21)
22. Testing of Materials (G22)
23. Removal of Water (G23)
24. Water (G24)
25. Lighting and Power (G25)
26. Attendance (G26)
27. Hoardings, etc. (G27)
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Preliminaries – Section III(c)

General Matters (Cont’d)

28. Works by Public Authorities (G28)
29. Temporary Roads (G29)
30. Drying the Building (G30)
31. Removal of Rubbish (G31)
32. Defects after Completion (G32)
33. Co-ordination of Services (G33)

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 Classification of preliminaries items

Labour,
Site, access Tender and Temporary Sub-Contracts & Insurances & General
Definition Materials &
and Works Contract Works Specialist Contracts Surety Obligations
Workmanship

P1 P2 C1 G4 G2 G10 G13 G7

P3 C2 G8 G23 G11 G16 G9

P4 G21 G24 G26 G12

G1 G22 G25 G28 G17

G3 G27 G33 G18

G5 G29 G19
G6 G30

G14 G31

G15 G32
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G20
Preambles
 The 2nd bill in BQ is usually reserved for Preambles
(i.e. Bill no. 2)
 This bill covers qualifications and clarifications to the
SMM so that the tenderer (contractor’s estimator)
knows what should be allowed in his rates for
measured items
 In practice the full requirements of the SMM are
frequently not given in BQ descriptions and the
remaining information is contained in preambles
 Incorporation of preambles into BQ is specifically
required under HKSMM4 and Conditions of Building
Contract 14
Preambles
 The method of measurement for work not covered by the
clauses of this Standard Method of Measurement, and
also deviations from, or qualifications to, this Standard
Method of Measurement, shall be stated in the Preambles
to the Bills of Quantities or in the description of the items
to which they apply. The method adopted for work not
covered shall, as far as possible, conform to that given in
this document for similar work
[HKSMM4: Cl.II.2.2 pp. 3]

 A departure from the Standard Method of Measurement of

Building Works in measuring any work shall be specifically
stated in the ‘preliminaries’ or ‘preambles’ sections of the
Contract Bills
[Conditions of Building Contract: Cl.14.2(2)]
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Preambles - Example
Under HKSMM4, the following costs are held to be
included in BQ items, unless otherwise stated:-

a) Labour and all costs in connection therewith

b) Materials, goods and all costs in connection therewith
(e.g. conveyance, delivery, unloading, storing, returning
packages, handling, hoisting, lowering)
c) Fitting and fixing materials and goods in position
d) Use of plant
e) All cutting and waste
f) Establishment charges, overhead charges and profit
[HKSMM4: Cl.II.11.1 pp.4]
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Preambles - Example
Excavation
Example of preamble clauses:

Working space shall not be measured and the rates for

excavation and/or backfilling as appropriate are to include for:-

(i) Additional excavation to provide working space where

required for the erection of formwork and/or execution of
work which requires workmen to operate from the outside.

(ii) Backfilling working space with approved selected

excavated material and/or approved imported filling
material, and disposal of excavated material unsuitable for
filling if working space is required.
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Preambles - Example
Concrete Works
Example of preamble clauses:

 Formwork with a strutting height exceeding 3.50m shall

not be given separately. The rates for formwork to sides
and soffits of beams, soffts of slabs, staircases and the
like are to include for any strutting height

 Formwork to sides and soffits of beams exceeding 0.75m

deep (below soffit of slab) shall not be given separately
but grouped under formwork to sides and soffits of beams

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Preambles - Example
Plastering & Paving
Example of preamble clauses:

 The rates for floor finishes are to include for division strips

 The rates for all plaster and rendering are to include for
angle beads, stop beads and the like as required

 Work to ceilings and beams where the ceiling exceeds

3.50m from the floor shall not be given separately and the
rate for work to ceilings and beams are to include for any
ceiling height above floor

19
Measured works
 The 3rd bill and so on in BQ is usually reserved for
Measured works (i.e. Bill no. 3 to n)

 These bills cover the quantities of the component parts

of the building measured in accordance with SMM

 All quantities in BQ is usually firm, except items which

are measured as provisional, i.e. Provisional Quantities

 There are three types of bill format:

1) Elemental bill
2) Trade bill
3) Operational bill 20
Measured works
Elemental bill format
 BQ items were grouped according to their position
in the building (elements)

 Each element comprised an integral part of the

building such as external walls, roofs or floors, each
of which performed a certain design function

 Within each element, the BQ items could be billed in

work section order

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Measured works
Trade bill format
 BQ items were grouped in work section order under
main headings of the separate work sections (work
trades)

 This trade bill could be presented with elements as

the main sub-division was described as a
sectionalized trades bill

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Measured works
Operational bill format
 Developed by the Building Research Establishment

 The description of the billed work followed the

actual building process, with materials shown
separately from labour, all described in terms of the
operations necessary for the construction of the
building

 This type of bills have been little used

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Prime Cost (PC) & Provisional sums
 A separate list summarizing all PC and provisional
sums should be inserted at the end of BQ (i.e. the
last bill in BQ)
 This bill covers:
i. the works which cannot be described and given
in accordance with SMM rules shall be given as
a “Provisional sum”
ii. the works or services to be executed by a
nominated sub-contractor or for materials or
goods to be obtained from nominated supplier
shall be given as a “Prime Cost sum” or “PC
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sum”
Prime Cost (PC) & Provisional sums
Definitions under HKSMM4:

 “Provisional sum” means a sum provided for work of

for costs which cannot be entirely foreseen, defined
or detailed at the time the tendering documents are
issued
[HKSMM4: Cl.II.15.1(a) pp.5]

 “Prime Cost sum” means a sum provided for work or

services to be executed by a Nominated Sub-
Contractor or for materials or goods to be obtained
from a Nominated Supplier
[HKSMM4: Cl.II.15.1(b) pp.5] 25
Prime Cost (PC) & Provisional sums
 Provisional sums may be expended in whole or in part as
directed by the Architect or wholly deducted from the
contract sum if not required
 PC sums are exclusive of any profit required by the main
contractor and provision is made for its addition following
the PC sum (usually by %)
 General and special attendance by the main contractor on
nominated sub-contractors / suppliers shall also be
provided as an item in BQ for pricing
 General attendance relates to those general site facilities
such as temporary services, safety, welfare facilities, etc.
and special attendance refers to items which the main
contractor is required to provide for the individual use of
specific sub-contractors 26
Contingency sum
 A sum allowed to cover the cost of work or expenses
not contemplated or implied in the contract sum
 Contingency sum provides an opportunity for the
employer to secure the execution of essential
additional work within the contract sum
 Contingency sum is normally considered as part of
provisional sums and is expended at the discretion of
the Architect
 Allowance of contingency sum can be derived by
assessing the risks implicit in the project and
quantifying the risks through the use of risk analysis
techniques, e.g. Monte Carlo simulations 27
General Summary
 The page of Bill Summary will be provided for every
bill in BQ

 The amount of each Bill Summary will be transferred

to “General Summary” which is the final page of BQ
and it provides monetary collection of all Bills

 The total amount of General Summary will then be

transferred to “Form of Tender” which is the
tenderer’s formal offer of bidding

 Space is usually provided in General Summary for

tenderer’s authorized signature with company chop
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Schedule of Rates (SOR)
 SOR consists listed items of work for
contractors to price unit rates
 Generally no quantities are provided in SOR
 Contractors must read the drawings and
specifications carefully in order to acquire the
full scope of work
 BQ and SOR are different in terms of:-
1) Format
2) Pricing
3) Tender examination
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Schedule of Rates (SOR)
Format
 Similar to BQ, SOR is divided into a number of
“Schedule”
 e.g. Schedule 1 is Preliminaries, Schedule 2 is
Concrete Works, … etc.
 Depends on project nature and size, SOR can be
presented in “elemental format” or “trade format”
 Different from BQ, the summary page of SOR is
named as “Summary of Tender”
 SOR can be prepared by consultant or contractor
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Schedule of Rates (SOR)
Pricing
 Contractors are required to insert unit rates in
SOR based on the drawings and specifications
provided by the design consultants
 SOR is not a “complete” pricing document
(whereas BQ is a “complete” pricing document)
 Thus contractors must satisfy themselves by
inserting additional items that they consider are
required for completion of the works according to
the drawings and specifications
 SOR shall not be subject to remeasurement
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Schedule of Rates (SOR)
Tender examination
 The absence of any quantities in SOR will
inevitably make wide variations in the unit rates
inserted by different contractors
 Tenders cannot be compared on the same basis
and tender assessment is extremely difficult
 It is advisable to insert approx. qty. in SOR in
order that the effect of the differences in unit
rates can be determined
 However, the approx. qty. are for contractors’
reference only and they do not form part of
32
contract
 Comparison between BQ & SOR
BQ
Qty. remeasurement Firm qty. and/or provisional qty.
are provided in BQ and only
provisional qty. are subject to
remeasurement
Descriptions BQ descriptions are informative
and they describe the measured
items in detail
Qty. and unit rates Both BQ qty. and unit rates form
part of contract
Preliminaries Usually provided in Bill No. 1
PC & Provisional sums Usually provided in the last bill
before ‘General Summary’
Completeness of BQ is considered a complete
pricing document pricing document which is
prepared based on SMM,
preambles, drawings and
specifications
SOR
Generally no qty. in SOR but
approx. qty. may be provided for
contractors’ reference and they
shall not be subject to
remeasurement
Comparatively SOR descriptions
are brief and standard descriptions
may be used
Only unit rates form part of contract
Usually provided in Schedule No. 1
Usually provided in the last
schedule before ‘Summary of
Tender’
SOR is not a “complete” pricing
document and contractors are
required to satisfy themselves by
inserting additional items which
they consider are required based
on drawings and specifications 33
Reference
 Presentation and Format of Bills of Quantities, RICS,
1965
 Building Quantities Explained (5th Ed.), Seeley, I.H.,
1999
 Elements of Quantity Surveying (8th Ed.), Wills, C.J.
& Newman, D., 1988
 Hong Kong Standard Method of Measurement of
Building Works (4th Ed.), The Hong Kong Institute of
Surveyors, 2005
 Hong Kong Standard Method of Measurement of
Building Works (3rd Ed.), The Royal Institution of
Chartered Surveyors (Hong Kong Branch), 1979
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