How to Compare a BOQ Against Subcontractor Quotes

Why compare against the BOQ, not against each other

When you line tenders up against each other, the scope is whatever the tenderers decided to price. One might omit the pump, another might measure footings short. A BOQ (or any itemised scope of work) fixes the scope and quantities first. Each tender is then judged on how well it covers that baseline.

Step 1: Prepare the baseline

Put the BOQ in a spreadsheet with one row per item: description, quantity, unit, and optionally a trade or cost code. Keep units consistent with how tenderers are likely to price (m³ for concrete, m² for slabs, m for edges). Grouping by trade makes the levelled result readable.

Step 2: Map each tender line to a BOQ line

Give every BOQ line a status for every tender:

• Covered: priced in full, at the BOQ quantity.
• Partially covered: some of the line is priced, or it’s inside a bundle that may not cover all of it.
• Different quantity: priced, but for more or less than the BOQ.
• Alternative: a different product or method offered instead, which needs your acceptance.
• Excluded: explicitly not included.
• Missing: not mentioned at all.

Step 3: Level the prices

Here is a small concrete package with two tenders (all figures ex GST):

BOQ (Trade: Concrete)          Tender X                      Tender Y
Strip footings N25  18 m³      18 × $285 = $5,130  covered   16 × $270 = $4,320  diff. qty
Slab N32 100mm     120 m²      120 × $68 = $8,160  covered   120 × $62 = $7,440  covered
SL82 mesh          120 m²      incl. in slab rate  covered*  120 × $11.50 = $1,380 covered
Edge formwork       46 m       46 × $22 = $1,012   covered   46 × $24 = $1,104   covered
Concrete pump        1 item    “pump excluded”     excluded  $950                covered

Quoted totals                  X = $14,302                   Y = $15,194
Quantity adjustment (Y)        —                             +2 m³ × $270 = +$540
Levelled, before gaps          X = $14,302 + pump (unknown)  Y = $15,734

X is missing a pump price, so there are two honest ways to proceed:

Break-even:  X stays cheaper only if its pump < $15,734 − $14,302 = $1,432
Labelled estimate (Y’s pump as a reference):
             X ≈ $14,302 + $950 = $15,252  →  $482 below Y (estimate, not a firm price)

Notice what the raw totals hid. Tender X looked $892 cheaper ($15,194 − $14,302). After adjusting Y’s footings to the BOQ quantity and accounting for X’s pump exclusion, the margin depends on a price nobody has given you yet.

Step 4: Record and clarify

Write down every adjustment and every assumption next to the figure it changed. Then send each tenderer questions about their own gaps: X’s pump and mesh, Y’s footing quantity. Re-level when the answers arrive.

Doing this in QuantDoc

On the Professional plan and above, QuantDoc lets you import a scope or BOQ (CSV or Excel with description, quantity, unit and optional trade or cost code; up to 300 lines per comparison on Professional) as the baseline. Each quote is then matched against it, with the statuses above, in a levelling matrix grouped by trade. Every figure links back to its source page or row. Bundles, alternatives and specification questions are shown for your review, not decided silently. The engine below shows the simpler case without a BOQ, where a pump appears in one quote and not the other.