BOQ format for house construction (with a worked example)
Published 23 Jul 2026
A BOQ, or Bill of Quantities, follows a standard format that every architect, contractor and quantity surveyor in India recognises. This page shows that format and then works through a complete example for a 1,200 sqft single-storey house — every item, quantity, unit and amount, priced two ways: on DSR 2023 and on current local market rates.
The standard BOQ columns
Every BOQ, whatever the project size, uses the same six columns.
Item No. — a serial number, usually grouped by work section (earthwork, concrete, masonry and so on) so items can be referenced in correspondence and bills.
Description — the full description of the work, written precisely enough that two contractors would price it the same way. This normally mirrors the wording of the rate schedule being used.
Unit — the unit of measurement. Concrete and masonry in cubic metres (cum), plaster, flooring and shuttering in square metres (sqm), steel in kilograms (kg), doors and windows by number (nos) or area. Units follow IS 1200.
Quantity — the measured quantity, taken off the drawings.
Rate — the price per unit, from your chosen rate source.
Amount — quantity × rate.
The BOQ is then grouped into work sections in construction sequence — earthwork first, finishes last — and totalled at the end.
Choosing the rate basis: DSR 2023 or market rates
The quantities in a BOQ never change with the rate source. Only the pricing does — which is why the same measured BOQ can be presented on two different bases.
DSR 2023 is the government-published District Schedule of Rates. Use it for tenders, government and institutional work, bank submissions, and any estimate that has to be approved or defended. It is standardised, so the number is reproducible by anyone pricing the same quantities.
Local market rates reflect what contractors and suppliers are actually quoting in your area. Use them when a private client wants a realistic build cost rather than a schedule-based one.
The example below is priced both ways, on identical quantities, so you can see how the two bases compare on a real house.
Worked example — 1,200 sqft single-storey house
The following is a complete BOQ for a 1,200 sqft (111.5 sqm) ground-floor residence with RCC framed structure, brick masonry, vitrified tile flooring and standard finishes.
Example BOQ table not yet inserted.
The source markup (boq-example-table.html) was referenced but not supplied.
This block is a build-time placeholder — replace it with the supplied table before
publishing this page.
Summary
| Basis | Total | Per sqft |
|---|---|---|
| DSR 2023 | ₹13,12,795 | ₹1,094 |
| Local market rates | ₹12,19,320 | ₹1,016 |
On this house the two bases differ by about 7%. That gap varies by item — labour-heavy items such as shuttering and plaster tend to show the widest difference, while material-dominated items such as reinforcement steel track more closely. This is exactly why running both is useful: the DSR number is the defensible one, the market number is the realistic one, and the difference between them is a negotiating range.
How these quantities were derived
Every quantity in the table above comes off the drawings — excavation volume from the footing plan and founding depth, concrete volumes from the beam and column schedule, masonry from wall lengths less openings and the beam zone, plaster and flooring from room areas. The full method, item by item, is set out in how to make a BOQ from architectural drawings.
The rates come from DSR 2023 and from current local market rates for the area — both viewable on the material rates page.
Get this BOQ for your own house
The example above took a full manual takeoff to produce. InstaBOQ generates the same document from your working drawings in minutes — measured quantities, priced on DSR 2023 or current local market rates, in this exact format, downloadable as Excel.
No drawings yet? The quick estimator gives a thumb-rule BOQ from basic dimensions.
Frequently asked questions
What is the standard BOQ format?
Six columns — item number, description, unit, quantity, rate and amount — grouped into work sections in construction sequence and totalled at the end. Units follow IS 1200: cum for concrete and masonry, sqm for plaster and flooring, kg for steel, nos for joinery.
Is this BOQ format DSR-compliant?
Yes. The item descriptions and units follow the DSR schedule structure, so each line can be priced directly against a DSR 2023 rate. The same format also works with local market rates — only the rate column changes.
Can I get a BOQ in Excel?
Yes. InstaBOQ produces the BOQ in this format as a downloadable Excel file, priced on DSR 2023 or current market rates.
How much does it cost to build a 1,200 sqft house?
In the worked example above, ₹13.1 lakh on DSR 2023 rates (₹1,094/sqft) and ₹12.2 lakh on local market rates (₹1,016/sqft) for civil work with standard finishes. The figure moves with specification, location and finish level — higher-end finishes can raise it substantially.