How to make a BOQ from architectural drawings

A Bill of Quantities, or BOQ, is the itemised list of every measurable work item in a construction project — earthwork, concrete, brickwork, plaster, flooring, joinery, finishes — each with its quantity, its rate, and its amount. It is the document an architect, contractor and client agree on before work begins, and the document every cost dispute later gets settled against.

This guide walks through how a BOQ is actually prepared from a set of architectural and structural drawings, item by item, the way an estimator does it by hand. Done manually for a single residential house, this takes three to seven days of careful measurement. By the end you will know exactly what goes into it — and how to produce the same thing in minutes.

What you need before you start

A BOQ is only as good as the drawings behind it. Before any measurement begins, you need three things.

An architectural floor plan showing room labels and room dimensions (length × breadth), external wall dimensions along the perimeter, and wall thickness — typically 9" for external walls and 4½" for internal partitions. These two thicknesses are priced differently, so the distinction matters.

A structural drawing — the beam and slab plan — showing column positions and labels (C1, C2…), beam labels with their spans (B1, B2…), and a beam schedule giving each beam's cross-section and reinforcement. Without this you can only estimate concrete and steel by thumb rule rather than measure it.

A door and window schedule where available. If your plan only carries tags like D1 and W1 with no separate schedule table, the sizes can be supplied later — but having the schedule improves accuracy.

The more complete the drawing set, the more accurate the BOQ. Where a detail is missing, standard thumb rules can fill the gap, but a measured drawing always beats an assumption.

Step 1 — Take off the areas and volumes

The first job is the takeoff: reading measurements off the drawing and converting them into quantities.

Start with the built-up area, summing each room's length × breadth together with wall thicknesses and circulation space. From the plan, measure the total running length of external and internal walls separately, since they differ in both thickness and rate. Then measure every opening — doors and windows — so their volume can later be deducted from masonry and their area from plaster.

All measurement follows IS 1200, the Indian standard method of measurement of building works, which defines how each item is measured and in which unit. Following it is what makes your BOQ comparable to anyone else's.

Step 2 — Quantify each work item

With the raw measurements in hand, each work item is quantified in the order it appears in a standard BOQ.

Earthwork and excavation — the foundation trench or pit volume, taken from footing plan dimensions and the founding depth below ground level. Note that excavation starts at ground level, not at plinth level; including plinth height here is one of the most common overcounts in manual estimates.

PCC (plain cement concrete) — the lean concrete bed beneath footings, measured as area × thickness.

RCC (reinforced cement concrete) — footings, columns, plinth beams, roof beams and slab, each measured by volume in cubic metres, with reinforcement steel measured separately by weight in kilograms. Shuttering (centering and formwork) is measured by contact area in square metres.

Brickwork and masonry — external and internal walls measured by volume, with the beam zone deducted so the same volume is not billed twice as both masonry and RCC, and with openings deducted.

Plaster — internal and external wall surfaces measured by area, with openings deducted. Internal plaster is typically 12mm, external 15mm.

Flooring — room floor areas measured by area, with wet areas, dado tiling and skirting handled as separate items.

Doors and windows — measured by number or by leaf area, with a lintel measured over each opening.

Finishing — painting internal and external, measured by area.

Waterproofing — terrace and toilet areas, measured by area.

Each of these comes directly off the drawing. This is the part of BOQ preparation that takes the most time and judgement, because a single wrong deduction or double count quietly distorts the total without ever looking wrong.

Step 3 — Apply the rates: DSR 2023 or local market rates

Quantities become cost when each item is priced against a rate source. There are two you can legitimately use, and the right choice depends on what the BOQ is for.

DSR 2023 — the District Schedule of Rates — is the government-published schedule giving an approved rate for each item of work. It is the standard basis for tenders, government and institutional work, and any estimate that has to be defended or approved. Rates are analysed and published centrally, so two estimators pricing the same quantities on DSR arrive at the same number.

Local market rates are the prices actually being quoted by contractors and suppliers in your area. They move with material prices and local labour availability, and they usually differ from DSR — sometimes materially. For a private residential client who wants to know what the house will really cost to build, market rates give the closer answer.

InstaBOQ lets you generate your BOQ on either basis. You choose the rate source before generating, and the same measured quantities are priced against DSR 2023 or against current local market rates for your area. Many estimators run both and present the client with the comparison — the quantities are identical, only the pricing basis changes. You can see the underlying material rates on the material rates page.

Step 4 — Compile the BOQ

Finally, the priced items are assembled into the standard BOQ format: item number, description, unit, quantity, rate and amount, grouped by work section, with a total at the end.

To see exactly what the finished document looks like, with a complete worked example for a 1,200 sqft house priced on both DSR and market rates, see BOQ format for house construction.

Generate your BOQ from your drawings

Everything above is the manual method. It is accurate, and it is three to seven days of measurement for a single house — with every deduction, every count and every rate lookup done by hand.

InstaBOQ reads the same architectural and structural drawings you already have and produces a complete BOQ in minutes: measured quantities, priced on DSR 2023 or current local market rates, downloadable as Excel. You upload the working drawings, confirm what was read from them, and download the BOQ.

Don't have drawings ready yet? A quick thumb-rule estimate needs only your basic dimensions and floor count.

Frequently asked questions

Can I make a BOQ without a structural drawing?

Yes, but it will be less accurate. From the architectural plan alone, concrete and steel have to be estimated using thumb rules rather than measured. The structural drawing is what lets you count actual columns, measure real beam spans and take footing sizes from the schedule.

Should I use DSR rates or market rates for a house BOQ?

Use DSR 2023 when the estimate needs to be defended or approved — tenders, government work, bank and institutional submissions. Use local market rates when a private client wants to know the realistic cost to build. InstaBOQ generates the BOQ on either basis from the same quantities, so you can produce both and compare.

What software do estimators use to prepare a BOQ?

Traditionally AutoCAD for measurement and Excel for the priced BOQ, sometimes with takeoff software such as Bluebeam or PlanSwift. InstaBOQ automates the whole path — it reads the drawing and produces the priced BOQ directly, on DSR or market rates.

What units are used in a BOQ?

Concrete and masonry in cubic metres (cum), plaster, flooring and shuttering in square metres (sqm), reinforcement steel in kilograms (kg), and doors and windows by number (nos) or by leaf area. The units follow IS 1200.