What is a fire-fighting BOQ?
A fire-fighting BOQ is a bill of quantities for a building's fire-fighting system: pumps and the pump room, piping, valves, hydrants and hose reels, sprinklers, fire extinguishers, detection and alarm, and testing. Each item has a unit, a quantity and a rate for supply, installation, testing and commissioning.
What is in the fire-fighting BOQ workbook?
- Project Details — name of work, parties, drawing and tender references, the source of your rates, and the add-on percentages.
- BOQ — suggested items in eight sections — pumps and pump room, piping, valves, hydrant and hose system, sprinkler system, fire extinguishers, detection and alarm, testing and documentation — with blank rows for your own.
- Abstract — every section's total, the add-ons and the total estimated cost, with a count of items still missing a rate.
- Filled Sample — a worked example with illustrative quantities and rates.
How does the fire-fighting BOQ sheet calculate?
- Amount = ROUND(quantity × rate, 2). An item with a quantity and no rate shows RATE MISSING and adds nothing, so a missing rate is never mistaken for a nil one.
- Section sub-total = the sum of its amounts, with a count of items still without a rate.
- Abstract: cost of works = the sum of the sections; contingencies and contractor's profit and overheads are each a percentage of the cost of works; GST is a percentage of the total before GST. Every percentage starts at 0.
Worked example from the sample sheet: a hydrant and hose-reel system with sixteen extinguishers for a small office building comes to Rs. 10,60,200 before add-ons. The main pump, jockey pump and control panel are Rs. 5,35,000 of it, about half.
How do you use the fire-fighting BOQ template?
- Fill in Project Details, including where your rates come from and any add-on percentages.
- On the BOQ sheet, overwrite or delete the suggested items and add your own in the blank rows of each section.
- Enter the measured quantity and the rate for each item. An item with a quantity and no rate shows RATE MISSING and is left out of the totals.
- Check the Abstract: section totals, add-ons, the total, and the count of items still without a rate.
What should you check before relying on the fire-fighting BOQ?
- No rates are supplied. Price from current quotations or the schedule of rates your contract names, and record the source; the rates on the Filled Sample are illustrative only.
- This BOQ prices a design; it is not a design. Pump capacities, pipe sizes and the number and spacing of hydrants, sprinklers and extinguishers come from the fire-fighting design approved under the National Building Code and by the local fire authority.
- Rates are for supply, installation, testing and commissioning. If your tender splits supply and installation, add a column or say so in each description.
Which BOQ template do I need?
| Your job | Use this template |
|---|---|
| Government, PWD or public-sector tender priced from a schedule of rates | BOQ Format in Excel |
| New house or builder floor, private work — turnkey or labour contract | House Construction BOQ Format in Excel (Private Work) |
| Renovation or repair mixing several trades: dismantling, waterproofing, tiling, painting, fabrication, POP | Renovation & Trade Works BOQ Format in Excel |
| Only waterproofing: terrace, toilets, basement or water tank | Waterproofing BOQ Format in Excel |
| Only flooring and tiling: tiles, stone, skirting and dado | Flooring & Tiling BOQ Format in Excel |
| Only painting: interior, exterior, steel and woodwork | Painting BOQ Format in Excel |
| Only the boundary wall and gate | Boundary Wall BOQ Format in Excel |
| Office, shop or home interior fit-out | Interior Work BOQ Format in Excel |
| Only plumbing and sanitary work | Plumbing & Sanitary BOQ Format in Excel |
| Only internal electrical work | Electrical BOQ Format in Excel |
| A building's fire-fighting system: pumps, hydrants, sprinklers, extinguishers | Fire Fighting BOQ Format in Excel (this page) |
| A road, pavement or internal road | Road Work BOQ Format in Excel |
| Adding several BOQs up into one project total | Abstract of Cost Format in Excel |
What does each column mean?
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| S. No. | Section letter and item number, for example B.2. |
| Description of Item | What is to be done, in tender style. Write in the product, thickness, grade or number of coats your specification calls for. |
| Unit | The unit of measurement: sqm, rmt, cum, nos, set or job. |
| Quantity | The measured quantity in that unit. |
| Rate (Rs.) | Your rate per unit, from quotations, a schedule of rates or your own analysis. None is supplied. |
| Amount (Rs.) | Auto-calculated. Quantity × rate, rounded to two decimals. |
| Check | Auto-calculated. RATE MISSING or QTY MISSING when only one of the two is entered. |
Everything in this band is priced on a bill of quantities. The BOQ format in Excel is that bill — pre-sectioned by trade, with an abstract that totals it — and every rate you settle here is applied against its measured quantities.
Get the quantities from your drawings
A template gives you the structure. The measuring — scaling every quantity off the drawing set — is still three to seven days of work. Upload your architectural and structural PDFs and InstaBOQ reads the drawings, extracts the quantities, and fills this same structure.