What is a painting BOQ?
A painting BOQ is a bill of quantities for painting work: surface preparation, putty and primer, interior walls and ceilings, exterior walls, steel and woodwork, and special coatings. Each item has a unit, a measured area and a rate, and the amounts add up by section to the cost of the painting package.
Doing several trades in one renovation? The renovation and trade works BOQ keeps them in one workbook with separate material and labour rates.
What is in the painting 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 five sections — surface preparation, interior walls and ceilings, exterior walls, metal and wood, special coatings — 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 painting 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: interior and exterior repainting of a two-storey house, with its grills, comes to Rs. 63,280 before add-ons. The 420 sqm of interior walls take putty, primer and two coats of emulsion as three items, Rs. 39,480 together.
How do you use the painting 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 painting 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.
- Agree how areas are measured before work starts. IS 1200 (Part 15) sets out methods of measurement for painting, including the multiplying factors for doors, windows and grills.
- State the number of coats and the product 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 (this page) |
| 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 |
| 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.