Home/Bill of quantities software/Free BOQ builder
Free tool · no signup
Free BOQ builder — measure, price, total
Build a priced bill of quantities in the browser: add your trade sections, enter your own quantities and rates, and get clean section totals, preliminaries, contingency and VAT. Then export or print the summary. Nothing you type leaves your device.
Runs entirely in your browser · no account · no card details · no built-in rates (you price it)
Enter quantities exactly as you measured them and the rate you price at. Amounts, section totals and the overall build-up are calculated as you type. Your draft is saved in this browser only.
No sections yet. Add a section, or add the standard substructure to external works headings and edit them.
- Measured works
- £0.00
- Preliminaries
- £0.00
- Contingency
- £0.00
- Total excluding VAT
- £0.00
- VAT
- £0.00
- Total including VAT
- £0.00
How to use the BOQ builder
- Add your sections. Most UK bills are split into trade or works sections — preliminaries, substructure, superstructure, internal finishes, mechanical and electrical, external works, provisional sums. Use the headings you tender with, or the standard set as a starting point.
- Enter measured quantities. One line per measured item: a description, a unit (m, m², m³, nr, item, kg, t), the quantity from your takeoff and the rate you price at.
- Allow for the rest of the job. If you price preliminaries as a percentage, enter that percentage. Add contingency if the job carries risk you have not priced line by line. VAT defaults to 20% — set it to 0 where the work is outside the scope of VAT.
- Check, export, issue. Print a clean summary, copy the figures into an email or tender return, or download a CSV to work on in a spreadsheet.
What this calculator does, and what it does not
This tool does the arithmetic and the structure: section subtotals, preliminaries and contingency percentages, the VAT build-up, and a clean summary you can send. It deliberately ships with no built-in rates and does not measure drawings. Both of those are judgement calls, and a generic rate hidden inside a free calculator is worse than no rate at all — it looks authoritative and it is not your cost.
What it will not do is take quantities off a PDF, catch a missed item, or price labour and materials for your region and specification. That is the part Suddeco does: upload a drawing, the quantities are measured automatically, and the bill is priced against current UK labour and material costs for you to check and override.
What a priced bill of quantities should contain
A bill that stands up to scrutiny has five things beyond a list of numbers. It is measured — every quantity traces to a dimension on a drawing. It is structured — work is grouped so a client or main contractor can see what a section costs, not just the total. It is priced consistently — the same rate applies to the same item across the job. It is complete — preliminaries, overheads and profit, contingency and provisional sums are all visible rather than buried in a lump sum. And it is revisable — when the drawing changes you can see exactly what changed between issues.
If a bill fails any of those tests, the argument happens later, on site, with a variation order. That is the expensive place to have it.
When the calculator runs out of road
A free builder gets you a defensible total. It cannot get you the quantities. Suddeco measures them from the drawing, builds the same sectioned bill you have just built here, and prices it — then leaves every rate and margin open for you to override. Plans start at £49/month with a 7-day free trial.
Questions about the BOQ builder
Does it include rates?
No. You enter the rates you price at, so the totals are your costs and your margin. Suddeco's estimating engine is where drawing quantities are measured and priced against UK labour and material rates.
Is it free?
Yes. No account, no card details, and nothing you type is sent to a server.
Where is my work saved?
In your own browser's local storage on this device. It is not uploaded anywhere, it will not follow you to another device, and clearing your browser data removes it. Export a CSV or print the summary for anything you need to keep.
Can I print or export the bill?
Yes — Print for a clean summary, Copy summary for an email or spreadsheet, or Download CSV for a full line-by-line export.
Turn the numbers into a measured bill
Suddeco takes an architect's drawing and produces a measured, priced, sectioned bill of quantities you control line by line. Start free, or book a demo and walk through your own job.
Plans from £49/month. See pricing for what each plan includes.