Bill of quantities

A bill of quantities states what has been ordered and in what quantity. Once it has been read in, it becomes the structure of the project — and, at the end, the comparison between the quantity ordered and the quantity measured.

A word first: “BoQ item”

The “BoQ item” field on an item means the item of the bill of quantities — not the trade. On import it is filled according to the choice in the “Options” tab, for example with “01.02.030 Plasterboard wall” or just “01.02.030”. The BoQ items read in are then offered as suggestions whenever an item is created or its BoQ item is changed. Because the reference usually begins with the item number, sorting alphabetically by BoQ item is at the same time sorting by item number.

The field can be overwritten freely via “Change item” in the action list of an item. What counts for billing, however, is not this text but the assignment to a BoQ item that has been read in (see below).

Reading in a bill of quantities

The “Import BoQ (GAEB)” button in the building list accepts:

• GAEB files in XML format — decided by the content, not the extension,
• Excel and CSV lists — they lead into the column mapping,
• ZIP archives containing a bill of quantities.

GAEB 90, ÖNORM files and PDF are not read; the app then says what it has recognised. A measurement (GAEB X31 or REB DA11) belongs under “Billing” › “Read in measurement”. These messages, like the individual notes in the review view, currently appear in German.

Reading in always creates a new building; a bill of quantities cannot be read into an existing building afterwards. The import is part of the Pro plan, and this is checked before the file is chosen. The file may be up to 64 MB. If it is larger, the app does not read it; the message states the file size and the limit.

Two ways: catalogue or ready-made items

The most important decision stands at the very top of the review view, and it applies to all three tabs:

The catalogue is the way for the normal case on site. A bill of quantities lists what can be ordered — rarely is all of it built. If the import creates an item for every BoQ item straight away, every room afterwards holds a row of items that are not there at all, and you tidy up by hand before you can measure.

With the catalogue that does not happen: the bill of quantities sits complete in the project, but no room and no item are created. You set up the structure the way you find the building, and in each room you fetch exactly those BoQ items that really occur there — with the “Item from BoQ” button (further down in this chapter).

The checkbox “Create a basic structure” creates one building and one room if you want it, so that you can start straight away. By default it is off.

The second way is unchanged. Whoever chooses it gets exactly what the import has always done — including the pre-filled quantities and the note about them further down.

Excel and CSV: mapping the columns

1. Worksheet — only asked if the file has several sheets.
2. Header row — suggested, can be moved with “−” and “+”; “Detect again” suggests the header row and columns once more.
3. Columns: item number (required, marked with *), short text, quantity, unit, unit price and long text. Tap the field first, then the column; a long press clears the mapping.

A preview counts the BoQ items and sections; “Continue to review” leads into the review view. “Remember mapping” saves the mapping on the device or in the browser; a later spreadsheet whose column headings match at least half of those saved gets it straight away.

When reading a spreadsheet:

• The separator of a CSV list — semicolon, comma, tab or vertical bar — is recognised from the first line.
• A row with neither quantity nor unit becomes a section. The structure follows the dots in the item number: “01.02.030” sits under “01.02”, which sits under “01”.
• “12,5 m²” in the quantity column is split into quantity and unit if there is no unit of its own beside it.
• Rows without an item number or with a duplicate one are skipped, unreadable quantities stay empty — both are listed in the “Check” tab.
• These notes give the row as the spreadsheet program shows it — even if the sheet has empty rows or starts further down. “Header: row …” counts the same way; in an Excel file, “+” and “−” skip empty rows.
• A spreadsheet knows no provisional or alternative items; everything counts as a normal BoQ item.
• Exactly three digits after a single comma or full stop count as a thousands separator: 1.234 and 1,234 become 1234, 12,500 becomes 12500. This concerns quantities stored as text in the file, for example in CSV, not real numbers in an Excel cell. The review view shows every quantity before it is taken over.

The review view

Before anything is taken over there is always the review view with three tabs.

Tab “Items”

At the top are the project name (from the file, editable) and the count “… of … items will be imported” with “Select all” and “Deselect all”. Below is the structure with item number, short text, quantity and unit, sections as levels of the structure; “▸ Long text” expands the long text.

For each BoQ item you can change the quantity (planned quantity and starting value of the item), the name, the checkbox (whether an item is created) and the target form — the button next to the name moves on with every tap:

The BoQ item itself is always kept. Without a tick or set to “Off” it still stands in the bill of quantities — in billing as “not assigned”. “Create project” stays disabled as long as no BoQ item is ticked.

Only in the “Create rooms and items” way: the pre-fill is labelled. Every item created that way is assigned to its BoQ item and carries the planned quantity, although nobody measured it. Those items therefore show the note “Planned quantity” in the item list, and the billing screen reports “n unchecked” at the top, with the sentence that these quantities do count towards the invoice.

The first measurement removes the note by itself. If you have checked the quantity and want to keep it, tap “Confirm all” in the billing screen — that changes no quantity, it only records that you have looked.

In the catalogue way this case does not arise, because no item is pre-filled there.

A clone does not carry a pre-filled quantity along. Copy such an item into another room and it arrives empty — otherwise a single unmeasured figure would stand in any number of rooms. A measured item, by contrast, is copied in full, with all its values.

Labels mark Provisional (provisional or contingency item), Alternative (alternative item) and Base item (base item of a group of alternatives). In the “Create rooms and items” way they are ticked beforehand as well; anything not ordered is better deselected, otherwise it counts as measured. In the catalogue way that is unnecessary: there you only fetch the BoQ items that are actually built anyway. How they feed into quotation and invoice is in the chapter “Billing”.

Tab “Options”

The “Preview (first item)” shows the result immediately.

• Naming — the name from short text, item no. + short text, short text + item no., section path + short text or item no. only; the item field from item no. + short text, item no. only, section path, BoQ name or empty. Alongside, the separator and “Append planned quantity”. Names changed by hand are kept.
• Create rooms — One collective room (named after the bill of quantities or the worksheet), One room per section (per lowest section level, named with the section path; BoQ items without a section go into the collective room) or Collective room + section on the item (the section path is in the note of each item). The rooms hang directly off the building; only rooms that receive an item are created.
• Unit → item — a target form per unit (Area, Length, Count, Off) for all BoQ items set to “Auto”.

Tab “Check”

Under “Notes” is everything that came up while reading, errors first; “Share log as CSV” hands the list out. In addition, if present: the GAEB version and tender phase, the lots, the preliminaries and, for several bills of quantities in one file, their list — the first one is taken over (“is being taken over”), there is no choice.

Creating an item from a BoQ item

This is the way the catalogue is meant for. In the item list of a room, the “Item from BoQ” button stands next to “Add manually”. It only appears if the project has a bill of quantities.

It opens the bill of quantities searchable, with its sections as the structure. You search by item number, short text and section — “01.02” finds the BoQ item, “Drywall” everything that sits under that section. Each row shows you how far the BoQ item has got: planned, measured, open and in how many rooms something has already been measured for it. The same BoQ item can be created in as many rooms as you like — exactly the way measuring works on site.

Once you have chosen, a sheet shows what will be created: the name, the BoQ item, the shape (which you can change) and the planned quantity from the bill of quantities. One tap creates the item and jumps straight into measuring; a building part stays in the list.

The planned quantity is not taken over. It stands beside the item, and while measuring it stands in the header as the target value — only what you measure is entered. That is deliberate: a quantity taken over would count as measured at once and would then stand on an invoice based on actual quantities without anyone having been on site.

For building parts the same button sits in the “Building parts” section — on the floor, the unit and the stairwell as well, not only in the room. A building part created that way starts at the quantity 0; you count it up yourself.

Assigning an already measured item to a BoQ item

Only what is assigned to a BoQ item can be submitted as a measurement or billed.

In the item list, “Assign BoQ item” in the action list of an item leads into a search dialogue: at the top the current BoQ item with “Remove assignment”, below it the search “Search OZ or short text …” (OZ is the item number) and the BoQ items with quantity and unit — without sections and without surcharge, daywork and lump-sum items. If the project has a bill of quantities, every measured item carries “● BoQ assigned” or “○ no BoQ assignment”.

Building parts can be assigned too. In a building part’s action list (“⋯” or a long press), “Assign BoQ item” opens the same search dialog; if an item is already assigned, “Remove assignment” appears as well. Both take effect immediately. When you edit a building part, its BoQ item is shown below the note with the same two buttons; there the choice only applies with “Save”. A building part also gets its BoQ item on import, via “Create items from measurement” or via “Item from BoQ” (see above). A building part’s quantity only counts on a BoQ item billed per piece (St, Stk, psch …). On any other item it counts neither in planned/actual nor in the submitted measurement; the edit dialog says so below the item.

Viewing and changing the catalogue

The bill of quantities you have read in is no longer a fixed list. You reach it in two ways:

• from the action list of a building via “Bill of quantities”,
• from billing via “Items & prices”.

The second way is the familiar one; the first one exists because after a catalogue import there is no room yet, and from there you would otherwise get nowhere.

You see all BoQ items with their structure, per row planned, measured and open. Above the list you see how many BoQ items have been measured in total, and below every heading the same figure for the section beneath it — where a heading has sub-sections, their items count towards it. You can change the short text, long text, unit, planned quantity, unit price and tax rate; a new BoQ item is created with “+ Item”, and a BoQ item can be deleted.

Deleting keeps the measurements. The confirmation says how many items lose their link — measured stays measured, only the assignment falls away. Afterwards those items appear in billing as “not assigned”. The BoQ item itself stays in the recycle bin for 30 days (chapter “Projects and structure”).

The item number and the structure cannot be changed. The item number is the link to the contract and has to come back out character for character when the measurement is handed back.

Prices and the tax rate belong to the Pro plan, as does importing; viewing the catalogue and maintaining its texts is open to whoever may import — they should also be allowed to use what they have imported. In a team, only owners and admins change the catalogue; for everyone else it stands there read-only, with a note instead of a silent lock. In the “Measuring” role, prices and tax rates are not visible at all (chapter “Working together”).

Without a connection, the role last read applies. Once the app has read your role in the team from the server, it stores it on this device and applies it in the catalogue even without a connection, as long as the cloud stays switched on; as owner or admin you can then change the catalogue offline as well. It can only be viewed — even as owner or admin and even if you work alone in your own team with the cloud — as long as the app does not know your role: while the app is still reading it after opening, as long as none is stored on this device yet and the server does not respond, if the server reports no role for your account in this team that this version of the app knows, and with the cloud switched off on a device on which buildings of a team are still stored. A note says so. The details are in the chapter “Projects and structure” under “Deleting and the recycle bin”.

Planned against actual

“Billing” — in the action list of a building or at the top right in the view of a building, stairwell, floor or unit — puts the planned quantity from the bill of quantities next to the actual quantity from the assigned measurements, BoQ item by BoQ item, calculated under the project’s over-measurement rule (chapter “Billing”).

Solid shapes do not count for area and length, building parts only for count. The actual quantity is the sum of the measurement lines, each rounded to the project's decimal places — two or three (chapter “Billing”).

At the top are the number of BoQ items, of those deviating and of those without a measurement, the fixed tolerance of ±2 % (cannot be set), the net amount and, if there are any, the number of BoQ items without a price. “Deviations only” shows only “over” and “under”; a tap on a row opens the bill of quantities at that item (chapter “Billing”).

“Units do not match” appears for an unknown unit — it is then calculated like an area — and for a building part on a BoQ item that is not billed by count — it then does not count. This can already happen right after the import, for example for BoQ items in cubic metres or hours; before submission the app names the conflict once more.

Items without an assignment are missing from the comparison; the app names their number before “Submit measurement”. A measurement from outside can be laid beside your own via “Read in measurement” (chapter “Billing”).

Working without a bill of quantities

If a building has no BoQ item at all, billing says “This project has no bill of quantities.” and below it offers “Create items from measurement” (Pro plan):

• Grouping follows the “BoQ item” field, where it is empty the name; areas, lengths and solid shapes in one group become separate BoQ items.
• Building parts become BoQ items billed by count, grouped by their name.
• The BoQ items get the item numbers 001, 002 …, the measured quantity as planned quantity and no price yet; the items are assigned to them straight away.

After that, prices, quotation, invoice and submission are open. The button is only there as long as the building has no BoQ item; later measurements are assigned via “Assign BoQ item”. If nothing has been measured, the app says so instead of creating an empty list.

What deliberately is not here

• A bid analysis or comparison of quotations. The app measures against the bill of quantities; it does not price work up.
• Automatic assignment by text similarity. Only the items from the import, from “Create items from measurement” and from “Item from BoQ” are assigned by themselves.
• Changing the item number or the structure of a BoQ item. Everything else — short text, long text, unit, planned quantity, price, tax rate — you change in the catalogue; new BoQ items are created there, and they can be deleted there.
• Filling an item with the planned quantity when it is created. The quantity comes from measuring. In the “Create rooms and items” way this is different, and the note about it stands with the review view.
• A clean-up aid for projects imported earlier. Whoever already has buildings with pre-filled items keeps them; the catalogue only takes effect at the next import.