BOQ Estimator
Estimate a construction bill of quantities from a list of line items — description, quantity, unit and unit rate — with contingency, overhead/profit and tax markups applied on top of the material and labour subtotal. Paste items straight from a spreadsheet, one per line.
Input
One item per line, as `Description | Quantity | Unit | Unit Rate`.
Display symbol only — no exchange-rate conversion is applied.
Added to the subtotal to cover unforeseen items or price fluctuation.
Site overhead, preliminaries and contractor profit, as a percentage of the subtotal.
VAT / sales tax applied to the total after contingency and overhead & profit.
Output
| Description | Quantity | Unit | Unit Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No data yet | ||||
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| No data yet | |
More ways to use this tool
REST API
curl -X POST https://api.iotools.cloud/v1/tool/boq-estimator \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"items": "Concrete C25/30 | 12 | m³ | 145.50\nReinforcement…",
"currencySymbol": "$",
"contingencyPercent": "5",
"overheadProfitPercent": "15",
"taxPercent": "0"
}'Swap in your own key from your account. The tool's fields are the body — no wrapper.
Ask an AI agent
Use the IOTools `boq-estimator` tool (BOQ Estimator) on this input:
YOUR_INPUT_HEREPaste this at any agent connected to the IOTools MCP server, then add your input.
Embed widget
<iframe
src="https://iotools.cloud/embed/boq-estimator/"
width="100%" height="520" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" loading="lazy"
title="BOQ Estimator — iotools.cloud"
sandbox="allow-scripts allow-forms allow-same-origin allow-downloads allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox"
allow="clipboard-write"
style="width:100%;border:1px solid #e5e7eb;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden"></iframe>
<script src="https://iotools.cloud/embed.js" async></script>Drop this into your own page — free, no key required, just a link back.
| Cost per API/MCP call | From 5 credits |
|---|---|
| Need more credits? | View pricing |
Also available with
Guides
A bill of quantities (BOQ) lists every material and labour item a job needs, with a quantity, a unit and a rate — this calculator totals that list and layers on the markups every real estimate needs: contingency, overhead & profit, and tax.
How to use it
- Paste or type your items into the Bill of Quantities Items box, one per line, as
Description | Quantity | Unit | Unit Rate— e.g.Concrete C25/30 | 12 | m³ | 145.50. This pastes cleanly out of a spreadsheet column, and a share link or API call carries the whole list as plain text — no click-to-add-row UI to fight with. - Set a currency symbol — display only, no exchange-rate conversion.
- Set Contingency, Overhead & Profit and Tax percentages. Sensible construction-estimating defaults (5% / 15% / 0%) are pre-filled; change any of them to match your own estimating practice.
A malformed line (a missing description, or a non-numeric/non-positive quantity or rate) is silently skipped rather than failing the whole estimate — fix the item count in the result if a row looks missing.
The calculation
- Amount per item = Quantity × Unit Rate.
- Subtotal = the sum of every item's amount.
- Contingency and Overhead & Profit are each a percentage of the subtotal, added on top.
- Total before tax = Subtotal + Contingency + Overhead & Profit.
- Tax is a percentage of the total before tax.
- Estimated Total = Total before tax + Tax.
This is a quick estimating markup structure — contingency and overhead/profit as flat percentages of the raw material/labour subtotal — not a full cost-plan with per-item markup or compounding. For a detailed cost plan, price contingency and overhead separately per trade.
Privacy
Everything runs in your browser. No line items, rates or totals are sent anywhere.
Related tools
For a client-facing document rather than an internal estimate, see the Invoice Generator. For paint, flooring or lumber quantities specifically, see the Paint Coverage Calculator or Lumber Calculator.