What is BOQ automation?

Software that reads a bill of quantities, matches each line item to your catalogue or schedule of rates on its specified attributes, prices it with your rules and drafts the compliance sheet, leaving estimators the low-confidence lines and deviations to review and sign off.

Does it handle approved make lists and “or approved equivalent”?

Yes. Where a line names another make, the agent proposes your equivalent and lists every parameter that differs, so the deviation is declared rather than hidden.

Does it do takeoff from drawings?

No. Takeoff from drawings is a product category of its own. We start where the quantities exist, from your BOQ or takeoff output, and integrate with the takeoff tool you use.

What happens when an addendum arrives?

Only the changed lines are re-read and re-priced, and you get a diff of quantity changes, spec changes and new lines with the change in amount.

Tender and BOQ estimation, priced line by line against your own catalogue

BOQ automation reads a tender's bill of quantities in its original sheet, matches each line item to your catalogue or schedule of rates on the attributes it specifies, prices it with your discount and margin rules, and drafts the compliance and deviation sheets. Every match shows its reasons and a confidence score. Estimators review only the lines below the threshold or with a deviation, then sign off.

Book a demo How an engagement runs

Who owns the mistake? The estimator who signs the estimate, as today. The agent shows its reasons on every line and is allowed to say “no match”.

Built for Head of estimation · Tendering manager · Chief estimator · Applications engineer

tenders / hospital-block-b / boq-rev2.xlsxMatching 412 linesIllustrative run

Item

BOQ description

Matched to

Qty

Rate ₹

Result

4.2.09

Recessed downlight 15 W, 1,350 lm, 4000 K, CRI >90, DALI, IP44, Ø83 cut-out

VS-DL-15-940-DALIconfidence 97

120

2,940

Matched

4.2.14

Recessed panel 600×600, 40 W, ≥4,000 lm, 4000 K, UGR <19, IP40

3,900 lm, −2.5%

VS-PNL-6060-40-840confidence 88

146

2,340

Review

4.3.02

Linear pendant 1,200 mm, 36 W, 3000 K, CRI >80, black powder coat

VS-LIN-1200-36-830-BKconfidence 96

6,180

Matched

4.5.11

Track spot 30 W, 24° beam, as approved make or equivalent

equivalent declared

VS-TRK-30-24-930confidence 91

4,450

Review

4.6.03

Bollard 12 W, 4000 K, IP65, IK08, H 800 mm, anthracite

height 600 mm max

No item meets spec

—

No match

4.7.01

Reading façade linear, 24 V RGBW, DMX…

341 matched62 for review9 no matchBlended margin 18.2% · floor 15%

The work

How it runs today, and what the agent does instead.

Today

01The tender pack arrives over several emails: BOQ, specs, schedules, approved make list, addenda.
02An estimator copies the BOQ into the house template and unpicks merged cells and sub-items.
03Each line is read against the spec and the schedule, which often disagree.
04Each line is matched by memory and catalogue search; named competitor makes are crossed by hand.
05Rates, discounts and margin are applied in Excel, and anything over authority waits for the sales head.
06Every addendum or value-engineering round repeats the work under the same deadline.

With the agent

01ReadParses the BOQ in its original layout (nested headers, merged cells, sub-items, units) and keeps the source row of every line.
02ReconcileLinks each line to its spec clause and schedule type and flags where they disagree, such as 36 W in the BOQ and 40 W in the schedule.
03ExtractPulls the attributes each line specifies: power, lumen output, CCT, CRI, UGR, IP and IK rating, driver, mounting, finish, certification.
04MatchFilters your catalogue with rules first, then ranks the shortlist against a written rubric with hard-reject gates. Says “no match” rather than guess.
05PriceApplies your price list or schedule of rates, customer and channel discounts, freight and duty, and checks blended margin against the floor.
06AssembleWrites the priced BOQ back in the consultant's own sheet with a compliance statement, a deviation register and alternates.

People decide

Where a person decides. Nothing leaves the building without them.

What comes out

Priced BOQ in the consultant's original format
Compliance statement and deviation register
Ranked alternates per line, with the attributes that differ
Addendum diff: changed quantities, changed specs, new lines

Tendering managerBid or no-bid on the tender card.
EstimatorLines below the confidence threshold or with any deviation. Overrides are kept as human choices.
Sales headLines under the margin floor or above discount authority.

The number

We agree the number before we build. Then we report against it every week.

Systems it works in

Excel
Outlook
SharePoint
SAP
Dynamics 365
Zoho
Salesforce
Tally
Tender portals (CPPP, GeM, Etimad)
Your catalogue or PIM master

What we baseline and report on for tender and boq estimation
Metric	How it's measured
Hours per BOQ	From tender pack received to first priced draft.
Auto-match coverage	Share of lines matched above threshold that the estimator didn't change.
Match precision	Measured blind on your own past tenders before go-live.
Tenders answered	Qualified tenders priced per month, with the same team.

Market context

What others are seeing. Their numbers, with their sources. Not ours.

We publish our own numbers for a client only when the client agrees. These are here for context.

24%
of commercial contractors name cost estimating as their leading AI use, the top answer in a survey of 1,000+ firms.
ServiceTitan, March 2026(opens in a new tab)
−65%
BoQ packaging time in a UK contractor's pilot: about 13 hours to 4.5 per BoQ across 8,000 line items, with human review.
Construction Management, February 2026(opens in a new tab)

Fair questions

What people ask before they trust it.

What if it mis-matches an item?: Every match lists the attributes it checked and any it missed. Anything below the threshold, or with a deviation, goes to an estimator. In the rubric a wrong match is a critical failure and “no match” is an acceptable answer.
Our catalogue is a mess.: Then week one is the catalogue: attributes, synonyms and which ones are critical, with price changes reviewed by a person. You keep that structured catalogue whatever happens next.
Every consultant's BOQ looks different.: The agent reads each sheet as it arrives and writes the priced version back in the same layout. Before go-live we re-run your own closed tenders blind and compare line by line with what your estimators did.
Our rates can't leave the company.: It runs in your cloud or a region you choose, under model terms that exclude training on your data. Rate files are role-restricted and every read is logged.

Related work

Where we've built this.

An Indian architectural lighting manufacturerManufacturing · lighting · May–Oct 2025
From BOQ spreadsheet to priced estimate, with “no match” built in
A lighting manufacturer's estimators review exceptions instead of matching hundreds of lines by hand.
ShippedRead

Questions

Tender and BOQ estimation: the short answers.

Also on this desk

Tender analysis and bid briefs For construction and engineering For manufacturing and distribution

Send us ten real documents. We'll show you what an agent does with them.

A one-hour call with a founder and an engineer. Bring a BOQ, a stack of POs, last month's invoices or a backlog, and leave knowing what would work, what wouldn't, and what it would take.

Book a demo or email founders@vegastack.com

170+ projects · 65 companies · founders on every engagement

Tender and BOQ estimation, priced line by line against your own catalogue

Who owns the mistake? The estimator who signs the estimate, as today. The agent shows its reasons on every line and is allowed to say “no match”.

Built for Head of estimation · Tendering manager · Chief estimator · Applications engineer

Metric

How it's measured

Hours per BOQ

From tender pack received to first priced draft.

Auto-match coverage

Share of lines matched above threshold that the estimator didn't change.

Match precision

Measured blind on your own past tenders before go-live.

Tenders answered

Qualified tenders priced per month, with the same team.

Tender and BOQ estimation, priced line by line against your own catalogue

How it runs today, and what the agent does instead.

Where a person decides. Nothing leaves the building without them.

We agree the number before we build. Then we report against it every week.

What others are seeing. Their numbers, with their sources. Not ours.

What people ask before they trust it.

Where we've built this.

From BOQ spreadsheet to priced estimate, with “no match” built in

Tender and BOQ estimation: the short answers.

What is BOQ automation?Software that reads a bill of quantities, matches each line item to your catalogue or schedule of rates on its specified attributes, prices it with your rules and drafts the compliance sheet, leaving estimators the low-confidence lines and deviations to review and sign off.

Does it handle approved make lists and “or approved equivalent”?Yes.

Does it do takeoff from drawings?No.

What happens when an addendum arrives?Only the changed lines are re-read and re-priced, and you get a diff of quantity changes, spec changes and new lines with the change in amount.

Send us ten real documents. We'll show you what an agent does with them.

Tender and BOQ estimation, priced line by line against your own catalogue

How it runs today, and what the agent does instead.

Where a person decides. Nothing leaves the building without them.

We agree the number before we build. Then we report against it every week.

What others are seeing. Their numbers, with their sources. Not ours.

What people ask before they trust it.

Where we've built this.

From BOQ spreadsheet to priced estimate, with “no match” built in

Tender and BOQ estimation: the short answers.

What is BOQ automation?Software that reads a bill of quantities, matches each line item to your catalogue or schedule of rates on its specified attributes, prices it with your rules and drafts the compliance sheet, leaving estimators the low-confidence lines and deviations to review and sign off.

Does it handle approved make lists and “or approved equivalent”?Yes.

Does it do takeoff from drawings?No.

What happens when an addendum arrives?Only the changed lines are re-read and re-priced, and you get a diff of quantity changes, spec changes and new lines with the change in amount.

Send us ten real documents. We'll show you what an agent does with them.