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Preliminaries & General Items Calculator

Price the general lines at the front of a BoQ — method statements and procedures, site preparation and temporary cover, hoarding and barricades, safety and PPE, and demobilisation — one group at a time, with every quantity and rate editable.

What does this price cover?

A BoQ line is usually about one of these. Switch on the ones you need.

Job size

Sets PPE, medicals, site induction and the return transport.

Tarpaulin for temporary cover while sheeting is installed.

Check the rates. Some of the rates below have not been updated recently. Replace them with your own quotes — every quantity and rate can be edited, and your changes are remembered in this browser.

5 of 5 groups · Other cities

₦2,654,000

Cost, before contingency, overhead and profit

Materials & supplies ₦2,370,000

Labour & time ₦284,000

Cost components

Quantities start from your inputs. Change any quantity or rate, untick a line you don't need, or add your own — the total follows straight away.

Plans, method statements & procedures₦200,000
ItemQtyUnitMaterials ₦Labour ₦Total
Method statements & work procedures days₦120,000
Plans, charts, lists & other procedures days₦80,000
Site preparation & temporary cover₦532,000
ItemQtyUnitMaterials ₦Labour ₦Total
Relocate obstructions, materials & equipment labour-days₦24,000
Tarpaulin for temporary cover ₦500,000
Fixing and removing the tarpaulin labour-days₦8,000
Temporary hoarding, fences & barricades₦730,000
ItemQtyUnitMaterials ₦Labour ₦Total
Temporary hoarding / fence m₦480,000
Barricades & safety barriers m₦100,000
Signage & warning notices sum₦150,000
Safety requirements, PPE & training₦310,000
ItemQtyUnitMaterials ₦Labour ₦Total
PPE & medical screening persons₦150,000
Site safety induction & badging persons₦30,000
Safety induction course attendance persons₦60,000
Permit holders — registration & training persons₦40,000
First-aid kit & fire extinguishers sum₦30,000
Demobilisation & site clean-up₦882,000
ItemQtyUnitMaterials ₦Labour ₦Total
Remove materials & equipment — haulage trips₦700,000
Loading / unloading labour hrs₦40,000
Return personnel to base persons₦50,000
Clean the site labour-days₦12,000
Waste removal / skip hire sum₦80,000
General / other items₦0

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What Preliminaries Cover

Preliminaries, or general items, are the costs of running a job that do not belong to any one permanent element of the building. They sit at the front of a Bill of Quantities and are often priced as lump sums, which makes them easy to under-price: a line such as "Establish initial temporary hoarding, fences and barricades" looks small until you count the metres, the materials and the time.

This calculator breaks each kind of line into the parts a contractor actually pays for, so a lump sum can be built up and defended rather than guessed.

The Five Groups

1. Plans, method statements and procedures — the time an engineer or HSE officer spends preparing method statements, work procedures, programmes, charts and lists.

2. Site preparation and temporary cover — relocating obstructions, materials and equipment, and tarpaulin (with the labour to fix and remove it) to keep the works covered, for example while roofing sheets are installed.

3. Temporary hoarding, fences and barricades — hoarding by the metre, barricades and safety barriers, and signage. This is temporary work; it is not priced like a permanent boundary fence.

4. Safety requirements, PPE and training — PPE and medical screening and site induction for the workforce, safety course attendance and permit holder registration for the named people, and first-aid and fire equipment.

5. Demobilisation and site clean-up — hauling equipment and materials away, loading labour, returning personnel to base, cleaning the site and removing waste.

Pricing One BoQ Line at a Time

Each BoQ line is normally about one of the groups, so the calculator lets you switch groups on and off. Inside the BoQ import, choose "Price with a calculator" on the line and the wording of the line switches on the matching group for you: a line about hoarding and barricades opens with just that group, a line about method statements with just documentation.

Some of the starting rates have not been updated recently. Replace them with your own quotes — they are yours to edit, and the site's rates are also editable in the material rates table.

Frequently Asked Questions