What does Excel do well?
Excel is cheap, and most estimators already know it. It handles these jobs well.
- It prices each line of a bill of quantities.
- It holds your rate analysis for each item.
- It adds overheads, risk and profit.
- It keeps a list of your past rates.
Where does Excel cause trouble?
Most trouble comes from errors nobody sees, and from everything outside the spreadsheet.
- A broken formula can change your price. In World Bank works tenders, the unit price usually beats a wrong line total (ITB 35).
- A refused correction gets the bid rejected. See arithmetic errors in a BOQ.
- An addendum can change a quantity, and you may price the old version.
- A spreadsheet does not remind you about a form, a signature or an expiring certificate.
- Two people can keep two copies, and the wrong one can go in.
What can you add to Excel?
You do not have to leave Excel to fix the biggest gap. Add a tool for that gap.
| Your gap | What to add | Named options |
|---|---|---|
| Measuring from drawings | A takeoff tool | Vertigraph BidScreen XL works with Excel. Bluebeam Revu measures on PDF drawings. |
| Large civil estimates and programme links | An estimating system | RIB Candy |
| Forms, addenda, documents and checks | A bid desk | Bidligence |
When should you move beyond Excel?
How often you bid matters more than the size of your firm. These signs mean Excel alone is no longer enough.
- You bid every month.
- You have lost a bid to a missing form or a late addendum.
- Your rates live in many old files.
- Only one person understands the spreadsheet.
Whatever you use, have a second person check the totals before you submit.
Where Bidligence fits
Bidligence does not ask you to give up Excel. When the buyer issues an Excel workbook, it writes your rates and amount formulas into that file. The items, quantities and totals stay as issued. Every rate stays editable.
It also covers what Excel does not, such as the required documents and the check before you submit. It does not do takeoff from drawings.
Questions
- Can I use Excel for a government tender?
- Yes, if the tender lets you complete its BOQ that way. Some portals issue their own file and ask you not to change its layout.
- Is there a free template for a BOQ?
- In a public tender, the buyer issues the BOQ. Price that file, and do not rebuild it in your own template.
- Do I need to stop using my own rate file?
- No. You can keep your rates and enter them in any tool that lets you change a rate. Bidligence does.
Sources
Rules and portals change. Check the tender’s own documents and the official source before you rely on any of this.