Bill of Quantities comprise a list of items of work which are briefly described. The Bills also provide a measure of the extent of work and this allows the work to be priced. The work included in the item is defined in detail by the rules in the Method of Measurement. The item descriptions are therefore a shorthand to allow the relevant rules of the Method to be identified. The measure may be a single item or number, dimension (linear metre, square metre, cubic metre), time (hrs, weeks) or weight.

A bill of quantities or contract bills is a written document providing fundamental information about a proposed project, but varies from a specification in that it arranges the information into a form more suitable for direct pricing by a builder or contractor. Bills of quantities are used for larger and more complicated contracts, and are prepared within the organisation of a Design Team by a quantity surveyor using the information supplied by production drawings and specification notes.

A currently acceptable method of presentation for bill of quantities consists of three main parts:

• Preliminaries: as described for specifications.
• Preambles to trades: a general specification and description of materials and standards of work.
• The quantities: a description of the individual items to be priced and also the numbers, amounts or quantities of each required for the project.

Civil works costs as per bill of quantities are determined by multiplying the computed quantities of work with the respective compound rates. For civil works (and for selected equipment) element-specific ‘miscellaneous costs’ are added to cover expenditures for minor items, which have not separately been considered, expressed as a percentage of the total cost of the respective element.

The Consultant determined the quantities of works for each major civil structure based on the feasibility design drawings applied an adequate number of profiles to reflect adequately both the dimensions of the structure, the topographic (as regards excavation) and the geological conditions.