What you get
- One BOQ from tender to final bill, not a new spreadsheet at each stage
- Margin per item known: what the client pays against what the subcontractor costs
- Running bills and IPCs built from measured progress, not retyped
BOQ · IPC · Pakistan
BOQ software for contractors in Pakistan: prepare, bill, and control
Prepare a priced BOQ in PKR, bring in the client's BOQ from Excel, sublet items to subcontractors, and bill progress against it, with WHT and net receivable worked out on every document.
- Daily work on every plan
- Published PKR pricing
- Onboarding by our team
Overview
BOQ software for construction businesses in Pakistan
In most Pakistani contracting firms the bill of quantities lives three separate lives. The estimator prices it in one spreadsheet for the tender. The quantity surveyor copies it into another to prepare running bills. The accounts office keeps a third version to work out what subcontractors are owed. By the third IPC the three disagree, and nobody can say which quantity or which rate is the one the contract was actually signed on.
BOQ software ends that by keeping one BOQ as structured items, each with its unit, quantity, and rate, and letting every later step read from it. The priced BOQ becomes the quotation. The awarded BOQ becomes the contract and the budget. Measured progress is recorded against the same items, so a running bill is a calculation over the BOQ, not a copied tab with last month’s mistakes in it.
Smart Construction does this in PKR, with the deductions Pakistani contracts actually carry. Withholding tax set once in Settings appears on the BOQ PDF and Excel as Less: WHT and net receivable. IPCs carry retention and advance recovery. And on the Scale plan, contract BOQ control links each item the client awarded to the subcontractors it is sublet to, so the margin on every item is visible and no subcontractor can be certified beyond their share of the work.
Core capabilities
- Priced BOQ and quotation in PKR on your letterhead
- Client BOQ brought in from Excel or PDF
- WHT and net receivable on the BOQ PDF and Excel
- BOQ items sublet to subcontractors, with a payment ceiling
- Variations kept against the item they change
- Progress rolled up into IPCs and running bills
How it works
How the work runs, step by step
The same sequence your office and sites already follow, in one system instead of registers, spreadsheets, and WhatsApp threads.
Prepare or bring in the BOQ
Price items from your own rates, or import the client’s BOQ from Excel, PDF or a photo. Every item keeps its unit, quantity and rate.
Send the priced quotation
The BOQ becomes a quotation on your letterhead with taxes, Less: WHT and the net amount, in PDF or Excel.
Win the job and award the work
The awarded BOQ becomes the contract. Items you do not do yourself are sublet to subcontractors at their own rates.
Record progress against items
Measured quantities are recorded against BOQ items, for your own work and each subcontractor’s.
Bill the client, certify the subcontractor
Progress rolls up into the client IPC with retention, advance recovery and WHT, and into each subcontractor’s certificate.
Read the margin
Margin and exposure per item, per subcontractor and per project, from the same BOQ the job was won on.
Capabilities
What it helps your team do
The daily work below is on every plan; some advanced controls start on Growth or Scale. The pricing page shows what each plan includes.
Priced BOQs in PKR
Items with units, quantities and rates from your own rate library, totalled with the taxes you set, and produced as a quotation on your letterhead in PDF or Excel.
Bring in an existing BOQ
AI Import reads the client’s Excel BOQ, a PDF, or a photo, maps the columns, and asks about anything it is not sure of before it creates the items.
WHT and net receivable
Withholding tax is defined once and shown on every BOQ document as a deduction with the net amount, so the figure the client sees matches the figure your accounts expect.
Client BOQ against subcontractor BOQ
Each awarded item can be sublet to one or more subcontractors at their own rates. Margin and exposure are reported per item and per subcontractor (Scale plan).
Progress into IPCs
Quantities recorded against BOQ items roll up into the client IPC and each subcontractor’s certificate, with previous bills, retention and advance recovery carried automatically.
Variations on the item
A variation changes the item it belongs to, so the revised quantity and value stay traceable from the original BOQ to the final bill.
Before and after
What changes in practice
The same work, run the way most contractors run it today and the way it runs on the platform.
- Spreadsheets and WhatsApp threads: A new spreadsheet at each stage of the job
- On Smart Construction: One BOQ that every stage reads from
- Spreadsheets and WhatsApp threads: Client BOQ retyped for the tender
- On Smart Construction: Client BOQ imported from Excel, PDF or a photo
- Spreadsheets and WhatsApp threads: WHT worked out separately on each document
- On Smart Construction: WHT and net receivable on every BOQ PDF and Excel
- Spreadsheets and WhatsApp threads: Subcontractor bills checked against their own copy
- On Smart Construction: Sublets linked to the awarded item, with a ceiling
- Spreadsheets and WhatsApp threads: Running bills copied tab by tab
- On Smart Construction: IPCs calculated from recorded progress
- Spreadsheets and WhatsApp threads: Margin known after the final account
- On Smart Construction: Margin and exposure per item during the job
Side by side
Smart Construction vs a spreadsheet vs general accounting software
What most contractors in Pakistan use for this today, and where each one stops.
| What you need | Smart Construction | Excel or a register | General accounting software |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preparing the priced BOQ | Items from your own rate library, priced in PKR | Rebuilt from the last file, formulas copied by hand | Not designed for BOQ items |
| WHT and net receivable | Set once, shown on every BOQ PDF and Excel | A formula someone has to remember | On the invoice only, not the BOQ |
| Client BOQ vs subcontractor BOQ | Linked per item, with margin and exposure | Two files compared by eye | Not available |
| Running bills and IPCs | Built from recorded progress, previous bills carried | Copied tab per bill, errors carried forward | Invoices without measured quantities |
| Variations | Kept against the item they change | A new row, often in a new version of the file | A separate invoice line |
Use cases
Situations this is built for
Recognisable scenarios from construction businesses operating in Pakistan.
A road contract with five subcontractors
- The situation
- A contractor wins a government road job and sublets earthwork, sub-base, and culverts to different subcontractors. Each subcontractor sends bills against its own copy of the BOQ.
- How Smart Construction handles it
- Every sublet is linked to the awarded item it comes from, and certificates are checked against the work actually recorded on that item.
- What changes
- No subcontractor is paid ahead of the client certifying the same work, and the margin on every item is a report rather than a guess.
A tender that has to go out tomorrow
- The situation
- The client sends a 400-line BOQ in Excel with two days to price it. Retyping it would take most of that time.
- How Smart Construction handles it
- The sheet is imported as BOQ items, rates are applied from the library, and the estimator reviews only the items that need judgement.
- What changes
- The time goes into pricing decisions, and the quotation leaves with WHT and the net amount already shown.
The third running bill nobody trusts
- The situation
- By IPC-3 the previous-bill column in the spreadsheet no longer agrees with what was actually paid, and the consultant has started querying quantities.
- How Smart Construction handles it
- Each bill is calculated from recorded progress against the BOQ, with previous bills taken from the bills that were actually issued.
- What changes
- The bill reconciles to the BOQ and to the payments on record, which shortens the certification argument.
Benefits
What improves, and why it matters
One BOQ, every stage
Tender, contract, budget, and billing all read from the same items, so there is nothing to keep in step by hand.
Margin per item
What the client pays for an item against what it costs you to deliver it, visible while the job is running.
Correct deductions
WHT, retention and advance recovery are applied the same way on every document.
Subcontractor exposure controlled
A payment ceiling per sublet stops overpayment against work the client has not certified.
Faster tenders
Importing the client’s BOQ removes the retyping step that eats most of the tender window.
Traceable variations
Every change to scope stays on the item it changed, from the first BOQ to the final account.
Price in PKR
Which plan you need for this
Published prices, no foreign-currency billing. Plans start at PKR 10,000 a month, or PKR 9,000 a month on annual billing, plus a one-time setup fee.
- Estimates and BOQ calculatorGrowthfrom PKR 15,000/month
- AI ImportGrowthfrom PKR 15,000/month
- Subcontractor certificates (IPC)Growthfrom PKR 15,000/month
- Contract BOQ control and marginScalefrom PKR 25,000/month
- Withholding tax settingsScalefrom PKR 25,000/month
Every plan includes daily site and office work, the mobile app, and WhatsApp alerts. Compare all plans.
Terminology
The vocabulary on this page, explained
Plain definitions of the terms Pakistani contractors and consultants use day to day.
- BOQ
- Bill of quantities: the itemised list of work in a contract with units, quantities and rates. It prices the tender and, once awarded, values progress for payment.
- Awarded BOQ
- The BOQ as accepted in the contract. It is the reference every later bill, variation and sublet is measured against.
- Sublet
- Part of an awarded item given to a subcontractor at the subcontractor’s own rate. The difference between the two rates is the main contractor’s margin on that item.
- IPC
- Interim payment certificate: the periodic bill for work done to date, less previous bills and deductions such as retention, advance recovery and withholding tax.
- Net receivable
- What the contractor actually receives after deductions such as withholding tax, as opposed to the gross value of the work.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Still have a question?
Ask our team during Pakistan business hours, in English or Urdu.
+92 333 2466662Chat on WhatsAppWhat is BOQ software?
BOQ software holds the bill of quantities as structured items with quantities, units and rates, instead of a typed spreadsheet. That lets the same BOQ price the tender, drive the budget, and value progress for each running bill.
Can we import a BOQ we already have in Excel?
Yes. AI Import (from the Growth plan) reads your Excel sheet, a PDF, or a photo of the BOQ, shows you what it understood and asks about anything unclear before a single record is created.
Does it show withholding tax on the BOQ?
Yes. Taxes are set once in Settings, and the BOQ PDF and Excel show Less: WHT and the net receivable. Older BOQs keep the rate they were made with.
Can we compare the client BOQ with our subcontractors’ BOQs?
Yes, on the Scale plan. Contract BOQ control links each awarded item to the subcontractors it is sublet to, so you see your margin and exposure per item, and no subcontractor can be paid beyond their share of the work.
Which plan do we need for BOQ software?
Estimates and the BOQ calculator start on Growth, along with subcontractor certificates (IPC) and AI Import. Contract BOQ control, linking the client BOQ to subcontractor BOQs, and withholding tax settings are on Scale.
Is a BOQ the same as an estimate?
An estimate is how you arrive at the price; the BOQ is the itemised result the client sees and the contract is signed on. Our cost estimation page covers rate analysis and pricing in more depth.
Can a BOQ be exported to Excel?
Yes. A BOQ can be produced as a PDF on your letterhead or as an Excel file, both showing taxes, Less: WHT and the net amount.
Free demo
See BOQ software on your own projects
A 30 to 45 minute walkthrough, in English or Urdu, run on the work you do. Demo requests are answered within one business day.
Request a walkthrough
We respond to qualified enquiries quickly during Pakistan business hours.
- Fast response
- No obligation
- Smart Construction team
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Call +92 333 2466662 during Pakistan business hours, or book online.