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Ten checks before you trust the numbers, whoever produced them: an estimator, a subcontractor, a BIM schedule or an AI. A checklist, and an Excel workbook that does the arithmetic.
Herman B. Smith
CEO & Co-Founder
Updated Oct 25, 2026
A bill of quantities is a claim about the drawings or the model, and the claim can be checked. The checks are the same whoever produced the bill. Ten of them take an afternoon and catch most of what goes wrong before a price is built on the numbers. On a remeasurable contract a wrong bill costs you time; on a lump sum it costs you the margin.
Ten checks before you trust the numbers
Where the numbers came from
Revision basis
Coverage
Measurement rules and item scope
Whether the numbers hold
The big numbers
Ratios
Identical numbers and double counts
Precision
What the bill says about its gaps
Open versus assumed
Traceability
Change handling
What the workbook adds. The yes/no sheet with what a good answer looks like and what to do on a no, a big-numbers sheet with the controls per project type, a ratios sheet that builds the band from your own last three jobs, and a five-item spot-check routine. Excel, no macros, and it works for buildings, roads, rail, utility networks, bridges, tunnels and energy projects.
Patterns, not advice. The drawings, the model and the method of measurement in your pack are what matter.
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CHECKLIST / EXCEL WORKBOOK
How to check a bill of quantities
Ten checks before you trust the numbers.
For estimators and quantity surveyors