BOQ Generator
Turn a typed scope of work, or a client's messy BOQ file, into a clean unpriced draft BOQ — sections, items, units and quantities — for you to confirm and price.
Use it at the start of an estimate, when a client sends a scope note ("G+4 residential, 1,200 sqm per floor, RCC frame, AAC blocks…") or an untidy Excel, PDF or photo of their BOQ. It gives you the structure; you price it through rate analysis.
📷 Screenshot spot — a completed BOQ Generator run: the drafted BOQ table with Code, Description, Unit, Quantity, Basis and Check columns, the "Assumptions the generator made" list, and the "Create draft BOQ" card under Drafts for you to review
Save as static/img/screenshots/ai-boq-generator.png and replace this box with 
What it reads
- The scope of work you type, or the file you upload — Excel (.xlsx), PDF, JPG, PNG or WEBP, up to 20 MB. The file is read once for the run and not stored.
- Your company's unit list, to check every unit.
- If you add to an existing draft BOQ, the item codes already on it, so new codes do not clash.
What you get
- A table of the drafted BOQ — Code, Description, Unit, Quantity, Basis and Check — grouped into sections.
- Key figures: Sections, Lines drafted, Lines left out, Quantities estimated.
- Assumptions the generator made, in plain words.
- Two drafts, one after the other: Create draft BOQ, then Add lines to draft BOQ.
It follows fixed rules on every line:
| Line | What happens |
|---|---|
| Unit is on your unit list | Kept, with the unit written your company's way |
| Unit is not on your unit list | Left out and marked "Left out: unit not in your list" — a wrong unit would be wrong on every bill after it |
| No quantity given | Added at zero, marked "To be measured" |
| Quantity worked out from the scope, not given | Kept, marked "Quantity estimated — verify" |
| Code already used | Gets a suffix, for example 4.2-2 |
| More than 400 lines | Only the first 400 are drafted; use the Excel importer for a BOQ this long |
Run it
- In the sidebar, open Workspaces › Commercial and click BOQ Generator under AI agents (or find it in AI › AI Agents).
- Project — pick a project to attach the new BOQ to it, or leave All projects for a bid BOQ that belongs to no project yet.
- Type the work in Scope of work, or drop the client's file into Document (optional). For an Excel file with several sheets, type the sheet's name in Excel sheet (optional).
- Give it a BOQ name (optional). Leave Add to this draft BOQ (optional) and Re-use the outline from an earlier run (optional) empty for a new BOQ.
- Click Run agent and wait for Latest result.
- Under Drafts for you to review, open Create draft BOQ, check the Preview, and click Confirm — create draft.
- Click Continue on the run page, then Add the lines to the draft BOQ. This re-uses the outline already read — no second AI read, so no further credits.
- Confirm the Add lines to draft BOQ draft, then open the BOQ and price its lines from rate analysis.
To add lines to a BOQ you already have, paste its ID — the last part of the address when the BOQ is open — into Add to this draft BOQ (optional). The BOQ must still be in draft; otherwise the result says it "is … — lines can only be added to a draft".
Safeguards
- It never prices. No line carries a rate. A generated BOQ that arrived priced would be a guess at a contract sum.
- Nothing exists until you confirm, and what you confirm is a draft BOQ that a QS still prices and submits.
- Running it and confirming the empty BOQ need the right to create BOQs; adding the lines needs the right to edit them.
- Your file is read once for the run and never stored.
If lines are left out for an unknown unit, add the unit to your company's list or correct the scope, then run again — the attention list names each missing unit and how many lines used it.
Tips
- Clear scope gets a clear BOQ: one item per sentence, with the unit and quantity where you know them.
- Read Assumptions the generator made before you confirm. They are where the generator filled gaps.
- Check every "Quantity estimated — verify" line against the drawings before pricing.
- For a long, well-structured Excel BOQ, the BOQ import is faster and keeps every line.
Related
- BOQ — price and submit the draft BOQ.
- Rate analysis — where the rates come from.
- Resource Catalog Match — suggest the resource behind each new line.
- Drafts to review — confirm or cancel the two drafts.