Item price-analysis template in Excel

When do you need a price analysis?

• Before pricing a tender BOQ: to know the unit price covers its cost and your margin.
• When the consultant or the owner asks for the analysis of a new item or a variation item.
• When material prices rise: to see how steel or cement prices move each item.
• To compare a subcontractor quote with the real cost of the item.

What is in the file?

• One right-to-left sheet, set to print on A4 landscape.
• Two fully analysed example items (reinforced concrete slab, brick wall) and a third empty item with its formulas to copy for your own items.
• Per item: material, labour and equipment lines, the direct cost, overheads, profit and the unit price.
• The rates and prices in the two example items are for illustration only, not market prices.

How to fill it, step by step

1. Type the item name and unit in the item title line (the coloured line).
2. Add the material lines with what one unit of the item consumes, waste included.
3. Add labour (piece rate, or day rate converted to the item unit) and equipment or wear and tear.
4. Check the overheads and profit percentages in the quantity column against your company costs and the project.
5. Copy the whole empty item for each new item; the formulas come with it.

Column guide: what goes in each column

Worked example: one m3 of reinforced concrete slab

With the example rates and prices in the file (illustration only):

Profit is taken on the direct cost plus overheads, the same way Ta3mir prices an estimate.

Practical notes

• Put waste in the consumption rate, not in the price, so the price matches the supplier quote.
• Update steel and cement prices before every tender; they move concrete item prices the most.
• Note each price's source and date; the consultant asks for it when reviewing a new item analysis.