Nigerian quantity surveying, in practical detail

Written for someone preparing a bill in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt or Ibadan this week — with the naira arithmetic shown and the assumptions stated.

Overview BOQ software in Nigeria What it replaces, what it costs in naira, and why the Excel workbook keeps breaking on the third revision. Reference BESMM4 and BillMate What is implemented for Nigerian measurement, what is not, and a section structure to use meanwhile. Template Nigerian BOQ template A full section list and a worked substructure bill to copy into Excel or BillMate. Method Rate analysis, Nigeria Cement, sand, granite, gang labour, mixer hire, waste, overheads and profit — arithmetic shown. Workflow A Nigerian rate library Import an old schedule, match descriptions, check units, record location and date, uplift with provenance. Workflow Taking-off sheet A worked strip foundation with timesing and deductions, cast into the bill.

Written byThe BillMate product teamProduct and documentation

Last reviewed26 August 2026

Correctionssupport@billmate.site

What you will not find here

A Nigerian rate index. We do not publish one and we do not intend to. Rates move too fast, vary too much between Lagos Island and the mainland, and depend too heavily on a specific contractor's supply chain for a national figure from a software vendor to be anything but misleading.

What we publish instead is method: how a rate is assembled from constituents you can price yourself, how to keep the resulting library located and dated, and how to tell when one has gone stale. The worked figures in these guides are illustrations of that method, labelled as such, with a city and a month attached.

You will also not find the BESMM document, or any other copyright standard, offered for download. Why.

What we are writing after these.

Listed so you know what is coming, not published as empty pages.

Preliminaries in a Nigerian billWhat actually belongs in prelims, and the argument for pricing them rather than applying a blanket percentage.
Reinforcement: measuring and pricingBar schedules, cutting and bending, laps and wastage, and where the tonnage rate hides.
Pricing under inflationDating rates, fluctuation provisions, and what a controlled uplift can and cannot compensate for.
Provisional sums and contingencyWhere each belongs, and the difference a client's surveyor will look for.
Checking a bill before you issue itThe arithmetic checks, the unpriced-item check, and the stale-rate check.

Reading is cheaper than re-measuring.

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