What a furniture BOQ should contain

Why an incomplete line costs you later

A bill of quantities is a control document, not a shopping list. When a line omits the carcass material, the zone it sits in, or which drawing it follows, each supplier fills the gap with their own cheapest reasonable assumption — and their quotes stop being comparable. In Sarawak's heat and humidity the most expensive gap is the moisture zone: two suppliers can both quote a 'sink base cabinet' while one prices particleboard and the other prices a non-wood carcass. Specify enough that nothing is left to interpretation, and the differences between quotes become real, not accidental.

The anatomy of a complete line

Every cabinetry line should carry the same fields so it can be read the same way by an estimator, a fabricator and an installer. Treat each field as mandatory; a blank is a question that will be answered by someone other than you. Where a field genuinely does not apply, write 'N/A' rather than leaving it empty, so a reviewer can tell the difference between 'not needed' and 'forgotten'.

• Item and reference code — a plain name plus a unique tag that ties to the drawing (e.g. KIT-04)
• Location / room — the specific position, because it fixes the moisture zone and the site conditions
• Carcass material by zone — the substrate chosen for that zone (P6 particleboard, plywood, ACP, honeycomb aluminium, full aluminium), never just 'board'
• Finish — front material, colour/decor name, sheen, and the sample reference it must match
• Hardware — hinges, runners, soft-close, handles, and fixings by grade (e.g. SS304/SS316 where corrosion matters)
• Key dimensions — width, height, depth, and any critical constraint (opening, service gap, appliance cut-out)
• Quantity and unit — the count and the unit of measure (nr, running metre, m2, set)
• Inclusions / exclusions — what the line covers and what it explicitly does not (worktop, sink, splashback, delivery, install)
• Drawing and sample references — the drawing number/revision and the approved sample this line is held against

Carcass material must be named by zone

The single most important honesty in a furniture BOQ is that the carcass is specified by where it lives, not by a generic word. Dry zones can carry standardized P6 particleboard; semi-wet or upgraded areas step to plywood; genuinely wet zones — sink bases, bathrooms, laundries, damp external walls — step up to non-wood such as ACP or full aluminium. 'Moisture-resistant' board is never waterproof, so it does not belong in a wet zone regardless of price. Write the zone into the location field and the substrate into the material field, and the line prices itself honestly. Keep emission grade (E1/E0/ENF) as a separate health note — it speaks to formaldehyde, not to water.

Anchor every line to a drawing and a sample

Dimensions and finishes only mean something when they point back to an approved source. Each line should cite the drawing number and revision it was taken from, and the physical sample — colour, sheen, decor, edge — it must be built to match. Colour agreement is best described as matching the approved dye-lot within an agreed colour-difference (ΔE) tolerance that you record in writing, rather than a number pulled from the air. This is also where the ALUMAX model helps: once a unit is drawn, a real prototype is approved and the specification is frozen, that frozen line becomes the reference the whole BOQ repeats against — one approved unit, repeated across a development.

State inclusions and exclusions on the line itself

Most BOQ disputes are not about the cabinet — they are about the worktop, the sink cut-out, the splashback, delivery, or who installs. Put inclusions and exclusions on each line, not buried in a cover note, so the reader prices exactly the same scope. If a worktop is measured and supplied separately, say so on the cabinet line and give the worktop its own line. Where scope crosses trades, add an RFI note rather than assuming, and keep a snag/handover expectation attached so QC has something concrete to check against.

What a good line looks like

A complete line reads as a single unambiguous instruction that an estimator can price, a fabricator can build, and an installer can verify — with no field left to guess. Compare the two below: the weak line invites three different quotes, the strong line forces like-for-like.

• WEAK — 'Kitchen sink base cabinet, 900mm, white, 1 nr' (no zone, no substrate, no hardware grade, no sample, no drawing, no scope)
• STRONG — 'KIT-04 Sink base cabinet | Location: kitchen wet zone, external wall | Carcass: ACP (wet-zone substrate) | Finish: front to match approved sample SMP-12, matt, edge-banded all exposed edges | Hardware: soft-close hinges + runners; handles per SMP-12; fixings SS316 | Dimensions: 900W x 720H x 560D, allow plumbing service gap per drawing | Qty: 1 nr | Includes: carcass, front, internal shelf, soft-close, install | Excludes: worktop, sink, tap, plumbing connection | Refs: drawing A-201 Rev C, sample SMP-12'