BOQ and House Plans

[cdmtdm]

what would you do in this situation ... i paid for a full set of engin.. drawings for my now finished house , that came with a boq and formed part of the signed contract ... now the contractor is finished and is asking for more money , over and above the contract price ...the reason..he FORGOT certain items on the house plans / drawings ( its is the same guy who did the plans and boq by the way) .... i dont want to accept that the boq is the be all and all of the contract ... yes i signed off on the boq , but i also signed off on the plans ...i assumed ( my mistake) that everything on the plans was in the boq ,....not the case.....my question ..what takes precedence the boq or the plans ? mind you even after many requests the the contract was only provided in Thai , i sat with my wife and worked through each item on the boq before signing (she has no building experience ) it was difficult as many of the items in the boq were encompassing multiple parts of the build ... i dont want to get touched up for more money if i can avoid it ...ideas? advice?

[Langsuan Man]

When you received the list of items included in the price quote for the house (assuming that your acronym boq means Bill of Quantities ) did the items listed show up in the price totals ?

The list of items takes precedence over the plans since the plans will just show an item, the detailed list (boq) will show the type, kind, and sometimes quality of the item to be used. So the boq will take precedence.

In my case I wrote into the house contract that I reserved the right to substitute more expensive items in place of items that the builder had listed in the price quote but that I would receive "credit" for each item that the builder listed and would only pay extra on the difference between the price he listed and the actual price of what I selected

[cdmtdm]

When you received the list of items included in the price quote for the house (assuming that your acronym boq means Bill of Quantities ) did the items listed show up in the price totals ?

The list of items takes precedence over the plans since the plans will just show an item, the detailed list (boq) will show the type, kind, and sometimes quality of the item to be used. So the boq will take precedence.

In my case I wrote into the house contract that I reserved the right to substitute more expensive items in place of items that the builder had listed in the price quote but that I would receive "credit" for each item that the builder listed and would only pay extra on the difference between the price he listed and the actual price of what I selected

yes i did the same and deleted such things as tapware , kitchen cupboards etc that worked fine ... but as an example a complete window set was missing off the boq , 1 door set short , mirrored robe doors missing these are all clearly on the plans ...i agree generally the boq will take precedence however it is open to problems as per my situation

[Langsuan Man]

Then you have to decide if you have any more work to be done, if you do, then you will have to pay for everything that was installed, whether it is on the list or not.

If the job is completely finished then it will be up to your conscience on what you do

In my case there were many things that were just not on the plans or the lists. Perimeter walls, gates, and gate doors for instance were added upon completion of the main house, not to mention landscaping

[malcolminthemiddle]

The question is who took the risk that the BOQ accurately described all the items on the drawings?

If the Builder prepared the BOQ then I would say it is the Builder who guarantees the BOQ is sufficient with the exception of any specific exclusions that the Builder identified in his quote.

This is standard practice for a Lump Sum Contract otherwise the Contract would be termed "Remeasurable".

[cdmtdm]

The question is who took the risk that the BOQ accurately described all the items on the drawings?

If the Builder prepared the BOQ then I would say it is the Builder who guarantees the BOQ is sufficient with the exception of any specific exclusions that the Builder identified in his quote.

This is standard practice for a Lump Sum Contract otherwise the Contract would be termed "Remeasurable".

i agree , the plans are provided to produce a BOQ , any items on the plans unless stated otherwise should be included in the BOQ , that is how i have always assumed it worked. MIM can you please explain the Remeasurable term ?

thx for the input to all

[Greenside]

I think you have to bring a measure of common sense to this kind of situation. It sounds like you're dealing with someone local rather than a major company so you can hardly expect them to make a loss if they got some of the quantities wrong although you don't want to go so far as to be hit up for extra profit if they got their sums wrong. Both the building projects that I have had experience with had inaccuracies in the BOQ. Since I was trying to keep my costs in check, I elected to supply some materials, for example roof tiles, in order to save the mark up and contractor's "overhead" (ie profit margin). If you do this then you assume some risk on both the pricing and the estimated quantity - usually the price the contractor quotes is obviously high but what's harder to foresee (unless you are a quantity surveyor) is whether they got the sums right over how many they'll need. Our first contractor was almost 30% out on the tiles so when it came time to settle up, I proposed that they pay half the extra cost which seemed like a fair compromise. They accepted and the net outcome was that I pretty much broke even on that aspect of the job. If I'd let them buy them I'd have paid more per tile but they would have had to eat the under estimate.

The same thing has happened on the house we are building now - a combination of under estimate and higher than expected breakage on the tiles means I'm going to be looking to the contractor to help me out. We'll see what happens with this one but I expect they will be reasonable bearing in mind I've mitigated some of their potential loss.

If they left a whole door assembly out then maybe you could have spotted it when you reviewed the contract. Dealing with second tier companies at what you hope will be more down-to-earth prices means that they don't have the margins to absorb mistakes. It helps if you show them that you understand but at the same time make it clear that it's not a free pass to just charge you more.

[malcolminthemiddle]

The question is who took the risk that the BOQ accurately described all the items on the drawings?

If the Builder prepared the BOQ then I would say it is the Builder who guarantees the BOQ is sufficient with the exception of any specific exclusions that the Builder identified in his quote.

This is standard practice for a Lump Sum Contract otherwise the Contract would be termed "Remeasurable".

i agree , the plans are provided to produce a BOQ , any items on the plans unless stated otherwise should be included in the BOQ , that is how i have always assumed it worked. MIM can you please explain the Remeasurable term ?

thx for the input to all

CdmtdmTo answer your question. A Bill of Quantities is made up of a number of columns. Item Description, Quantity, Unit of Measurement, Unit Rate and Cost. In Thailand it is quite common to show separate unit rates for labour and material.

In a "Fixed Lump Sum Contract" where the Builder has prepared the BOQ from drawings and specifications provided by the Owner the amount to be paid is the total of the cost column plus or minus any changes (Variations). In this type of Contract the BOQ provides a schedule of rates used to price these changes (Variations) if the rates are applicable. "Fixed Lump Sum Contract" is the most common type used in Thailand.

In a "Remeasurable Contract" the Item Description, Quantity, Unit of Measurement, Unit Rate and Cost are not fixed and subject to remeasurement from AS-Built darwings according to a set of rules of measurement which are bound into the contract. "Remeasurable Contracts" are often used when the design is not complete at the start of construction. "Remeasurable Contracts" are not common in Thailand.

Hope this explanation helps.