You have three quotes for the same 12,000 sq ft office. One is ₹1.9 crore, one is ₹2.4 crore, one is ₹2.9 crore. Same floor plate, same drawings, same brief. Somebody is wrong — but the spreadsheet on your desk will not tell you who.
Comparing office fit-out quotes is the most expensive hour of an office project. Get it right and you walk in with a budget that holds and a contractor who cannot ambush you in month three. Get it wrong and you sign the lowest number, then spend the difference — and usually more — on variation orders.
Here is how to read an office fit-out BOQ line by line, and what to check before you shortlist anyone.
Why the same office produces three very different numbers
A 40% spread between bidders almost never comes from margin. It comes from four things, and each one is findable:
- Different assumed specifications. One bidder priced 1mm laminate and a local hardware brand; another priced 1.5mm and Hettich. On paper both say “workstation”.
- Different assumed quantities. One measured carpet area, one measured chargeable area. On a 12,000 sq ft chargeable floor that gap alone can be 20–25% of every area-linked line.
- Different scope boundaries. Who is paying for the AC ductwork drop, the fire NOC drawings, the landlord’s supervision charges, the DG set tapping?
- Different risk pricing. A contractor who has read the building’s fit-out manual prices the night-work restriction. One who hasn’t, doesn’t — yet.
Only the last one is a judgement call. The first three are errors of comparison, and they are yours to eliminate.
Step 1: Force every bidder onto one BOQ
The single highest-leverage move in the whole tender is refusing to accept quotes in the bidder’s own format. Issue your own Bill of Quantities — same line items, same units, same quantities, same specification notes — and ask every contractor to fill in rates only.
Suddenly the comparison is honest. Where a bidder disagrees with your quantity, they have to say so in writing, and that disagreement is itself useful information: if two of three bidders think your ceiling area is short by 900 sq ft, your drawings need a look, not their quotes.
If you are running a design and build tender rather than traditional contracting, the same principle applies — you just issue a performance specification instead of a fully detailed BOQ, and insist every bidder responds against the same clause numbers.
Step 2: The line items where quotes usually hide
Ceiling and partitions
Check whether the ceiling rate includes the framework, the cut-outs for lights and diffusers, and the peripheral pelmet. Check whether glass partitions are quoted with or without hardware, film, and manifestation. These are the two lines that most often arrive “complete” in one quote and “supply only” in another.
MEP
This is where the biggest silent gaps live. Ask specifically whether the quote covers the HVAC tapping from the landlord’s riser, the fire detection and suppression modification, the UPS and raw power distribution, and low-voltage containment for IT. MEP services quietly decide your cost and timeline — a quote that is light on MEP is not cheaper, it is incomplete.
Flooring and skirting
Screeding and levelling are frequently excluded and then re-appear as a variation once the floor is surveyed. If the base build is a bare shell rather than a warm shell, ask for levelling to be priced as a provisional sum rather than left out.
Loose furniture
Loose furniture can be 15–25% of a fit-out budget and is the easiest line to make look competitive by dropping a specification tier. Compare chair models and warranty years, not chair counts.
Step 3: Interrogate quantities harder than rates
Most clients spend their review time on rates, because rates feel negotiable. But rates in a competitive Indian market cluster within a fairly narrow band; quantities do not. A rate that is 8% high on a correctly measured quantity costs you far less than a rate that is 8% low on a quantity that is 30% short.
Practical test: divide each quote’s total by the built-up area and see where it lands against benchmark office fit-out cost per square foot in India. A quote sitting well below the benchmark for your specification tier is not a bargain — it is a question you have not asked yet.
Step 4: Read the exclusions page before the totals page
Turn to the exclusions and assumptions first. Every fit-out quote has them; the difference between a good contractor and a risky one is whether the exclusions are specific or generic. “Any item not explicitly mentioned above” is not an exclusion list, it is a blank cheque.
Look particularly for statutory items. Fire NOCs and other approvals add weeks to Indian fit-out projects, and the liaison cost and drawing effort behind them is real money. If nobody has priced it, you will.
Step 5: Compare commercial terms, not just the bottom line
Two quotes at the same number are not the same offer if one asks for 40% mobilisation advance and the other asks for 20% against a bank guarantee. Normalise for:
- Payment milestones and retention percentage
- Defect liability period — 12 months is standard, 6 is not
- Liquidated damages for delay, and whether they are capped
- Rate validity and escalation clauses on steel, glass, and imported hardware
- Named subcontractors for MEP and joinery
- Programme — a quote promising 8 weeks where everyone else says 14 is pricing a schedule it cannot hold
A 10-minute quote comparison checklist
- Are all quotes against the same BOQ, same units, same areas?
- Does each total divided by area sit in a defensible band for the specification tier?
- Is MEP scope explicit, item by item?
- Are exclusions specific, and does anyone exclude something everyone else includes?
- Are furniture and joinery specified by make and model, not description?
- Is there a provisional sum for floor levelling and base-build surprises?
- Do payment terms, retention, and DLP match across bidders?
- Does the programme match the scope, and does it account for approvals?
- Who carries the risk if the landlord’s fit-out manual restricts working hours?
- Has each bidder actually visited the site?
The lowest quote and the lowest final cost are rarely the same document
The number that matters is not the one on the quote — it is the final account, eight months later, after variations. A quote that is 12% higher but complete will beat a quote that is 12% lower and hollow, almost every time, and it will do it without the fortnightly arguments that make a fit-out miserable.
The workaround is simple, if not easy: standardise the BOQ, price the scope rather than the summary, and treat an unexplained low bid as a risk rather than a win.
AirBrick Infra delivers AI-enabled commercial design and build projects across 65+ cities in India, working from a single transparent BOQ so clients can see exactly what they are paying for. If you are comparing fit-out quotes right now and want a second read on the numbers, get in touch with our team.
