Sense-check an estimate against benchmarks

Pull up the priced BOQ and read the shape of it: the total, the split by element or trade, and the cost per square metre of floor area, so you know what a benchmark should be measured against.

Why: You cannot judge whether a number is sensible until you can see how it breaks down. Getting the totals and the rate per square metre in front of you is the ground every later check stands on.

Take the big-value and the odd-looking rates into the cost base and set them beside the reference prices for the same work and region, noting anything sitting well above or below the market band.

Why: A rate ten times too high wins you nothing and a rate ten times too low wins you a job you lose money on. Comparing against a real cost base is how a keyed-in slip gets caught before it becomes a bid.

Run the estimate through the checks for zero prices, missing quantities and rates outside a sensible band, then correct or explain every flag so nothing unexplained survives into the issued number.

Why: One fat-fingered rate can swing a tender by a fortune and cost you the job or the margin. A clean pass through the checks is the last gate before the estimate becomes a commitment.