Category: Quantities & pricing
Prepared by Eng. Ahmed Fathy, Projects Manager ·
Definition
Preliminaries are the first section of the BOQ, covering what the whole project needs: mobilisation, site office, signboard, safety, temporary water and power, cleaning and handover.
Why it matters on a project
They are the right place to price time-related costs. Leaving them empty or nominal means those costs come out of profit.
Measurement and pricing
Usually priced as lump sums or monthly amounts.
Common mistake
Pricing them nominally to cut the total, then losing the real costs as the job runs on.
Frequently asked questions
What is included in preliminaries?
Mobilisation, site office, signboard, safety, temporary services, insurance, cleaning, waste removal and handover.
Why are preliminaries sometimes priced monthly?
Many of them follow project duration, so an extension can be valued easily.
Related terms
- Indirect costs (overheads)Site and head-office costs not attributable to a single item, added as a percentage.
- Bill of quantities (BOQ)A list of work items with description, unit and quantity, priced item by item.
- Direct costThe sum of material, labour and equipment cost of an item excluding overheads.
- Unit rateThe item price per unit of measure, built from material, labour and equipment then indirect costs and profit.
Read next
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