Understanding Your Interior BOQ (Bill of Quantities)
If a contractor walks into your empty Vizag apartment, looks around, and says, "I can do the whole house for ₹5 Lakhs," politely ask them to leave. Professional interior design is a science of materials, not guesswork. To protect your investment, you must demand and understand a Bill of Quantities (BOQ).
What is a BOQ?
A BOQ (Bill of Quantities) is a comprehensive spreadsheet. It doesn't just give you a final price; it breaks down the cost of every single cabinet, wardrobe, and false ceiling in your house. It details the exact square footage, the core material, the exterior finish, and the hardware used for each specific item.
Red Flags: What to Look For in a Vizag BOQ
Because Vizag's coastal environment is so demanding, your BOQ must explicitly state the defensive materials being used. If you see these red flags, the contractor is cutting corners:
1. Vague Plywood Descriptions
- Red Flag: The BOQ says "Commercial Plywood" or just "Waterproof Plywood."
- What it Should Say: The BOQ must explicitly state the Indian Standard grading. For kitchens and wet areas, it must read: "IS 710 BWP (Boiling Water Proof) Marine Plywood." For dry areas like wardrobes, it should read "IS 303 MR Grade Plywood." Ideally, the brand name (e.g., CenturyPly, Greenply) should also be specified.
2. Missing Hardware Grades
- Red Flag: The BOQ says "Standard Hinges" or "Branded Channels."
- What it Should Say: "Standard" usually means mild steel, which will rust rapidly in Vizag's salt air. The BOQ must specify the metallurgical grade: "SS 304 Stainless Steel Soft-Close Hinges."
3. "Per Square Foot" Ambiguity
If a wardrobe is quoted simply as "100 sq.ft @ ₹1200/sq.ft = ₹1,20,000," you are being cheated on the internal configuration. Drawers are much more expensive to build than empty shelves. A proper BOQ will charge a base rate for the wardrobe carcass, and then add individual line items for every internal drawer (e.g., "Telescopic Drawer Unit: 3 Nos @ ₹3,000 each").
The Power of the BOQ
A detailed BOQ gives you total financial control. If the total price is over your budget, a transparent BOQ allows you to make surgical adjustments.
For example, you can look at the BOQ and decide to change the master bedroom wardrobe finish from expensive Acrylic down to Premium Laminate, instantly saving ₹20,000, without compromising the marine plywood core in the kitchen.
What one correctly written line actually looks like
The three red flags above are easier to spot side by side. Both columns below describe the same wardrobe at the same price — ₹1,20,000 for 100 sq.ft, plus three drawers at ₹3,000 each. Only one of them is enforceable.
| Field | Lump-sum quote | Enforceable BOQ line |
|---|---|---|
| Description | Master bedroom wardrobe | Master bedroom wardrobe, hinged shutters, carcass and shutters specified separately below |
| Quantity and unit | 100 sq.ft | 100 sq.ft, with the measurement basis stated once and used for every line in the document |
| Core material | "Waterproof plywood" | 18mm BWP to IS 710 for the base and any panel near the floor; 18mm BWR to IS 303 above. Brand named. |
| Edge banding | Not mentioned | 2mm PVC edge band on exposed edges, 0.8mm on internals |
| Hardware | "Branded soft-close fittings" | Hinges: named brand and series, SS 304, soft-close. Drawer channels: named brand and series. Quantity of each stated. |
| Finish | "Premium finish" | Laminate with the brand and shade code named, and the thickness stated for shutters and internals separately |
| Internals | Included in the rate | Telescopic drawer unit: 3 Nos @ ₹3,000 each, listed as their own line |
| Rate and amount | ₹1,20,000 | Rate per unit against each line, extended to an amount, subtotalled before GST |
Basis: AlcorOne execution rates as of , exclusive of GST. Indicative range for planning; the binding figure comes from an itemised BOQ against the actual site measurements and specification.
The right-hand column is not a longer version of the left. It is the difference between a number you hope is honoured and a specification you can hold someone to. Every field in it answers a question that otherwise gets settled on site, after your money has moved — and a brand named without a series is still half a specification, because within any of the major hardware brands the series is what sets the price.
If you are holding two or three quotes rather than one, those fields are also the columns you normalise them into. The nine variables that can make two quotes look lakhs apart when they are not are worked through, with a full example, in how to compare interior quotes line by line.
Your BOQ is the document your warranty is enforced against
This is the part most homeowners discover too late. A warranty on interior joinery is not a promise about a cabinet in the abstract — it is a promise about a specified cabinet. AlcorOne's ten-year carcass cover runs against delamination, borer attack and manufacturing defect in the board, and it is conditional on the board grade named in the signed BOQ being the grade actually supplied and installed.
Read that condition in reverse and the stakes become clear. If your BOQ line says "waterproof plywood" rather than "BWP to IS 710", no grade has been named, so there is nothing for the ten-year tier to attach to. The vague line does not merely risk you being handed a cheaper board. It removes the document that would have let you prove you were.
The same logic runs through the shorter tiers: workmanship cover depends on the installation scope being written down, and hardware cover depends on the make and series being identified well enough to register the manufacturer's own warranty in your name at handover. A BOQ is not paperwork to be tolerated before the interesting part starts. It is the artefact that survives into the years when something goes wrong. The full terms are on our terms page.
If you are managing a Vizag project from abroad
Remote owners carry every risk on this page twice over, because the usual corrective — walking onto site and looking at the board — is unavailable. Two habits close most of that gap.
First, lock the BOQ before you stop being able to inspect anything. A specification agreed while you can still visit is worth more than one negotiated over video once work has started, and a locked BOQ is what later makes a change identifiable as a change rather than a drift.
Second, insist that progress evidence is tied to BOQ line items rather than delivered as an untethered set of photographs. "Here is the kitchen this week" tells you almost nothing. "Base units, line 14, carcass assembled, board stamp visible in frame" tells you the thing you actually need to know, which is whether the grade you bought is the grade in your home. AlcorOne's weekly reporting is built that way, and there is a redacted sample progress report you can read before deciding whether it is enough for you. The wider remote-ownership track is at NRI and remote-owner project management in Vizag.
Before you ask anyone for a quote
A BOQ can only be as precise as the brief it answers. Much of the vagueness homeowners blame on contractors was in fact imported from the enquiry: an unclear scope produces an unclear quotation, and no amount of line-item discipline downstream can fix a room whose inclusion was never settled. The seven decisions worth making first are set out in the BOQ readiness checklist, which is free to read; the worked pack applies that framework to your own floor plan. If you would rather start from the document itself, the free BOQ format and specification sheet is an Excel workbook you can hand to any contractor.
Material Grades: Choosing the Right Plywood
Selecting the wrong wood grade for a specific area is the primary cause of premature interior failure. Here is the full hierarchy:
| Grade | Standard | Water Resistance | Best Used For |
|---|---|---|---|
| BWP (Marine Ply) | IS 710 | Boiling water — no delamination | Kitchen sink cabinet, utility storage, bathroom vanities, wet-wall units |
| BWR Plywood | IS 303 | High humidity + splashes | Kitchen wall cabinets, dining crockery units, dry overhead storage |
| Commercial / MR | IS 303 (MR) | Humidity only — no direct water | Bedroom wardrobes, TV units, study desks |
| HDHMR | — | High moisture resistance | Wardrobe shutter doors, kitchen shutters (high-gloss / PU finishes) |
| MDF / Particle Board | — | Poor — swells permanently | Low-wear vertical partitions only; avoid in kitchens entirely |
Rule: BWP IS 710 for any unit within 1 metre of a water source. BWR IS 303 for wall cabinets above the splash zone. Commercial MR for all dry rooms.
Written by Gogineni Kalyaan Kumar
Kalyaan is Principal at AlcorOne Solutions, the interior contracting firm he co-founded in 2022. He has overseen 80+ turnkey residential, villa, and commercial fit-outs across Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Vizag, with a focus on itemised BOQs, heavy-duty modular execution, and durable interior systems built for South India’s climate.
Sources & references.
Standards, regulatory registries, and manufacturer references that back the material grades, pricing framework, and compliance points in this guide:
Frequently asked questions.
Should civil work be included in the BOQ?
Yes. If the project requires breaking walls, shifting plumbing points, or installing a false ceiling, these must be explicitly listed as separate line items in the BOQ so there are no surprise charges later.
Does the BOQ include taxes?
A professional quote will clearly state the subtotal and then explicitly calculate the applicable GST (18% for interior woodwork) at the bottom. Be wary of contractors who offer "cash" quotes without GST, as this voids all warranties and consumer protections.
Will the final price change from the BOQ?
In a professional modular firm, the final BOQ is locked after the 3D designs and site measurements are finalized. The price will only change if you explicitly request to add a new cabinet or change a material during production.
How are AlcorOne projects paid for?
Projects require an upfront deposit of 20% of the total contract value before work begins, adjusted against the final invoice. The remaining payment is released in milestones tied to project progress — material procurement, civil and carpentry completion, finishing and handover — and the exact milestone schedule is agreed in writing for each project, since it varies with project size, scope and site conditions. Anything not listed in the signed BOQ is out of scope until it is agreed in writing as a variation, costed and confirmed before execution. Published rates are exclusive of GST.
What warranty does AlcorOne give on its interior work?
Three tiers, stated separately because they cover different things and expire at different times. Ten years on the plywood carcass from the date of handover, against delamination, borer attack and manufacturing defect in the board — conditional on the grade specified in the signed BOQ being the grade supplied and installed. One year on installation and workmanship: alignment, levelling, fixing, edge-banding and similar. Hardware, fittings and appliances carry the manufacturer's own term, and AlcorOne registers that documentation in the client's name at handover and facilitates the claim. Not covered under any tier: water ingress originating from base-building or plumbing defects outside AlcorOne's scope; damage from misuse, unauthorised modification, or third-party work carried out after handover; and normal wear to finishes.
Transparency is the foundation of a successful interior project. You deserve to know exactly what materials you are paying for, especially when protecting your home against the Vizag climate.
AlcorOne operates with 100% transparency. Our itemized BOQs guarantee that genuine BWP marine plywood and SS 304 hardware are used in your home, providing absolute peace of mind.
Demand absolute transparency.
We provide hyper-detailed, line-item BOQs so you know exactly which premium coastal materials are going into your home.