Guides

Practical guides for people who measure and price work

How a bill of quantities is put together, how the site accounts are kept, what to look for in a price list: short, concrete guides, written for people at work — not for people who enjoy manuals.

The full user manual (PDF)

Every tab and every feature, from installing the program to exporting your work, in plain words. It is in the app too: Help menu → Read the manual.

The guide for your role (PDF)

Eight roles and four particular cases — works supervision, project manager, design, contractor, private works, building manager, safety, tax allowances, plus conservator, expert witness, services contractor and school. Read only your own chapter.

How to prepare a bill of quantities

The document that turns a design into numbers: what it contains, how the work is measured and where the rates come from.

Allegato II.14 compliance: digital site accounts and open formats

What art. 12 comma 10 of the Italian public contracts Code asks of site accounting software, and how it is answered.

Interim valuations: paying for work as it is built

The document that records how much work has been done and how much is due to the contractor. In Italy, the SAL.

Price revision: homogeneous work types and the article 60 calculation

From the ISTAT indices to the amount due to the contractor: the twenty homogeneous types, the weights and the coefficient.

Measurement records: keeping the site accounts straight

The two records that hold the site accounts together, from measuring the work to paying for it.

Labour content: what it is and how it is worked out

The share of every rate that pays for people's work — and why it is a number you can no longer ignore.

The project budget: what it is and how it is built

The whole cost of the scheme: not just the works, but everything it takes to get to the end.

How to write a building quotation that gets signed

From the site visit to the offer on headed paper: what to write, what not to forget and how to do it quickly.

Moving a bill of quantities between estimating packages

The exchange file that saves you the worst job in the world: retyping a bill by hand. In Italy, the XPWE format.

Published price books: how to price a bill of quantities

Somebody has already worked the rates out. The problem is not finding them: it is using them well.

Bills of quantities on a Mac

Why ComputoLab is the bill of quantities app built for people working on macOS too.

Put them into practice

Download ComputoLab free and try what you read here on a real project.

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