What is a Schedule of Works, and why do builders’ quotes need one?

You send the drawings to three builders and receive three very different prices. Which one is right?

Before looking at the totals, I want to know whether they have priced the same work. One may include something another has excluded. One may allow for a modest kitchen while another has assumed a much higher specification. Those differences can make the lowest figure misleading.

A Schedule of Works gives builders a common basis for pricing. For homeowners, we describe our measured schedule as a builder pricing pack.

What is a Schedule of Works?

It is an organised description of the work to be carried out, read alongside the drawings and specification. Our pack includes measured quantities, units and spaces for each builder to enter their rates and prices, with section totals and a summary.

Every builder receives the same list and the same information. That makes it much easier to compare what they are offering and identify missing items or qualifications.

A schedule is part of the information issued for pricing. It does not replace the drawings, technical design, or specification, and it cannot substitute for completed design, but it collates information in one place and clarifies some gaps that may still remain.

What should a Schedule of Works include?

The detail should suit the job. A straightforward extension does not need the same volume of paperwork as a complex refurbishment, but both need a clear description of what is being priced.

Our schedules organise the work into sections such as:

• Preliminaries: the builder’s costs of setting up and running the site.

• Strip-out, demolition and alterations to the existing building.

• Foundations, structure, external walls and roof.

• Windows, doors, plastering, carpentry and finishes.

• Kitchens, bathrooms, fitted joinery and building services, where included in the project.

• External works.

The pack also asks for relevant day rates. These can help assess certain additional work where that method is appropriate; they are not a rule that every change will be charged by the day. How changes are instructed and valued needs to be agreed as part of the contract arrangements.

What does a Schedule of Works look like?

This extract is from the demolition and alterations section of our sample Schedule of Works. We have reformatted four rows from the Excel file so you can read them on the page. The descriptions and quantities are unchanged.

Sample Schedule of Works: descriptions and quantities are provided; the builder enters the rates and values. View the Schedule of Works extract at full size.

Notice how each line describes a specific piece of work. The quantities and units give builders a common starting point, while the blank rate and value columns are where each contractor records their price.

A blank pricing cell is not a zero-cost allowance.

Once builders have completed the same schedule, you can compare the individual items as well as the totals. An Elemental Cost Plan, by comparison, already contains our estimated rates and costs to help you make design and budget decisions.

Make the allowances consistent

Not every choice will be final when you ask for prices. That is understandable, but the uncertainty needs to be visible.

For an undecided finish, the documents might set a common supply allowance (Prime Cost Sum - PC Sum). For work that cannot yet be properly defined, they may include a provisional sum (PS): an allowance to be reviewed when the scope is clearer. These are different things, and neither should be mistaken for a confirmed price for a final choice.

In my procurement webinars, I stress that the project team should set the basis of those allowances consistently. If each builder chooses their own, a low allowance can make a tender look attractive without reducing what you eventually need to spend.

The answer is to resolve as much as reasonably possible before pricing, and record what remains uncertain.

What it helps you check

With a common pricing document, you can see whether each builder has:

• Priced the requested work, or left items blank.

• Accepted the specification, or proposed an alternative.

• Included the stated allowances and explained any exclusions.

• Made qualifications that change the scope or the basis of their price.

A blank line does not automatically mean the work is included elsewhere. Ask. The comparison still needs someone to read the submissions and resolve those questions.

This helps good builders too. Clear information gives them a fair opportunity to price the actual project, without guessing what you meant or competing against a price that leaves things out.

What about a priced Schedule of Works?

We issue the standard builder pricing pack for builders to price. We can also prepare a version with our own benchmark prices, using our cost data. That provides another reference when assessing unusually high or low items.

The benchmark is an estimate. It is not a builder’s offer or a guarantee of the final cost. This add-on is available with a Schedule of Works prepared by us.

A design cost check (Elemental Cost Plan) has a different main purpose: helping you test the design and compare options earlier, while decisions are still being made.

It does not choose the builder for you

Price is only part of the decision. Relevant experience, quality of work, capacity, references, and the ability to work with your team matter too.

My preference is to assess suitability before asking builders to tender, rather than deciding who looks credible after seeing their prices. A cheap offer is difficult to judge objectively once you have started hoping it will make the project affordable.

We discuss that distinction between price and value in Episode 19 of The Home Project Podcast.

A lower total deserves investigation, not an automatic rejection or an automatic appointment.

When do you need a Schedule of Works?

Prepare it as the detailed drawings and specifications come together, so gaps can be resolved before the package goes to builders. If you are still comparing early sketches, a cost plan is usually the more useful starting point.

If you already have quotes that are difficult to compare, first establish what is missing or different. Some can be clarified. Where the underlying scope is too inconsistent, asking builders to re-price a common Schedule of Works may be the sensible next step.

Our builder pricing pack starts at £1,495 including VAT. The benchmark-priced version starts at an additional £745 including VAT. We also offer a combined cost plan and builder pricing pack. A quantity surveyor confirms the scope and fixed fee in writing before you pay.

Choose your next step

See our services for homeowners if you have drawings or quotes to discuss. If you are unsure which document fits your stage, read Builder’s quote, cost plan or Schedule of Works: which do you need and when?