How to avoid scope gaps in an industrial BOQ
Scope gaps are not found during tendering. They are found on site, at the worst moment, and somebody always pays for them.
What to send before asking for a fabrication quotation
Why fabrication quotations vary so wildly between vendors, and the six inputs that make them comparable.
If four fabricators quote the same job and the prices vary by forty percent, they are not quoting the same job. They are each filling the gaps in the enquiry with different assumptions.
What a fabricator actually needs
Drawings with sections marked. A general arrangement without section sizes forces the fabricator to guess at weight, and weight is the price.
A bill of material, if one exists. Send it even if you are not sure it is correct. A good fabricator will do an independent take-off and tell you where the two disagree, which is useful information before the order rather than a claim after it.
Material grade and specification. Mild steel is not a specification. IS 2062 E250 is.
Surface finish. Primer only, primer plus paint, powder coating, galvanising — each is a different price and a different lead time. “Painted” is not enough.
Quantity and delivery location. Freight on structural work is not a rounding error.
Whether erection is included. Supply, supply and delivery, or supply and erect are three different scopes and three different risk profiles.
What “rate per kg” hides
Per-kilogram pricing is normal in Indian industrial fabrication and it works, but only when both sides agree on the weight. Ask two questions before accepting one:
- Is the rate against drawing weight or actual dispatch weight?
- Does it include cutting wastage, or is that added?
The commonest gap
Nobody states who does the site measurement. The fabricator assumes the drawing is correct; the customer assumes the fabricator will verify on site. The steel arrives 60 mm too long and both sides are surprised.
Write down who measures. It costs one line.