QScope

Cost estimate

The estimate starts from a library, not a blank page

Descriptions and units come from the SMM7 library. The quantity and the rate are yours, and the bill you price is the one every later valuation measures against.

  • Descriptions and units from the standard method, entered once and reused on every job
  • 1,660 distinct item descriptions, so the wording on the bill is the wording a QS expects
  • Your own rates against every item, kept for the next job
Start free for 30 days See the interactive demo

30 days free, no card.

Cost estimate
Bill of quantities · from the library
SMM7 sectionUnits
A: Preliminaries16 sections
D: Groundworkitem, m, m2, m3
E: In situ concreteitem, m, m2, m3
F: Masonryitem, m, m2, m3
Library items8,397

Pick the item, enter the quantity and your rate. The description and the unit are already right, because they come from the method of measurement.

The library

8,397 items you do not have to type

The library carries 8,397 priced items across the 16 SMM7 work sections, from preliminaries to external works.

  • Descriptions and units from the standard method, entered once and reused on every job
  • 1,660 distinct item descriptions, so the wording on the bill is the wording a QS expects
  • Your own rates against every item, kept for the next job
Cost estimate
Bill of quantities · from the library
SMM7 sectionUnits
A: Preliminaries16 sections
D: Groundworkitem, m, m2, m3
E: In situ concreteitem, m, m2, m3
F: Masonryitem, m, m2, m3
Library items8,397

Pick the item, enter the quantity and your rate. The description and the unit are already right, because they come from the method of measurement.

Your rates

The rate is yours, and it stays yours

A library gives you the wording; it has no idea what your market charges this year.

  • Rates entered per item, per job, with nothing assumed
  • A repriced item keeps its description, so two estimates stay comparable line by line
  • Sections subtotal as you go, up to the estimate total
Cost estimate
Estimate · section subtotals
SectionValue
1.00 Substructure£154,000.00
2.00 Frame & upper floors£432,000.00
3.00 External envelope£388,500.00
Estimate total£2,190,000.00

Every figure is the sum of the lines below it. Change a rate and the section, and the total, move with it.

Into the contract

The estimate becomes the bill the job runs on

An estimate that lives in a different file from the valuations is two versions of the truth.

  • One click turns the priced estimate into the contract bill of quantities
  • Every valuation then values against those same lines
  • The final account adjusts the same structure, so nothing is retyped between estimate and settlement
Cost estimate
From estimate to certificate
Estimatepriced from the library
Bill of quantitiesthe same lines
Valuationspercent or fixed sum per line
Final accountthe same structure

The structure you price at the start is the structure the client sees for the rest of the contract.

See it running before you sign up

Who it is for

Four chairs, one valuation on the table

You are applying

You value it, and the certificate cuts it

You value the work line by line and submit the application. When the certificate lands short, the difference is argued line by line too, and your valuation is the evidence.

Applying for payment
the same measurement

You are certifying

You cut it, and you sign your name

You value the same lines from the other chair and issue the certificate. Every percentage you cut has to survive the question of why, a month or a year later.

Certifying payment

You are doing both

You value your own work, alone

You price it, you value it and you apply for it yourself, between site visits. The certificate still has to add up as if a surveyor had built it.

Doing both yourself

You are reporting

You certify value the lender pays on

You certify value in place so the lender can release the next tranche. The valuation is the same arithmetic; the reader was never on site.

Recommending a drawdown

The client, the architect and the tenderer are not on this list. They are the people you let in on a link: they see the one document you sent them, answer it, and that answer is written into the record. No account, no licence, no charge, on every plan.

FAQs

The questions this page raises most often, answered without a sales pitch at the end.

No. You can enter your own lines from scratch, bring in a priced document, or mix the two. The library is there so the wording and the units are right without typing them.

No, and that is deliberate. Descriptions and units are standard; rates are yours. A library rate would be somebody else’s guess about your market.

The library is organised by SMM7 work sections, 8,397 priced items across all 16 of them. You can rename and reorganise sections freely once they are in your estimate.

It becomes the bill of quantities. Valuations value against those lines, variations join them as new lines, and the final account adjusts the same structure through to the balance due.

From the blog

The part nobody teaches you, written down

Three pieces from the same corner of a contract as this page, answered at length and without a sales pitch at the end.

Valuations14/08/2026
Reverse charge VAT: why your subcontractor’s invoice has no VAT on it

Since the domestic reverse charge, most VAT-registered construction supplies inside CIS swap who accounts for the tax: the customer does, not the supplier. Why the invoice looks wrong and is right, the end user exception, and the cash flow effect nobody warns you about.

Read now
Valuations07/08/2026
JCT or RIBA: which contract for a small building job?

The honest answer is that either beats a two-page quote, and the choice mostly follows who the client is: RIBA’s domestic forms are written for homeowners, JCT Minor Works for jobs run by a professional. And Minor Works is not a small version of the big forms.

Read now
Valuations12/06/2026
VAT tax point on certificates and retention: when the tax falls due

For construction the tax point is usually the earlier of invoice or payment. Retention is different: its tax point waits until the retention is received or invoiced.

Read now

All 174 pieces

Keep reading

The three parts this page leans on

Bill of quantities Enter your priced bill once, with sections, subtotals and currency. Measured to UK SMM or NRM, or internationally to POMI, CESMM or FIDIC re-measurement. See how it works Tender comparison Your document and up to eight returned bids, matched by item reference rather than by row order. Unpriced items are levelled on a basis you choose, printed against every adjustment. See how it works Interim valuations Interim valuations and payment certificates by percentage or fixed sum, with retention and previously certified. UK JCT and NEC, plus FIDIC certificates. See how it works

Price the first section from the library

Pick the items, put your own quantities and rates against them, and watch the sections subtotal to the estimate. Nothing is retyped between the estimate and the bill.

Start free for 30 days See the interactive demo

30 days free, no card.

Rather ask first? Write to help@qscope.co.uk and you will get a reply within one working day, Monday to Friday.