Bill of Quantities (BOQ) Analysis with AI
A bill of quantities (BOQ), or Leistungsverzeichnis, is only as useful as it is complete. Missing quantities, vague specifications, and ambiguous positions are where budgets slip and change orders are born — and spotting them by reading hundreds of line items by hand is slow and error-prone.
Maxi.Build AI reads the whole document for you. Drop in a BOQ as a PDF, a GAEB file, or an Excel export, and the AI extracts every position, groups it by section, describes the scope, and hands you a structured critique of what to fix before a single supplier sees it.
Key features
- Reads PDF, GAEB, and Excel — structured GAEB files (X83) are parsed directly without OCR; scanned PDFs and spreadsheets are read with AI OCR, no template setup
- Line-item extraction grouped by section — every position with its quantity, unit, and section subheading, ready to review and edit
- Scope summary and per-section descriptions — a plain-language overview of what the BOQ covers, section by section
- Three-way critique — the AI returns suggestions (what to clarify or fix before sending), highlights (large or unusual positions worth attention), and pitfalls (contradictions, missing information, and likely change-order traps)
- Procurement-readiness analysis — an on-demand report that classifies the document (true BoQ vs. BOM vs. specification), identifies trade packages, lists missing information needed for accurate pricing, and recommends how to package it for suppliers
- Auto-drafted request for quotation — analyzing a BOQ automatically creates a draft RFQ from the extracted positions, so you go from document to sourcing in one step
- Analysis instructions you control — a company-wide brief plus a note saved on the individual document tell the AI what to look for, so your standing requirements are checked on every bill of quantities
How it works
- Upload the BOQ. Add your bill of quantities from the BOQ page as a PDF, GAEB X83, or Excel file. Structured GAEB skips OCR and goes straight to extraction.
- AI extracts and structures it. Every line item is pulled out and grouped under its section, with quantities and units normalized.
- Read the critique. Review the scope summary, the per-section descriptions, and the suggestions, highlights, and pitfalls the AI surfaced — fix the gaps while the document is still yours to change.
- Run the procurement-readiness analysis. For a deeper pass, generate the markdown analysis: document classification, trade packages, missing-information checklist, and recommended RFQ packages.
- Move to sourcing. A draft request for quotation is created automatically. From here you can generate an AI budget estimate or prepare and send the RFQ to suppliers.
Steering the analysis
The critique is not fixed. Two layers of instruction shape what the AI looks for, and they are combined — company-wide first, then whatever is saved on the document:
- Company-wide instructions live under Custom AI prompts in settings and apply to every bill of quantities your team analyzes. This is where standing rules belong: the standards you build to, the trades you always want split out, the omissions that have cost you before.
- Per-document instructions are saved with the individual BOQ and cover what is specific to it — an unusual client, a phase that has to be priced separately, a section you want scrutinized.
Because the instructions live on the document, re-running the analysis after changing them re-reads the same BOQ with the new brief. Nothing is uploaded again and the extracted positions stay untouched; only the section descriptions, the summary, and the critique are regenerated. Rewriting the brief and running it again is the cheapest way to get a sharper read on a document you already have.
Who it's for
BOQ analysis is built for procurement managers, estimators, and site managers at construction firms who receive bills of quantities they didn't write — and need to know, fast, whether a document is complete enough to price. The AI does the tedious line-by-line reading so you can catch the expensive gaps before they reach a supplier.