A furniture bill of quantities is the document that lets you compare two quotes without taking anything on faith: same numbering, same description, same quantities, unit prices side by side. On a twenty-room job, a well-written bill of quantities surfaces differences of 20-30% that stay invisible in a bottom-line total. It isn’t a shopping list and it isn’t a quote: it’s the basis on which the contract gets written, and the one that variations will be argued over against in six months’ time.
Anyone furnishing a hotel for the first time receives three quotes with three different structures, three ways of grouping the line items, and three totals that differ by €40,000. The natural reaction is to ask the most expensive one for a discount. The useful reaction is to ask all three for the same bill of quantities.
Contents
Who draws it up, and on what basis
The bill of quantities is prepared by the site supervisor or the interior designer, and handed to suppliers as part of the furniture specification. When it’s missing, and in independent properties it almost always is, the supplier drafts it while quoting: that’s fine, provided the hotelier then circulates it unchanged to the other competitors, otherwise they’re comparing documents written by different authors with the same aim of not being comparable.
The basis is the dimensioned drawings taken after the on-site measurement survey, not the design drawings. The gap between the two, in a 1960s building, runs between 3 and 8 cm per wall, and those are the centimetres that decide whether a wardrobe fits between two walls or needs a filler panel.
How it’s structured
It’s divided by lots, and within each lot by space. A structure that works well:
Lot 1, rooms, split by type: standard double, superior double, single, junior suite, accessible room. Lot 2, bathrooms, when the bathroom furniture is supplied by the same operator. Lot 3, corridors and floor landings, with the panelling, room number plaques, floor service furniture. Lot 4, lobby, reception and lounge. Lot 5, breakfast room. Lot 6, back-of-house areas and offices, which everyone forgets about until two weeks before opening.
Every line item carries a hierarchical number that never changes for the whole duration of the job, of the form 01.03 for the third item in the first lot. It looks like bureaucratic pedantry until the first variation arrives: at that point the email saying “let’s change the bedside table” costs half a day of phone calls, while “variation to item 01.04, bedside table, from natural oak finish to smoked oak, difference €38 each” gets approved in three minutes.
Each line item’s description needs to contain, in this order: the item name, the dimensions in centimetres in the order width by depth by height, the carcass material with panel thickness, the edging type and thickness, the finish with the sample range code, the hardware with brand and stated cycle rating, and the fire reaction class where required. A description like “three-door wardrobe, finish to be selected” isn’t a line item, it’s a wish.
On fire reaction there’s a practical point worth making: the line item needs to state the required class, not a generic reference to compliance. The fire-resistance certificate for hotel furniture is issued for a specific combination of materials, so if the headboard fabric changes mid-works, the certificate changes too, and whoever didn’t write that into the bill of quantities finds out on testing day.
Units of measurement, and why they shouldn’t be mixed
All movable furniture is counted per piece: beds, bedside tables, armchairs, luggage racks, desks, mirrors. Elements whose run changes from space to space are counted per linear metre: panelling, counters, benches, skirting, continuous headboards running across several rooms. Wall panelling, made-to-measure mirrors and wall coverings are counted per square metre. Work that can’t sensibly be broken down is counted as a lump sum: fitting out a room, supplying a custom-designed reception desk, transport.
The problem arises when the same element appears as a lump sum in one quote and per linear metre in another. A reception desk priced “lump sum, €8,400” against “4.20 lm at €1,850/lm” comes to €8,400 against €7,770, and the second looks better value. Then you look at what’s included: the first has the lowered operator worktop, the ventilated printer recess and the recessed plinth with a linear light strip; the second doesn’t, and those become three add-ons mid-works. The practical rule is to ask for made-to-measure elements to be priced as a lump sum but with the list of included work attached, and for everything that repeats identically to be counted per piece.
Quantities need checking before prices, always. Across twenty double rooms, there are 40 bedside tables, not 20, and it happens more often than you’d think that one quote counts 20 and comes out with the lowest total of all. Same for skirting: 12 linear metres per room becomes 240 metres, which at €14 is €3,360, an item that easily disappears and then reappears on the invoice.
An extract from a bill of quantities for a standard double room
This is the order of magnitude for a mid-range contract double in 2026, indicative supply prices, VAT excluded, for a lot of twenty rooms. The bathroom isn’t included.
| No. | Item | Brief description | Unit | Qty | Unit price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01.01 | 3-door wardrobe | 120x60x230, 25mm melamine sides, 2mm laser ABS edging, 100,000-cycle hinges, hanging rail and safe | each | 1 | €980 |
| 01.02 | Double bed | 160×200, metal frame, beech slatted base, perimeter impact-guard strip | each | 1 | €520 |
| 01.03 | Upholstered headboard | h 120 cm, class 1 IM fabric, concealed wall fixing | lm | 1.80 | €235/lm |
| 01.04 | Wall-hung bedside table | 45x38x28, one drawer on full-extension soft-close runners, integrated socket and USB | each | 2 | €245 |
| 01.05 | Console with minibar recess | 130x50x75, ventilated recess, cable ports, 12mm HPL top | each | 1 | €610 |
| 01.06 | Armchair | solid beech frame, class 1 IM fabric, elastic-webbing seat | each | 1 | €330 |
| 01.07 | Wall-mounted luggage rack | folding, painted metal frame, replaceable straps | each | 1 | €115 |
| 01.08 | Mirror | 70×100, metal frame, film-backed shatterproof glass | each | 1 | €155 |
| 01.09 | Bedhead panelling | h 240 panelling, veneered wood, TV bracket reinforcement prepared | sqm | 5.40 | €195/sqm |
| 01.10 | Perimeter skirting | h 8 cm, colour-matched to the panelling, 45-degree corners | lm | 12.00 | €14/lm |
| 01.11 | Room fitting | two fitters, complete installation, adjustments, cleaning and packaging removal | lump sum | 1 | €280 |
The row total comes to around €4,470 per room. Across twenty rooms that’s €89,400, and already the figure sits within the ranges used for per-room budgets on a hotel being furnished. What’s missing from this extract, and needs adding as a separate lot, are transport, a share for the working drawings, sampling, packaging disposal and the pilot room.
Comparing two bills of quantities without being caught out by variations
The first step is mechanical: put the two quotes in two columns of the same spreadsheet, reordered against the base bill of quantities’ numbering, which in hotel furniture supply tenders is binding and in private commissions should be imposed the same way. If a supplier has grouped three items into one, get them to break it down. Whoever refuses to break it down is protecting a margin on a specific item, and that’s exactly the item to look at.
Then look for absences, which matter more than price differences. The items that go missing most often are skirting, door architraves, filler panels for out-of-square walls, transport to the floor, packaging disposal, adjustments after the first month of operation, and initial spares. Each is worth between €500 and €4,000 on an average job, and together they almost always explain the gap between the lowest quote and the rest.
Variations arise at four points, and three can be closed off before signing. Measurements taken after the order, when the survey was done as a sample on two rooms and the other eighteen turn out different. Out-of-square walls, which on a historic building are the norm and need managing with filler panels already planned into the bill of quantities, not discovered during fitting. A finish changed after sampling, which is legitimate but needs pricing in advance, and which almost always adds a few weeks to hotel furniture production times because the panel in that shade needs reordering. The fourth point, systems being moved, depends on other parties and can’t be controlled: only the clause establishing who pays for site downtime can be.
The tool that settles everything is the unit price list attached to the contract, with prices for every item valid for twelve months whether quantities go up or down, plus the hourly labour rate for fitting. With that document in hand, a variation gets calculated in five minutes; without it, you’re negotiating in the dark at a point when the hotelier has already paid the deposit and has an opening date bearing down. The same logic applies here as with the criteria for choosing a contract furniture partner: what matters isn’t the number written down today, it’s how much trouble it will be to change in six months.
One last item that almost nobody includes in the bill of quantities, and always should: initial spares. Two hinges of each type, four adjustable feet, a set of luggage rack straps, one square metre of every finish kept in store. It costs under 1% of the supply and covers the first three years of furniture spares and finishes replacement without reopening a discussion with the supplier. If nobody included it in the tender, add it as item 99.01 and ask everyone to price it.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between a bill of quantities and a quote?
A bill of quantities lists items, technical descriptions and quantities, and is the same for every supplier invited; a quote is one operator’s financial response to those items. If every supplier uses their own list, the totals aren’t comparable because they don’t describe the same object. A hotelier without a bill of quantities can have one drawn up by the first supplier and then circulate it unchanged to the others.
Which items are missing most often from a furniture bill of quantities?
Skirting, architraves, filler panels for out-of-square walls, transport to the floor, packaging disposal, a share for the working drawings, sampling, and initial spares. Together these are worth between 6 and 12% of the supply’s value and explain most of the gap between the lowest quote and the rest. They should be requested in writing before signing, not discussed on site.
Why does the unit price matter more than the total?
Because the total only holds as long as quantities don’t change, and on a furniture job they always do. With a unit price list attached to the contract and valid for twelve months, every variation gets calculated by applying the already-agreed price to the new quantity. Without it, the variation becomes a negotiation that opens once the deposit has already been paid and the opening date is fixed.
What unit of measurement should made-to-measure furniture be counted in?
Identically repeated elements are counted per piece, panelling and counters per linear metre, wall panels and mirrors per square metre, work that can’t be broken down as a lump sum. A made-to-measure element priced as a lump sum needs the list of included work attached, otherwise comparing it against a per-linear-metre quote is meaningless. Mixing units between two quotes is the simplest way to make comparison impossible.
