Provisional sums and prime cost sums: how to price and carry them
A provisional sum is an amount the client puts in the bill for work or costs that cannot yet be fully defined. A prime cost (PC) sum is an allowance for goods or work from a supplier or specialist chosen by the client side. Both are normally carried at the stated amount, not re-priced.
By BOQ Estimator. Published .
What each sum is for
A provisional sum protects the client's budget where design or scope is not final. It sits in the tender total as a placeholder until the work is defined and instructed. A PC sum covers goods or specialist work the client wants to select or control. Neither is priced like a measured item.
How each is adjusted, and what you are taken to have allowed for, is set by the contract and the measurement rules. Methods such as SMM7 and NRM 2 typically class provisional sums as defined or undefined, and that usually decides whether you are deemed to have allowed time and preliminaries for the work. Read the item and the preambles first. How to price a BOQ shows where this fits in the routine.
General information. This is not legal or contract advice. The contract decides how provisional and PC sums are adjusted and what you may add to them.
Step by step
How to price and carry them
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Find every sum in the bill
Search descriptions for provisional, PC and prime cost, and for the unit sum. They sit in trade sections and are often listed again on the summary, so check both. Note each sum's page and amount.
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Read the item and its preamble
Is the work defined or undefined? Does the item say who adds profit, attendance or both? What is excluded? The answers decide what, if anything, you add.
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Carry the stated amount unchanged
Enter the sum in the Amount column. Do not put a rate against it or multiply it by a quantity. The tender total includes it at the figure printed.
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Price only what the bill invites
Where the bill has lines such as add for profit or add for attendance against PC sums, price them as directed, as a percentage or a lump sum. Where it has none, add nothing of your own.
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Total the sums apart from measured work
Give them their own subtotal, so your overhead and profit on your own work is not also applied to the client's sums unless the document asks for it.
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Allow for programme and attendance
Where the work is defined, or a specialist's work runs inside your programme, allow for its effect on sequence and preliminaries as the rules require.
Side by side
Provisional sums and PC sums compared
| Point | Provisional sum | Prime cost (PC) sum |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Allowance for work or costs not yet fully defined. | Allowance for goods or work from a supplier or specialist chosen by the client side. |
| Typical wording | Provisional sum for ..., often marked defined or undefined. | PC sum for the supply of ..., often with separate lines for profit and attendance. |
| What you enter | Nothing. The stated sum is carried. | Nothing against the sum. Price profit and attendance lines if the bill has them. |
| Final value | Comes from the work actually instructed. | Comes from the actual supplier or sub-contract price. |
| Adjustment | Omitted and replaced as the contract provides. | Replaced by the actual cost, plus any priced profit, as the contract provides. |
| Excel handling | Fixed amount, tagged, kept out of rate checks. | Fixed amount, tagged, with any profit line priced beside it. |
Watch for
What goes wrong with provisional and PC sums
- Re-pricing the client's figure. A rate or a mark-up on a sum that is already fixed changes the total the client compares.
- Sums missing from the total. Sums listed on the summary but not in the trade section, or the reverse, are easy to leave out.
- Margin the document did not invite. Adding profit where the item gives no line for it can draw a query or make the tender non-compliant.
- Forgetting attendance and builder's work. Scaffolding, power, storage and making good around a PC item may be priced elsewhere. Check where.
- Using a sum as your contingency. Risk allowances belong in your rates or in the lines the document provides, not hidden against the client's money.
The tool
How BOQ Estimator helps
BOQ Estimator tags lines that say provisional sum or prime cost as provisional-sum or prime-cost, keeps the stated amount as printed and leaves each line in place. You can filter the Tags column, total the sums apart from measured work and confirm each is carried at the stated figure. Whether a sum is defined or undefined comes from the document, not the tool. Try it on the BOQ to Excel converter. Free: 1 file per day, up to 10 pages, no account. Files over 10 pages are converted up to page 10 on the free allowance; a page code converts the whole file, up to 150 pages. See plans and limits.
Related
Related guides
FAQ
Questions estimators ask
What is the difference between a provisional sum and a prime cost sum?
A provisional sum covers work or costs not yet fully defined. A prime cost sum covers goods or work from a supplier or specialist chosen by the client side. Both are carried at the stated amount, and the contract says how each is adjusted.
Do I put a rate against a provisional sum?
No. Carry the amount the bill states. Price only the separate lines the bill provides, such as profit or attendance against a PC sum, and only as the item directs.
Can I add profit to a provisional sum?
Only if the bill or preambles say so. Otherwise assume the stated figure is complete. Read the item and the measurement rules, and query anything unclear before the deadline.
What is a defined provisional sum?
Under methods such as SMM7 and NRM 2, a sum for work described well enough that you can allow for it in your programme and preliminaries. An undefined sum is not. Check how your document draws the line.
What happens to a provisional sum after award?
Typically it is omitted and replaced by the value of the work actually instructed. A PC sum is replaced by the actual cost. The contract sets the mechanism and any time limits.
Are provisional sums included in the tender total?
Normally yes. They are carried at the stated value and added into the summary with the bills. Check the summary page so that none is missed or counted twice.
How do I find them in a long PDF?
Search for provisional, PC and sum. In the converter's output the Tags column marks them, so you can filter every provisional-sum and prime-cost line at once.