Construction Site Management System in Excel: BOQ, Progress, Materials, Labour, Budget vs Actual and RA Bill

By Ravindra Bagale · Last updated: 17 October 2026

Download the template: construction-site-management-system-template.xlsx: a 8-sheet system with example data and real formulas (Read me, Setup, BOQ, Materials, Labour, Cost report, RA bill, Dashboard). Yellow cells are inputs you can type over; green cells hold formulas; blue rows are headers and totals. Replace the example data with your own and every report and the dashboard recalculate.

Made-up data: every name, amount, business and date on this page is made up for practice. Cities are used only to make the examples feel real.

1. The business story

Bagale Constructions, Kolhapur, as of 17 October 2026 (made-up data). Contract value ₹25,70,300 across 8 BOQ items. This is RA bill 3. Retention 5% is only an example: use what your contract says. GST is an input at 18% and TDS at 2% (section 194C rate for a contractor that is a firm or company; 1% for an individual or HUF).

October cost is ₹6,86,350 against a ₹6,25,000 budget (109.8%). The general budget-vs-actual method is in 21.2 budget vs actual.

2. Build it sheet by sheet

Step 1. Setup

1. B3 as-of date, B4 project, B5 client.
2. B6 retention (5%, as per contract), B7 GST rate, B8 TDS rate, B9 RA bill number. All are inputs because they depend on the contract and the parties.
3. Cost heads in D3:D6 and trades in E3:E6 for drop-downs.

Step 2. BOQ: quantities and progress

1. Row 4: Code, Item, Unit, BOQ qty, Rate, Amount, Done qty (cumulative), Billed qty (previous), % done, This bill qty, This bill, Done value.
2. F5 =D5*E5. Type G5 from the engineer's measurement book: total done so far, not this month's.
3. I5 =IFERROR(G5/D5,0) with green data bars; a red rule flags G5 above D5 (more than BOQ needs a variation order).
4. J5 =G5-H5, K5 =J5*E5, L5 =G5*E5. Row 13 totals; I13 =L13/F13 is overall progress.

Step 3. Materials and Labour

1. Materials: Date, Item, Cost head, Qty, Rate, Amount. F5 =D5*E5. Shuttering and mixer hire go under Equipment.
2. Labour: Date, Trade, Workers, Daily rate, Amount, one row per trade per day. E5 =C5*D5.

Step 4. Cost report: budget vs actual

1. Row 4: Cost head, Budget, Actual, Variance, % used. C5 =SUMIFS(Materials!$F$5:$F$500,Materials!$C$5:$C$500,A5); the Labour row adds +SUM(Labour!$E$5:$E$1000).
2. D5 =B5-C5 (negative = over budget, red), E5 =IFERROR(C5/B5,0).
3. Rows 12 to 15 count man-days and amount per trade with SUMIFS on Labour.

Step 5. RA bill

1. B8 work done to date =BOQ!L13, B9 billed earlier, B10 gross this bill =BOQ!K13.
2. B11 retention =ROUND(B10*Setup!B6,0), B12 GST =ROUND(B10*Setup!B7,0), B13 TDS =ROUND(B10*Setup!B8,0).
3. B14 net payable =B10-B11+B12-B13. TDS is worked out on the amount before GST when GST is shown separately on the bill. Print A1:C18.

Step 6. Dashboard

1. Cards: contract value, work done %, RA bill net payable, October cost, budget used, heads over budget =COUNTIF('Cost report'!D5:D8,"<0").
2. Chart 1 at A8: % done by BOQ item. Chart 2 at A25: budget vs actual by cost head.

3. Formulas used

Every formula above is written in the template, so you can click a cell and see it in the formula bar. All values on this page were recalculated in LibreOffice with zero errors.

4. Common mistakes

1. Typing this month's quantity in Done qty. Done qty is cumulative. The sheet subtracts earlier bills; typing monthly quantity bills the same work twice or not at all.
2. Treating retention as a discount. Retention is held back and released after the defect period. Track it as money due to you.
3. Working out TDS on the GST-inclusive amount. When GST is shown separately, TDS is on the amount before GST.
4. Mixing hire into materials. Shuttering and mixer hire are equipment. Mixing them hides where the overrun is.
5. No measurement record. Every Done qty should match the measurement book signed on site; the client checks that first.

5. More real examples

Example 1: Interior fit-out contractor. BOQ items become carpentry, false ceiling and painting in sqft; the RA bill works the same.

Example 2: Road work with several chainages. Add a Chainage column on BOQ and progress by stretch with SUMIFS.

Example 3: Owner-built house. Drop the RA bill; keep BOQ as the plan and Cost report to see where money goes against each stage.

Quick revision cards

Englishमराठीहिंदी

Quick revision

Each card shows formulas from this page, each with an example and its answer from the template. Scan the QR code on a card to open this lesson. All names and numbers are made up for practice.

More cards: Ravi Sir's Cards.

6. Frequently asked questions

What is an RA bill in construction?

A running account bill raised during the work for the value done since the last bill: value done to date − value billed earlier.

How do I calculate retention in Excel?

Retention = gross this bill × the contract retention %: =ROUND(B10*Setup!B6,0). The rate comes from your contract, not a law.

What TDS rate applies on contractor payments?

Under section 194C it is 1% when the contractor is an individual or HUF and 2% for others such as firms and companies. The template keeps it as an input.

Is GST on works contracts always 18%?

Not always; some works carry different rates. Keep it as an input and confirm the rate for your contract with your accountant.

How do I track material overruns?

Log every bill with its cost head, total by head with SUMIFS and compare with the budget; red variance means over.

7. Quick quiz

Ten questions on this page. Sign in to save your score.