A strong material list helps you price accurately, compare supplier quotes, stage procurement, and reduce waste. Instead of relying on rough site estimates, you get a structured quantity baseline tied to your project scope.
Turn scope into measurable quantities instead of buying by guesswork.
Track structural, roofing, plumbing, electrical, and finishing items together.
Stage deliveries by construction phase so materials arrive when needed.
A documented material baseline makes theft, substitution, and over-ordering easier to spot.
This page is meant to answer the real search intent behind “bill of materials Ghana”: not just what the tool is called, but why a homeowner, diaspora client, architect, or contractor should care. The value is in having a structured list you can use for budgeting, quote comparison, phased buying, and project controls.
A material list is what you use to shop. A bill of quantities (BOQ) is what a quantity surveyor or contractor expects for a tender. GhanaHousePlanner gives you two arrangements: by trade section (substructure, superstructure, roofing, MEP, finishes, then Preliminaries for contingency, design fees, and permit costs), or by SMM7 work sections — A Preliminaries, E In situ concrete, F Masonry, H Roofing and the rest — with a reference on every line and a collection of section totals, the layout Ghanaian quantity surveyors work to. Download either as a PDF, or as an Excel spreadsheet whose amounts and totals are live formulas: change a quantity or a rate and every total updates. Rates are for your region and include delivery to your site, priced by how far it is from your suppliers. The material list and the BOQ come from the same underlying data, so the numbers always match.
The BOQ exports — PDF and Excel, by trade or by SMM7 work sections — are available from the Starter plan. See the professional tools built for architects, engineers, and quantity surveyors managing tenders and client handoffs.
A proper bill of materials covers substructure, blockwork, concrete, steel reinforcement, roofing, plumbing, electrical, finishes, doors, windows, and site allowances. Ghana House Planner turns your design and scope into a structured procurement-ready list.
Yes. The goal is to give you a clean, itemized baseline so you can request comparable supplier and contractor quotes instead of vague lump-sum pricing.
Yes. Every rate is set for your region: manufactured goods such as cement, steel, and roofing sheets cost more far from Accra and Tema, while local materials such as sand and stone are often cheaper. Delivery to your site is priced too — choose how far the site is from your suppliers (within 5 km, 6–15 km, 16–50 km, or over 50 km) and the delivered part of bulky materials' rates goes up with the distance. The estimate tells you what delivery adds.
The free material list and the BOQ export are related but different documents. The BOQ puts the same data in the format a quantity surveyor or contractor expects for a tender — item, unit, quantity, and rate per line, with section subtotals — arranged either by trade section or by SMM7 work sections with line references and a collection page. It's available from the Starter plan, as a PDF or an Excel spreadsheet.
Yes. Next to the PDF there is an Excel export: a real .xlsx file with a Bill sheet and a Collection sheet. Each amount is a formula of its quantity and rate, each section total is a sum, and the collection takes its figures from the bill — so a quantity surveyor can adjust rates or quantities and every total follows.
You can choose. Pick "SMM7 work sections" and the bill is arranged by the Common Arrangement of Work Sections that SMM7 uses — A Preliminaries, D Groundwork, E In situ concrete, F Masonry, G and H for the roof, L Windows and doors, M Finishes, R Drainage, S Water supply, V Electrical — with a reference on every line (F1, F2…) and a collection of section totals. Quantities are the estimate's supply quantities and labour is one sum under A, so it is arranged by SMM7 rather than measured to it. Prefer the trade layout? It stays the default.