What is an NRM2 Bill of Quantities?
Published on 5 June 2026, updated 27 July 2026
In short: a Bill of Quantities (BoQ) is a document that lists every measured item of work in a project, with a description, a unit and a quantity, so that contractors can price it consistently. NRM2 is the RICS rule set that says how those items should be measured and described, so that one estimator's bill means the same thing as another's.
What NRM2 is
NRM2 stands for the New Rules of Measurement 2: Detailed Measurement for Building Works, published by the RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors). It is part of the wider NRM suite:
- NRM1 - order of cost estimating and cost planning (early-stage budgets).
- NRM2 - detailed measurement for building works (producing bills of quantities for tender).
- NRM3 - measurement for building maintenance and whole-life costs.
NRM2 gives a standard structure of work sections and a consistent set of measurement rules and units, so a bill prepared by one quantity surveyor can be read, priced and compared by anyone in the industry.
What a Bill of Quantities contains
A BoQ is usually a table. Each measured item carries:
- A reference or code
- A description of the work (to the NRM2 rules)
- A unit of measurement (for example m, m2 or nr)
- A quantity
- A rate (filled in by the contractor pricing the bill)
- An amount (quantity multiplied by rate)
Items are grouped into work sections, and the priced amounts total up to a tender figure. Because everyone is pricing the same measured quantities, bids can be compared like for like. For a line-by-line look at real bill lines and how they total up, see the NRM2 Bill of Quantities example.
What the units mean: nr, m, m2 and m3
In a Bill of Quantities, nr means number: a count of identical items, used where a length or an area would make no sense. Doors, sanitary appliances and socket outlets are all billed as nr. The other units you will meet are m (linear metres), m2 (square metres), m3 (cubic metres), t (tonnes) and item (a one-off priced as a single entry).
| Unit | Means | Measured for | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| nr | Number, a count | Doors, sanitary appliances, sockets | 2 nr FD30 door sets |
| m | Linear metres | Skirtings, partitions, pipework, kerbs | 34 m of MDF skirting |
| m2 | Square metres | Plasterboard linings, screeds, paint | 84 m2 of emulsion to walls |
| m3 | Cubic metres | Excavation, concrete, fill | 6 m3 of foundation concrete |
| t | Tonnes | Reinforcement, structural steel | 2.4 t of 16mm rebar |
| item | A one-off lump | Connections, testing, commissioning | Connection to water main: item |
You will also occasionally see kg for some metalwork and % where an addition is priced as a percentage of other work. NRM2 fixes which unit each kind of work takes - finishes in m2, skirtings, partitions and other runs in m, counted things in nr - so two estimators measuring the same drawings produce bills that compare line by line. You can see each of these units doing its job in a priced bill in the worked example.
Why it matters
A bill of quantities does three jobs: it gives tenderers a fair, common basis to price; it makes bids comparable; and it becomes a tool for valuing variations and interim payments once the job is running. Measuring to NRM2 keeps all of that consistent and defensible.
How a BoQ is produced
The quantities in the bill come from a takeoff: the estimator measures lengths, areas and counts off the drawings, then those measured quantities are written into the bill against NRM2 descriptions and units. Historically this meant measuring by hand and typing the results into a spreadsheet. Today the measuring is done on the PDF and the bill is generated from it. For the full method, see how to produce an NRM2 Bill of Quantities, step by step.
Producing an NRM2 bill with Kestrel™
Kestrel measures lengths, areas and counts straight on the drawing and exports the result as an NRM2 Bill of Quantities in Excel, with quantities, codes, descriptions and live formulas, so you add your rates and the totals update. It runs on Windows, with a 14-day free trial. See the FAQ for how it works, or download Kestrel to try it.