The comparison, with three worked quotations
Below is the full sheet. Look at the last three rows of the worked example before you look at the totals — that is where the difference actually is.
| Line item | The specification all three must match | Vendor A (Rs) | Vendor B (Rs) | Vendor C (Rs) | Lowest (Rs) | Spread % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modular kitchen | BWP carcass, 1 mm laminate, soft-close, 10 ft run | 348000 | 296000 | 412000 | 296000 | 39 |
| Kitchen hardware | Named brand and series, tandem drawers, corner unit | 52000 | 31000 | 64000 | 31000 | 106 |
| Countertop | 20 mm quartz, drip lip, sink cut-out included | 21000 | 17500 | 26400 | 17500 | 51 |
| Master wardrobe | 8 x 8 ft sliding, MR carcass, one mirror shutter | 138000 | 121000 | 152000 | 121000 | 26 |
| Bedroom 2 wardrobe | 6 x 8 ft hinged, MR carcass, internals included | 87000 | 79000 | 96000 | 79000 | 22 |
| TV and crockery units | As per elevation LV-02, 1 mm laminate | 162000 | 141000 | 178000 | 141000 | 26 |
| False ceiling | Gypsum plain with cove, 420 sq ft | 52500 | 46200 | 58800 | 46200 | 27 |
| Painting | Putty, primer, two coats premium emulsion, 2,600 sq ft | 112000 | 98000 | 124000 | 98000 | 27 |
| Electrical | Rewiring plus 78 points as per the signed schedule | 148000 | 126000 | 167000 | 126000 | 33 |
| Plumbing and waterproofing | Two bathrooms, ponding test, five-year warranty | 96000 | 71000 | 108000 | 71000 | 52 |
| Flooring | SPC 6 mm in two bedrooms, 250 sq ft with underlay | 48750 | 41000 | 55000 | 41000 | 34 |
| Design and drawings | Layouts, elevations, 3D views, site supervision | 85000 | 40000 | 110000 | 40000 | 175 |
| Site protection and debris | Lift and lobby protection, daily clean, debris removal | 38000 | 12000 | 42000 | 12000 | 250 |
| Project management | Named site supervisor, weekly report, snag closure | 72000 | 0 | 88000 | 0 | 8800000 |
Lowest and Spread are live formulas. Totals carry an 18 per cent GST row and a grand total per vendor.
How to use it
- Write the specification column first, before you collect any prices, and send it to all three vendors.
- Add a row whenever one vendor includes something the others do not. A comparison is only valid when the rows match.
- Read the spread column, not the total. Any line above 40 per cent spread is a line where somebody has misunderstood the scope.
- Ask the cheapest vendor to explain their three lowest lines. Sometimes the answer is efficiency; more often it is omission.
Three traps it exposes
- A zero against project management. Vendor B in the example is cheapest overall and has nothing against supervision. That is a cost transferred to you.
- Site protection priced at a twelfth of the others. It means no lift padding, no daily clean and a society deposit you will not get back.
- A design fee that looks like a bargain. Rs 40,000 of drawings on a Rs 12 lakh project buys you a layout and a 3D view, not a working set.
Learn what each line should say in how to read an interior quotation, or start from the BOQ template.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the cheapest quote usually not the cheapest project?+
Because the difference is almost never in the rates; it is in what has been left out. Project management, site protection, debris removal, hardware grade and design detail are the five lines that vary most, and four of them are invisible until the work is underway.
What spread between quotes is normal?+
Ten to twenty-five per cent on a like-for-like line. Above forty per cent on a single line, one of the three has misread the scope. Above forty per cent on the total, they are not quoting the same project and comparing them is meaningless until the rows are aligned.
Should I share one vendor's price with another?+
Share the specification, not the price. Telling vendor C that vendor B quoted Rs 2.96 lakh for the kitchen produces a matched price and a quietly reduced specification. Telling them the exact carcass grade, hardware series and run length produces a comparable quotation.
How many quotations should I collect?+
Three. Two gives you no sense of the market and five wastes everybody's time, including yours, because the comparison work grows faster than the insight. Choose three who all plausibly do this kind of work at this kind of scale.
What if all three are above my budget?+
Reduce scope, not specification. Dropping the second bedroom wardrobe to a later phase is recoverable; dropping from BWP to MR ply in a kitchen sink bay is not. Ask each vendor what they would remove to reach your number and compare the three answers — it is revealing.