Pricing breakdown for a lump-sum contract
A pricing breakdown splits a lump-sum tender price into priced items, mainly on works contracts. What it is for and the mistakes to avoid when filling it in.
Updated on September 5, 2026
A pricing breakdown is the document in which a bidder sets out, item by item, how its lump-sum price for a public contract is made up. In UK practice it goes by several names depending on the contract form: contract sum analysis under JCT, activity schedule or priced bill under NEC, pricing document or pricing schedule in the tender pack. It shows how the figure entered on the form of tender is distributed across the work, without turning the fixed price into a measured one.
How it works
Breakdowns belong to lump-sum contracts, which are the norm on building work: new build, refurbishment, fit-out. The buyer supplies a template in the tender documents, usually structured by section and then by element, sometimes with indicative quantities. The bidder prices each line and the total becomes the contract sum.
The point of a lump sum is that the contractor carries the risk of quantity: if the actual quantities differ from those indicated, the price does not change, unless the buyer changes the scope. The breakdown serves three purposes: checking that a bid is coherent, identifying an abnormally low tender, and providing a basis for interim payments and for valuing variations during the works.
Whether the breakdown is a contract document depends on the conditions. Under some forms only the contract sum binds the parties and the analysis is used for valuation; under others, such as an NEC activity schedule with Option A, payment follows the priced activities directly. Read the contract conditions before you assume.
What it means for a bidder
A breakdown obliges you to take off quantities properly. Where the template gives indicative quantities, they are the buyer's estimate, not a warranty: if the specification and drawings show more work than the template suggests, your price must reflect it, because a claim afterwards will not succeed. Visit the site whenever you are allowed to.
Check that every item described in the specification has a line in the breakdown. If something is missing, add it visibly or raise a clarification question before the deadline. Make sure the total of the breakdown matches the figure on the form of tender exactly: a discrepancy makes the bid ambiguous and can get it rejected.
Finally, avoid loading money into early items or stripping it out of others. Front-loading is well known to quantity surveyors and will attract questions.
Example
Villars Parish Council is building a covered market hall, with a timber frame package estimated at £260,000. The pricing document breaks the package into posts, trusses, purlins, bracing, treatment and erection. A local carpentry firm prices every line, notices that the purlin quantity looks light against the drawings, corrects its take-off and enters a lump sum of £271,500, identical to the figure on its form of tender.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if the real quantities exceed the breakdown?
On a lump-sum contract the price does not move, provided the work matches the original scope. Only a change instructed by the buyer gives rise to a valued variation.
Does the breakdown have to be signed?
That depends on the instructions to tenderers. Usually only the form of tender is signed and the breakdown is appended to it.
Can I change the template supplied?
Better not to. If you must add an item, do it visibly and explain it in your submission.