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CPWD & State PWD Schedule of Rates (SOR) explained

A Schedule of Rates (SOR), also called a Basic Schedule of Rates (BSR), is an official price list for civil works items — brickwork per m³, plaster per m², concrete per m³, and so on. Government departments like CPWD and each State PWD publish an SOR that estimates and tenders are based on.

How an SOR drives a BOQ

A Bill of Quantities (BOQ) lists the work items and their measured quantities. The estimate is simply:

Amount = Quantity × SOR rate, summed over all items, plus contingency and taxes.

So the accuracy of an estimate depends on two things: correct quantities (from the drawings, per IS-code measurement rules) and the correct, current rate for your region and financial year.

SOR vs market rates

Basis	Use it for
Official SOR (CPWD / State PWD)	Government tenders, sanctioned estimates, audits
Local market rates	Private projects, current on-ground pricing

Keeping rates current

SOR rates change by region and financial year, so an estimate is only as good as the schedule behind it. Good practice:

Always use the current year's official SOR for the correct state.
Keep a parallel set of local market rates for private work.
For anything not in the schedule, do a rate analysis and add it as a non-BSR item.

The sample rates shown in tools (including CivilOS) are for demonstration. Replace them with your current official CPWD / State PWD SOR before using any estimate for tenders or sanctions. You are responsible for using the correct schedule.

In CivilOS you can edit each rate by hand, switch between official SOR and market rates, or upload your BSR as Excel, PDF or an image and let the AI read the rates into your table — then the BOQ recalculates instantly.

Build a BOQ in CivilOS →