Analysis of Rates Notes

Last reviewed 16 Sept 2026 · 7 min read

Rate analysis — meaning and purpose

Analysis of rates is the determination of the cost per unit of an item of work (per m³, m², kg etc.) from the quantities of materials and labour required, their current rates, and allowances for tools, plant, overheads and profit.

Purposes

Determine a reasonable rate for each item for estimates and tenders.
Fix rates for extra/substituted items not in the schedule.
Check the reasonableness of contractors' quoted rates.
Revise rates when material prices or wages change.
Prepare/update the schedule of rates.

Factors affecting rates

Specification and quality of materials and workmanship.
Location of the site — distance (lead) from sources of materials, transport facilities.
Quantity of work (economy of scale).
Labour rates and availability; local wages.
Site conditions — working space, water, weather, height, depth.
Profit, overheads and taxes.
Season and time allowed for completion.

Components of a rate

Rate = Materials + Labour + T&P + Water charges + Overheads and profit

Component	Typical treatment
Materials	Quantity per unit of work (including wastage) × rate at site (cost + carriage + loading/unloading + storage)
Labour	Number of mason/mazdoor/bhisti days per unit (from output or task work) × daily wage
Tools and plant (T&P), scaffolding	Lump sum or small percentage of labour cost, or actual hire charges of machinery
Water charges	Commonly about 1% of the cost of materials and labour (or as per departmental rules)
Contractor's profit and overheads	Commonly about 10% for profit plus overheads, often combined in schedules as around 15% of the cost (as per the department's analysis)

Percentages vary between departments and years; examinations commonly use water charges 1–1.5% and contractor's profit about 10%.

Schedule of rates and cost index

Schedule of rates (SOR) — list of item rates approved by a department for a region and period, e.g. CPWD Delhi Schedule of Rates (DSR) and state PWD SORs, prepared by analysis of rates.
Cost index — percentage used to update a base schedule (e.g. DSR) to the current cost level at a particular place and time; Estimated cost = base schedule amount × (1 + cost index %).
Market rate items — items not in the schedule, analysed from market rates of materials and labour.

Material requirements

Concrete — dry volume

When dry materials (cement, sand, coarse aggregate) are mixed with water and compacted, the wet volume is less than the sum of the loose dry volumes — voids are filled.

FormulaMaterials for concrete

Dry volume ≈ 1.52–1.57 × wet volume (commonly 1.54 for concrete)

For a nominal mix $1 : a : b$ by volume:

V_{ce m e n t} = \frac{1.54 V}{1 + a + b}, V_{s an d} = a V_{ce m e n t}, V_{a g g r e g a t e} = b V_{ce m e n t}

Cement in bags $= \frac{V _{ce m e n t} \times 1440}{50}$ (density of cement ≈ 1440 kg/m³; one bag = 50 kg ≈ 0.0347 m³)

Cement mortar

Dry volume ≈ 1.27–1.33 × wet volume (commonly taken as about 1.3, with some texts adding extra for wastage).

Brickwork

Nominal (with mortar) size of a modular brick: 200 × 100 × 100 mm → about 500 bricks per m³ of brickwork.
Actual modular brick 190 × 90 × 90 mm → volume of bricks in 1 m³ ≈ $500 \times 0.19 \times 0.09 \times 0.09 = 0.39$ m³ → wet mortar ≈ 0.25–0.30 m³ per m³ of brickwork (commonly taken as about 0.25–0.30 m³, with the frog and wastage allowance).
With traditional (non-modular) bricks, about 550 per m³ are commonly used in calculations; add wastage for bricks (often 5%).

Plastering

Wet mortar = area × thickness; add for filling joints, uneven surfaces and wastage (commonly 20–30%) before converting to dry volume.

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Analysis of Rates