The Indian Standards a JE or AE actually reaches for while framing an item, checking a rate analysis or passing an RA bill — grouped by trade, in plain words, with a note on why each code earns its place on your desk. Type in the box below to filter.
No entries match that filter. Try a shorter keyword — a bare number (“1200”), a material (“cement”) or an operation (“plaster”) works best.
The codes behind every “PCC”, “RCC” and “design mix” item in your abstract of cost.
| Code | What it deals with | Why the estimator cares |
|---|---|---|
| IS 269 | The umbrella specification for ordinary Portland cement. Since its consolidation, the 33, 43 and 53 grades (and their sulphate-resisting variants) all live under this one number. | The cement grade named in your item nomenclature fixes the material rate in the analysis of rates. Newer schedules cite IS 269 for every OPC grade — older ones still show grade-wise codes, so map them correctly when revising an estimate. |
| IS 8112 | Formerly the stand-alone specification for 43-grade OPC. It has been merged into IS 269, so as a separate standard it is on its way out. | Sanctioned estimates, old agreements and many SoR item descriptions still quote it. Carry the reference through for consistency within a work, but cite IS 269 in fresh DNITs. |
| IS 12269 | Formerly the stand-alone specification for 53-grade OPC — likewise absorbed into IS 269. | Structural, precast and prestressed items were typically written against this grade. Same drill: legacy reference stays readable, new work points at IS 269. |
| IS 455 | Portland slag cement (PSC) — cement blended with granulated blast-furnace slag. | Where the specification permits PSC, the cement rate and the curing/deshuttering allowances in your analysis differ from plain OPC. Marine and sulphate-prone jobs often prefer it. |
| IS 1489 | Portland pozzolana cement (PPC), in two parts — one for fly-ash based, one for calcined-clay based cement. | PPC is the workhorse cement of building works in most states. Quote the correct part in the item; slower early strength affects formwork-striking assumptions baked into the rate. |
| IS 456 | The governing code of practice for plain and reinforced concrete — durability and exposure classes, minimum cement content, water–cement limits, cover, detailing and acceptance criteria. | An exposure-class requirement can force a richer mix than the nominal ratio you priced — check before finalising “as per IS 456” items. Its acceptance rules also decide whether failed cubes lead to rejection or a reduced-rate payment on the bill. |
| IS 10262 | Guidance on proportioning a concrete mix to hit a target mean strength — the “design mix” recipe book. | Anything above M25 must be a design mix, so the cement, aggregate and admixture quantities in your rate analysis come from a mix design worked under this guide, not from the nominal 1:1:2-style ratios. |
| IS 383 | Quality requirements for fine and coarse aggregates — grading zones for sand, nominal sizes, limits on silt and deleterious matter; manufactured sand is covered too. | “Coarse sand Zone II” or “20 mm graded aggregate” in your item wording is IS 383 language. Aggregate source drives royalty and lead — often the swing factor between two quarry options. |
| IS 516 | Test procedures for hardened concrete — above all, the compressive-strength test on cubes. | Cube results at 7 and 28 days are what the acceptance (or part-rate recovery) on your RA bill hangs on. The cube register quotes this code on every page. |
| IS 1199 | Sampling and testing of fresh concrete — slump, compacting factor, temperature and allied workability checks. | If your pumped-concrete item specifies a slump range, this is the standard it is measured under. Workability targets also justify admixture provisions in the analysis. |
| IS 2386 | The aggregate-testing series — sieve analysis, specific gravity, bulking of sand, abrasion, impact and crushing values, spread over several parts. | The QC testing frequencies (and their cost, which sits in the estimate’s testing/contingency provision) cite these parts. Bulking of sand from this series matters when volumes are batched at site. |
| IS 12330 | Sulphate-resisting Portland cement. | Specified for foundations in aggressive or sulphate-bearing soils; its rate and availability differ from OPC/PPC, so the item nomenclature must name it explicitly. |
| IS 9103 | Admixtures for concrete — plasticisers, superplasticisers, retarders, accelerators. | Design-mix items carry an admixture dose per m³; that dosage assumption flows straight into the rate analysis. |
| IS 13311 | Non-destructive testing of concrete — ultrasonic pulse velocity (Part 1) and rebound hammer (Part 2). | When old or doubtful work is investigated for repair or a revised estimate, these tests decide what is dismantled and what stays. |
| IS 4926 | Ready-mixed concrete — production, delivery and acceptance. | RMC items are paid per m³ delivered; batching records and delivery-ticket acceptance under this code replace site-batching checks in the QC plan. |
| IS 3370 | Concrete structures for storing liquids (four parts) — design, crack-width and cover requirements. | Water tanks demand richer mixes and stricter criteria; “RCC in water-retaining structure” items are quantified and rated differently from ordinary RCC. |
| IS 1343 | Prestressed concrete — code of practice. | PSC girders and precast spans bring anchorages, sheathing and HT strand as items of their own — keep them distinct from ordinary reinforcement. |
Steel is billed by weight, so its codes decide the payable kilograms.
| Code | What it deals with | Why the estimator cares |
|---|---|---|
| IS 1786 | High-strength deformed steel bars and wires for concrete reinforcement — the Fe 415 / Fe 500 / Fe 550 / Fe 600 family, including the ductile “D” variants. | The rebar grade fixes the rate; the standard weight per metre (the d²/162 rule of thumb) and the rolling-margin tolerances that fuel measurement-book disputes both trace to this code. Bar-bending schedules are checked against it. |
| IS 2062 | Hot-rolled structural steel — plates, angles, channels, joists and flats, in grades from E250 upward. | Structural steelwork items are paid per kilogram on standard section weights. This code plus the steel tables gives you the payable weight of a truss or gantry before a single member is fabricated. |
| IS 432 | Mild-steel bars and hard-drawn steel wire for general and reinforcement use. | Fan hooks, holdfasts, chairs and spacers, and older works still specify plain MS rounds. Keep MS and TMT as separate line items in the abstract — their rates and recovery treatment differ. |
| IS 800 | General construction in steel — design, fabrication and erection code of practice. | The fabrication tolerances and erection provisions deemed included in a per-kilogram steelwork rate come from here. |
| IS 1161 | Steel tubes for structural purposes. | Tubular trusses and railings are paid on tube-designation weights from the tables, not field weighing. |
| IS 13920 | Ductile detailing of reinforced concrete for seismic forces. | Confinement stirrups and lap rules add measurable steel in columns and beams — an estimate framed from non-seismic drawings under-provides. |
| IS 875 | Design loads for buildings — dead, imposed, wind, snow and combinations, in five parts. | Explains why two similar-looking buildings carry different quantities; useful when vetting structural drawings against the sanctioned estimate. |
| IS 1893 | Criteria for earthquake-resistant design of structures (Part 1: general and buildings). | The seismic zone changes member sizes and detailing — a zone-IV site is a costlier skeleton than a zone-II one for the same plan. |
Brick class, size and workmanship — each one moves the bricks-per-cubic-metre figure you price.
| Code | What it deals with | Why the estimator cares |
|---|---|---|
| IS 1077 | Common burnt-clay building bricks — the class designations by compressive strength, the modular size, and dimensional tolerances. | “Class 7.5” or “Class 10” in the item nomenclature comes straight from here, and it changes the brick rate. Modular versus conventional size changes the bricks-per-m³ consumption in your analysis. |
| IS 3495 | Test methods for burnt-clay bricks — compressive strength, water absorption and efflorescence, in separate parts. | Site acceptance of brick lots runs on these tests. High absorption means thirstier bricks — which quietly pushes up the mortar consumption you assumed. |
| IS 1905 | Structural design of unreinforced load-bearing masonry — permissible stresses, slenderness and effective heights. | For load-bearing construction, wall thickness (and therefore the whole brickwork quantity in the estimate) is set by this design basis, not by habit. |
| IS 2212 | Workmanship rules for brickwork — laying, bonds, joint thickness, raking of joints, curing and scaffolding practice. | When a measurement argument breaks out over joint thickness or frog filling, this is the referee. Scaffolding allowances hidden inside brickwork rates also lean on its provisions. |
| IS 2185 | Concrete masonry units — hollow and solid blocks (Part 1). | Block class fixes the rate, and hollow blocks change the mortar consumption per m² compared with brickwork. |
| IS 2116 | Sand for masonry mortars — specification. | The screened-sand quality clause behind every mortar analysis; poor sand means richer mixes and objections at test time. |
| IS 2250 | Preparation and use of masonry mortars — code of practice. | Mixing method, water and use-within times; the re-tempering prohibition surfaces in QC objections on mortar items. |
| IS 12894 | Pulverised fuel-ash–lime bricks. | An alternative walling material with its own rate and consumption figures where the schedule permits it. |
Earthwork is where estimates are won or lost — and where deviations are born.
| Code | What it deals with | Why the estimator cares |
|---|---|---|
| IS 2720 (series) | The soil-testing omnibus — dozens of parts covering moisture content, Atterberg limits, grain-size analysis, Proctor compaction, CBR, shear and more. Treat it as a series, citing the part you need. | When your filling item says “compacted to 95% of maximum dry density”, that density comes from the Proctor test in this series. Strata classification for excavation rates (ordinary soil vs hard soil vs rock) is argued with these tests in hand. |
| IS 1904 | General principles for the design and construction of foundations in soils — including minimum depth of founding. | Founding depth sets your excavation depth, which sets the lift slabs and the shoring/dewatering provisions in the earthwork items. Get it wrong and the whole sub-structure estimate is wrong. |
| IS 6403 | Working out the safe bearing capacity of shallow foundations from soil parameters. | SBC decides footing sizes, hence concrete and steel quantities. An SBC revised downward after opening the foundation is one of the most common triggers for a deviation statement and a revised estimate. |
| IS 2950 | Design and construction of raft foundations. | A raft swings sub-structure concrete and reinforcement quantities dramatically compared with isolated footings — useful when vetting a structural drawing against the sanctioned estimate. |
| IS 1498 | Engineering classification of soils (GW, SM, CL, CH and the rest of the alphabet). | The vocabulary behind strata classification in earthwork items — argue excavation classes with its terms, not adjectives. |
| IS 2911 (series) | Pile foundations — driven cast in-situ, bored, precast and under-reamed piles, plus load tests, part by part. | Piling items (boring, concreting, reinforcement, chipping, initial and routine load tests) map part-wise; the load-test provisions belong in the estimate, not in a later deviation. |
If one series deserves a permanent spot on the estimator’s table, it is IS 1200: the method-of-measurement series for building and civil works. It decides how a quantity enters the details of measurement — what is measured net, what is deducted, what is deemed included in the rate — trade by trade, part by part. Most departmental measurement rules mirror it with a few carve-outs; the contract’s preamble tells you which text prevails for your work.
| Part | Trade it governs | What estimators most often trip on |
|---|---|---|
| Part 1 | Earthwork — classification of strata, excavation, filling, lifts and leads. | Authorised working space around foundations, how lifts and leads are slabbed, and keeping witness pillars (dead-men) until check measurement. IS 1200 excavation rules are half the earthwork argument settled in advance. |
| Part 2 | Concrete works — cast-in-situ and precast, measured by volume, separated by grade and location. | Small openings and embedded fixtures below the deduction threshold are not deducted; concrete in different situations (foundation, plinth, superstructure) must be kept as separate measurements even when the mix is the same. |
| Part 3 | Brickwork — walls by volume, thin walls by area, with deduction rules for openings and bearings. | Half-brick walls go in m², thicker walls in m³; the schedule of standard deductions for door/window openings and lintel bearings is applied mechanically — memorise it once and billing disputes shrink. |
| Part 4 | Stone masonry — random rubble, coursed rubble and ashlar. | Quoins, through-stones and bond-stones are deemed included; opening deductions follow the same discipline as brickwork but with masonry-specific thresholds. |
| Part 5 | Formwork (centering and shuttering), measured as area. | You pay for the area of shuttering in contact with concrete — not the finished concrete face you can see, and not the props and staging, which the rate is deemed to cover. |
| Part 8 | Steelwork and ironwork — fabricated structural steel, holdfasts, gratings, by weight. | Payable weight is computed from standard section weights, not weighbridge slips; welds, bolts and cutting waste are inside the rate unless the item explicitly says otherwise. |
| Part 9 | Roof covering — sheets, tiles and their fixing accessories. | Sheeting is measured on the finished plan/slope geometry per the part’s rules; end and side laps are not paid separately, so the consumption sits in the rate, not the quantity. |
| Part 11 | Paving, floor finishes, dado and skirting. | Flooring goes in m² net of what the part says to exclude; skirting is typically a running-metre item while dado is m² — mixing the two units in an abstract is a classic checking objection. |
| Part 12 | Plastering and pointing, measured by area with deduction rules. | The opening-deduction rules balance jamb/soffit/sill plaster against the opening area — small openings often mean no deduction and no separate jamb measurement. Apply the rule, not intuition. |
| Part 13 | White-washing, colour-washing, distempering and allied finishes on building surfaces. | Coefficient tables convert awkward surfaces (corrugated, fluted, jali) into equivalent plain area — use the multiplier from the part instead of inventing one at site. |
| Part 17 | Road work, including pavement courses. | Granular and bituminous courses are measured on compacted (consolidated) thickness and dimensions — never on loose thickness, however tempting the pre-rolling levels look. |
| Part 18 | Demolition and dismantling. | Demolition (breaking down) and dismantling (careful taking apart for reuse) are different items with different rates; serviceable salvage is measured, stacked and credited to the work. |
| Part 19 | Water supply, plumbing and drains. | Pipe runs are measured along the centre line; whether specials and fittings are enumerated separately or deemed included depends on the item wording — settle it in the DNIT, not in the MB. |
| Part 21 | Woodwork and joinery. | Frames (chowkhats) are volumetric while shutters are m²; sizes are for wrought (finished) timber with planing allowances handled by the part’s tolerances — don’t pay twice for dressing. |
| Part 14 | Glazing. | Glass is measured by area under the part’s rules; putty, beading and springs are deemed included unless the item says otherwise. |
| Part 23 | Piling. | Depth is measured from cut-off level per the part — empty boring and concreted length are different things, and the part settles what the metre in your item actually pays for. |
Tests cost money and stall bills — provide for them in the estimate, not as an afterthought.
| Code | What it deals with | Why the estimator cares |
|---|---|---|
| IS 5816 | The splitting (indirect) tensile-strength test on concrete cylinders. | Specified where flexural/tensile behaviour matters — concrete pavements, liquid-retaining structures. The testing charges and cylinder moulds belong in the estimate’s QC provision, and a specified tensile criterion is part of acceptance before payment. |
| IS 4031 (series) | Physical testing of hydraulic cement — fineness, standard consistency, setting times, soundness and compressive strength on standard mortar cubes, split across many parts. | Every cement lot is accepted against these tests before it enters the work; a failed lot freezes concreting and, with it, the billing of every concrete item downstream. Cite the relevant part in your QC plan. |
Finishing items are small rates on big areas — the codes keep the coverage assumptions honest.
| Code | What it deals with | Why the estimator cares |
|---|---|---|
| IS 1661 | Application of cement and cement-lime plaster on walls and ceilings. | Coats, thicknesses, curing and dubbing — what the plaster rate is deemed to include before you add anything as extra. |
| IS 2395 | Painting of buildings — code of practice, in two parts. | Surface preparation and coat counts behind “including priming coat” wording; skipping its prep steps is where paint items fail at inspection. |
| IS 5411 | Plastic emulsion paint for interior use (Part 1). | The emulsion grade in the item fixes the rate; coverage per litre per coat drives the material half of the analysis. |
| IS 2932 | Synthetic enamel paint. | Enamel on wood and steel covers less area per litre than emulsion on walls — use the right coefficient for the right item. |
| IS 428 | Washable distemper. | The economical finish of many schedules — a distinct item and rate from emulsion, never interchangeable in the abstract. |
| IS 5410 | Cement paint. | Exterior cement-paint items carry their own two-coat coverage figures and watering requirements. |
| IS 712 | Building limes — classification and specification. | Lime classes for lime plaster, mortar and washes in conservation and old-specification works. |
Tile class and laying practice — the difference between two rates that look alike in a quotation.
| Code | What it deals with | Why the estimator cares |
|---|---|---|
| IS 15622 | Pressed ceramic tiles, including vitrified tiles — groups and classes by water absorption. | The group/class named in the item is what separates a ceramic rate from a vitrified rate; absorption class is the technical line between them. |
| IS 13630 (series) | Test methods for ceramic tiles. | Acceptance testing when a delivered lot looks doubtful — provide the testing charge in the estimate. |
| IS 1237 | Cement concrete flooring tiles (terrazzo tiles). | Grade and thickness in the item wording come from this specification. |
| IS 2114 | Laying in-situ terrazzo floor finish. | Layer thicknesses, dividing strips and grinding passes — all deemed inside the rate, so the analysis must carry them. |
Treatments are systems of layers — the codes define the layers a single item pays for.
| Code | What it deals with | Why the estimator cares |
|---|---|---|
| IS 1346 | Waterproofing of roofs with bitumen felts — code of practice. | “Four-course treatment” style items map to this code’s layer system; each course is inside one rate, not four items. |
| IS 3036 | Laying lime-concrete for waterproofed roof finish. | Traditional terracing still present in many schedules — thickness and consolidation rules govern the measured quantity. |
| IS 2115 | Flat roof finish with mud phuska. | The economical/heritage terracing item; consolidation and gola provisions ride inside the rate. |
| IS 459 | Corrugated and semi-corrugated asbestos-cement sheets. | Where still permitted, sheet class and laps matter — laps are consumption in the rate, not quantity in the bill. |
| IS 277 | Galvanised steel sheets, plain and corrugated. | Sheet class and zinc-coating mass feed the rate; gauge disputes at site are settled against this specification. |
Joinery items mix timber, steel and aluminium — each with its own specification and measurement habit.
| Code | What it deals with | Why the estimator cares |
|---|---|---|
| IS 4021 | Timber door, window and ventilator frames. | Frame sections and workmanship; pairs with IS 1200 Part 21’s volumetric measurement of chowkhats. |
| IS 2202 | Wooden flush door shutters — solid core (Part 1). | Thickness and face-veneer type in the item fix the rate; ISI-marked shutters are a common contract stipulation. |
| IS 1003 | Timber panelled and glazed shutters, in two parts. | Stile and rail sizes govern both the rate and acceptance at site. |
| IS 1038 | Steel doors, windows and ventilators. | Standard sections and weights — steel glazing items are checked and often paid against them. |
| IS 4351 | Pressed-steel door frames. | Profile and sheet gauge fix the frame rate; filling of frames with mortar is deemed included per the usual wording. |
| IS 1948 | Aluminium doors, windows and ventilators. | Section weights and anodising/powder-coating provisions behind aluminium joinery items. |
Pipe class is rate; pipe run is quantity — the codes police both.
| Code | What it deals with | Why the estimator cares |
|---|---|---|
| IS 10500 | Drinking water — quality specification. | The parameter limits behind water-supply scheme design and the testing provisions in the estimate. |
| IS 3025 (series) | Methods of sampling and test for water and wastewater. | Water-quality testing charges cite these parts; concrete-mixing water is also argued with them. |
| IS 1239 | Mild-steel (GI) tubes and fittings, in two parts. | Light/medium/heavy class in the item fixes the pipe rate; whether fittings are enumerated or deemed included is a DNIT decision. |
| IS 4985 | Unplasticised PVC pipes for potable water. | Pressure class fixes the rate; jointing solvent and specials ride in the analysis. |
| IS 15778 | CPVC pipes for hot and cold water distribution. | The internal-plumbing workhorse of current specifications — a distinct item family from uPVC. |
| IS 458 | Precast concrete pipes. | NP class drives culvert and drain item rates; collars and jointing are usually within the laying item. |
| IS 651 | Salt-glazed stoneware pipes and fittings. | Conventional sewer items; testing of joints before backfilling is part of the deal. |
| IS 2556 (series) | Vitreous china sanitary appliances, part-wise. | WCs, wash basins and urinals — the fixture specification behind each sanitary item. |
| IS 774 | Flushing cisterns for water closets and urinals. | Cistern type and fittings inside the fixture item. |
| IS 1742 | Code of practice for building drainage. | Gradients, traps and inspection chambers — the geometry that generates your drainage quantities. |
| IS 12592 | Precast concrete manhole covers and frames. | Duty class (LD/MD/HD) fixes the cover rate — a frequent under-specification caught at audit. |
The internal-electrification estimate leans on a small, stable set of codes.
| Code | What it deals with | Why the estimator cares |
|---|---|---|
| IS 732 | Code of practice for electrical wiring installations. | Point-wiring items, circuit and sub-main provisions of an internal EI estimate follow its practice. |
| IS 694 | PVC-insulated cables for voltages up to 1100 V. | The wire sizes and grades quoted in wiring items — copper conductor sizes drive the rate. |
| IS 1554 | PVC-insulated heavy-duty power cables (Part 1). | LT mains and sub-main cable items; armouring and core count fix the rate. |
| IS 9537 (series) | Conduits for electrical installations — steel and rigid PVC parts. | Conduit material and gauge separate two items that read almost alike in the schedule. |
| IS 3043 | Code of practice for earthing. | Earth-electrode items — pit, electrode, strip, watering arrangement — are framed to its details. |
| IS 2309 | Protection of buildings against lightning. | Air terminations, down conductors and test joints on tall buildings — quantities come from its layout rules. |
| IS/IEC 60898-1 | Miniature circuit breakers for household and similar installations. | MCB ratings and breaking capacity in DB schedules; the successor numbering to the older MCB standards. |
Safety provisions are cheapest inside the estimate and costliest as an afterthought.
| Code | What it deals with | Why the estimator cares |
|---|---|---|
| IS 3696 | Safety code for scaffolds (Part 1) and ladders (Part 2). | Ordinary scaffolding is deemed inside rates; this code helps decide when special staging becomes a payable item. |
| IS 4014 | Steel tubular scaffolding, in two parts. | Tubular staging for high or heavy works — a distinct provision in the estimate for tall structures. |
| IS 3764 | Safety code for excavation work. | Shoring, strutting and barricading of deep trenches — estimate them from the start; discovering them mid-work means a deviation. |
Concrete, brickwork, steel and earthwork calculators that use the canonical constants behind these codes.
Open the calculators →Cement, sand, aggregate and brick consumption per unit of finished work — the other half of a rate analysis.
See consumption tables →How cost indices and price-variation clauses interact with the specifications you fix in the agreement.
Go to indices →Related reading: how a detailed estimate is built · analysis of rates, step by step · running-account bills without the headaches