B.Arch CurriculumFree, forever
A tribute to Amogh N P
Project Cost & Contract Management
Once the quantities are measured and priced, the harder questions begin: how is cost planned, budgeted, controlled and reported? How is the work procured and tendered? What contract governs the parties, and how is it administered through running bills, variations and extensions of time? And when things go wrong, how are claims and disputes resolved? This elective is the managerial, commercial and legal side of construction money — the Indian context (CPWD, GeM, the Arbitration & Conciliation Act 1996) alongside international practice (FIDIC). The estimator's measurement craft is the companion course; here, money meets management and the law.
Course byAmogh N P· Architect & interior designer
The syllabus
5 units · 5 liveTranscribed from the official B.Arch syllabus. All 5 units are live as full interactive lessons, each with original diagrams, a self-assessment quiz and a studio task.
Unit 1 — Cost Management Fundamentals
LiveCost vs price vs estimate vs budget; the cost-management process (cost planning → budgeting → control → final account) and the cost-influence curve; the iron triangle (time–cost–quality); life-cycle / whole-life costing; cash flow and the S-curve; value engineering; and the quantity surveyor / cost manager's role.
Unit 2 — Tendering & Procurement
LiveProcurement vs tendering; procurement routes (traditional/DBB, design-build, construction management, EPC, PPP/BOT) and their risk split; the tender process step by step (NIT → PQ → pre-bid → two-cover submission → opening → evaluation → award); tender types; EMD and performance security; bid evaluation (L1/QCBS); and Indian e-procurement (GeM, CPPP, GFR 2017).
Unit 3 — Construction Contracts
LiveWhat a contract is (Indian Contract Act 1872 essentials); contract types and who bears the risk (lump-sum, item-rate, percentage-rate, cost-plus, EPC/turnkey); the contract documents and their precedence; key clauses; standard forms (FIDIC Red/Yellow/Silver; Indian CPWD GCC, State PWD, NITI Aayog model); and the Engineer/Architect's dual role as impartial certifier.
Unit 4 — Contract Administration & Cost Control
LiveAdministering the contract from award to completion — RA/interim bills and the payment cycle, variations/change orders and their valuation, extension of time (EOT) and prolongation, price escalation, retention and mobilisation advance, the defects-liability period and final account; and cost control via Earned Value Management (PV/EV/AC, CPI/SPI, EAC) and the S-curve.
Unit 5 — Claims, Disputes & Resolution
LiveHeads of claim (delay, disruption, variation, loss & expense) and how records substantiate them; liquidated damages vs penalty (the India-specific Section 74 position); risk identification and allocation; the dispute-resolution ladder (negotiation → mediation → conciliation → DAB → arbitration → litigation); arbitration under the Arbitration & Conciliation Act 1996; contract closure; and the architect's ethics as an impartial certifier.
Course outcomes
What you will be able to doExplain cost management — cost vs budget, the iron triangle, life-cycle cost, value engineering.
Describe procurement routes and the tendering process, with the Indian e-procurement context.
Distinguish construction contract types and standard forms by who bears the risk.
Administer a contract — bills, variations, EOT — and apply Earned Value Management.
Resolve claims and disputes — LD vs penalty (s.74), the resolution ladder, arbitration.
Uphold the architect's impartial duty as a certifier and contract administrator.
The author
Amogh N P
Architect, interior designer, and creative polymath. Studio Matrx began in his notebooks — his vision of design made honest, useful, and open to everyone. Its Academy is written and taught in his memory, and free, forever.
More about Amogh →Where money meets management and the law.
Cost management, tendering, contracts, administration and disputes. Read the five units, study the diagrams, then test yourself.
The curriculum is free, forever