Introduction to the Construction Industry
This domain tests how the Indian construction industry is organised: who pays for work, who designs it, who builds it, and how a project travels from idea to handover. Expect questions on stakeholders, project stages, contract types and the industry's place in the economy.
What the industry covers
Construction is usually split into buildings (residential, commercial, institutional), infrastructure (roads, bridges, water, power) and industrial works (plants, refineries). It pulls along allied industries - cement, steel, bricks, timber, sanitaryware, paints - and is among India's largest employers after agriculture, contributing roughly 8–9% of GDP directly.
The project chain
Client/owner → architect and structural consultant → tendering → main contractor → subcontractors and specialist agencies → skilled and unskilled workforce → handover and maintenance. The contractor executes; the consultant checks quality and certifies bills; the owner funds and approves changes.
Contract and delivery types
Item-rate (BoQ-based), labour-rate, lump-sum, EPC and turnkey. Public works follow PWD/CPWD-type procedures with tenders, EMD, performance guarantee and measurement books.
Worked example
A tender asks for a school building with structural drawings supplied by the client and a priced BoQ. Who sets out the building? Reasoning: the BoQ is item-rate and the client supplies the design, so the contractor executes and is responsible for setting out from the given centre-line drawings, checked by the consultant before excavation. The architect is not the executing party and does not carry the setting-out responsibility.
Traps
Confusing developer with contractor; assuming the architect supervises daily quality; treating EPC as item-rate; forgetting that the owner approves variations and extra items before they are executed.