Benchmarking a Project Against Published Norms

Indian public works run on a small set of published norms — CPWD's Plinth Area Rates, the Delhi Schedule of Rates and its Analysis of Rates, and the CPWD cost index — and clients routinely use them to judge whether a project is expensive. This report is about method: which instruments can legitimately anchor a comparison, how to normalise for specification, location, time and scope before comparing, and which comparisons cannot be rescued by any adjustment. It is a companion to, not a repeat of, ARG's work on cost distribution and cost baselines; nothing here restates where money goes, only how to compare defensibly.

Part of AECS Research Global's publications programme — drawing on ARG's work across cost management, EPC advisory and integrated project delivery. Download the full report below.