This article reviews construction project management and building contracts in South Africa. It introduces general information and findings on the topic, forming part of a broader in-depth study, which proves difficult to encapsulate in one single article. The novice might perceive contract management, project management, and construction management to be the same concept. To clarify these concepts, the evolution of construction contracts and project management was studied to identify possible similarities between these concepts. This article commences with a brief history prior to a schematic analysis of the general characteristics of construction contracts and project management. It investigates the application of these concepts within South Africa and compares the general structure of the main contracts used within South Africa. This general investigation clearly shows that the standard conditions of contracts used in South Africa have similar structures to the main construction project management knowledge areas recognised by the Project Management Institute (PMI). The article also reviews the four general conditions of contracts endorsed by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) in South Africa and investigates the general clauses and themes of these contracts. The Construction Contract should consider all the Project Life-Cycle (PLC) stages. The Construction Contract should further be regarded as the Project Implementation Plan (PIP), on which the control procedures during construction are based. With the understanding of the evolution of the two streams (contracts and management), their relevance, goal, dependencies and responsibilities may be understood better. This may enhance the professional manner in which the management of the entire Project Life-Cycle (PLC) is implemented and approached. Keywords: Agreement, construction, contract(s), general conditions, project management, project life cycle

中文翻译：

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南非视角下的建筑合同管理项目

本文介绍了南非的建筑项目管理和建筑合同。它介绍了有关该主题的一般信息和发现，构成了更广泛深入研究的一部分，事实证明很难将其封装在一篇文章中。新手可能会认为合同管理，项目管理和施工管理是相同的概念。为了弄清这些概念，研究了建筑合同和项目管理的演变，以确定这些概念之间可能存在的相似之处。本文从简短的历史开始，然后对建筑合同和项目管理的一般特征进行示意图分析。它调查了这些概念在南非的应用，并比较了南非使用的主要合同的一般结构。这项一般性调查清楚地表明，南非使用的合同标准条件与项目管理协会（PMI）认可的主要建设项目管理知识领域的结构相似。本文还回顾了南非建筑业发展委员会（CIDB）认可的合同的四个一般条件，并研究了这些合同的一般条款和主题。施工合同应考虑所有项目生命周期（PLC）阶段。施工合同应进一步视为项目实施计划（PIP），施工期间的控制程序应以此为基础。了解了这两个流（合同和管理）的演变，它们的相关性，目标，依赖性和责任可能会更好地理解。这可以增强实施和实施整个项目生命周期（PLC）的管理的专业方式。关键字：协议，施工，合同，一般条件，项目管理，项目生命周期