When an owner and contractor agree on a set price for construction work, they need a contract that spells out exactly what that deal looks like. That contract is AIA Document A101.

A101 is the standard form of agreement between owner and contractor where the basis of payment is a stipulated sum, meaning the contractor gets paid a predetermined, fixed price for completing the work described in the contract documents. It sits at the center of the AIA's conventional (A201) family of documents, which is the go-to set of contracts for traditional design-bid-build projects.

Here's why this matters for the ARE: the A101 doesn't operate in isolation. It works together with A201, the General Conditions of the Contract for Construction, which gets incorporated by reference into the agreement. The A101 handles the business terms (price, payment schedule, dates, insurance requirements), while A201 establishes the rights, responsibilities, and relationships among owner, contractor, and architect. You can think of A101 as the "deal" and A201 as the "rules."

For the PjM exam, you'll need to know when A101 is the right document choice, how it connects to other contract documents in the family, and what its key provisions mean for project administration. You'll also need to distinguish it from alternatives like A102 (cost-plus with GMP), A103 (cost-plus without GMP), and the abbreviated forms used for smaller projects.

The stipulated sum structure carries specific risk implications. The contractor bears the risk of cost overruns since the price is fixed, while the owner gets budget certainty before construction starts. That risk allocation drives many of the contract's provisions and shapes how changes, payments, and disputes get handled throughout the project.