To understand what contract administrators are and what they do.
Contract Administrator
By Jianpeng Deng
Updated on 17/01/2025
What is a contract administrator?
“They help keep a construction project on track, overseeing virtually every aspect from beginning to end. They ensure that timelines, budgets, and quality standards are maintained throughout the project.” (from duotax.com.au)
What does a contract administrator do?
(Based on my experience only)
Job Description
Site-based Roles
– should be on-site most of the time to oversee project progress and monitor site status.
– meet with tradies and show them around construction sites for pricing purposes.
Understanding Work Scopes
– review various drawings and related documents
– communicate with estimators to clarify what has been included in the tender submissions.
– communicate with project managers to gain a better understanding of the project, as there may be information not shown in any documents. Request additional information if needed.
Request for Quotes
– source tradies
– once the scope of work is thoroughly understood, break down the project by trades and send it to the relevant tradies to request quotes.
– tradies often ask questions and request site visits before providing quotes. CA should be able to answer all questions and arrange site visits.
Vetting Tradies
– cheap quotes are not always the best. a CA needs to compare quotes on a like-for-like basis before making a decision on which one to proceed with.
Raise Purchase Orders
– once a decision is made on which tradie to hire, raise a purchase order and send it to them. Notifying the site manager that it is ready for them to contact the tradie.
Variation Order Requests
– when there are variations, it is CA’s responsibility to quote the variation in an acceptable manner and pass it on to the project coordinator or project manager for submission of the variation order requests.
Monitoring Project Cost
– do their best to keep the actual project cost within the budget.
– report to the project managers immediately if a trade or the entire project is at risk of exceeding the budget.
Feedback to Estimators
– it is important to provide feedback to estimators on how accurately they priced the project, or if they missed anything in the tender. Estimators can then learn from past projects and be better prepared for future ones.