Contract administrator

A contract administrator, usually called a CA, owns the commercial record of a project. The site team builds the job. The CA makes sure that what was built, varied, claimed and paid lines up with the contract and with the budget.

The work runs in two directions. Looking up the chain, the CA prepares the head contract progress claim, tracks variations and extension of time claims against the client, and keeps the correspondence that supports them. Looking down the chain, the CA writes subcontract scopes, runs the tender comparison, prepares the recommendation to let a package, issues subcontracts and purchase orders, assesses subcontractor claims and processes payments.

Day to day the role covers a predictable set of jobs.

Scope and letting. Breaking the project into packages, pricing them against the budget, and getting them awarded before the programme needs them on site.

Claims and payments. Preparing the monthly claim, assessing what each subcontractor is actually entitled to, and keeping assessment and certification dates inside the time the subcontract allows.

Variations. Pricing changes, getting them approved before the work happens wherever that is possible, and keeping the variation register accurate.

Cost control. Maintaining commitments against budget, forecasting the final cost, and explaining the movement each month.

Records. Keeping the registers, notices and correspondence that the commercial position depends on if it is ever tested.

On a typical Australian commercial job the CA's month has a fixed shape, set by the dates in the head contract and in the subcontracts.

Early in the month, assess the subcontractor claims from the previous period and get the assessments or payment schedules out inside the time the subcontract and the relevant state legislation allow.

Mid month, walk the job with the site team to agree what has actually been completed, so the claim reflects real progress rather than the programme.

Before the claim date, prepare the head contract claim, including approved variations and anything still under assessment, and lodge it on time. Claim dates are rarely flexible, and a claim that misses one usually waits a month.

After the claim, update commitments, re forecast the cost to complete, and report the movement with reasons attached. That forecast is the number the business actually runs on.

Throughout the month, issue notices when they fall due. Many entitlements under a construction contract depend on notifying within a set number of days of becoming aware of something, so a good CA treats those clocks as fixed.

The two roles overlap, and on a small job one person does both, but on commercial work the split is usually clear.

The project manager is accountable for delivery: programme, resources, the site team, the client relationship and the overall result. The contract administrator is accountable for the commercial position: entitlement, claims, payment, cost and the records that support them.

A third role sits outside the contractor altogether. On many Australian head contracts the client appoints a superintendent, or its own contract administrator, to certify claims, assess extension of time claims and issue instructions. Job titles collide here, so in correspondence it is worth being explicit about whether the contract administrator in question works for the builder or for the client.

In practice the PM and the CA work the same information from opposite ends. When the two are not talking, the symptom is familiar: the claim does not match what the site actually built, and variations get carried out before anyone has priced them.

Most contract administrators come through construction management, quantity surveying or engineering degrees, and many start as a cadet while still studying. A trade or estimating background with strong commercial ability is another common route, and there is no licence requirement for the role itself.

The technical skills are reading a contract closely, measuring and pricing work, assessing claims on their merits, and being fluent in the project's cost structure. The underrated skills are writing a clear notice, keeping a register current when nobody is checking it, and holding a position politely when a subcontractor or a client leans on it.

Progression usually runs from cadet to contract administrator, then senior CA, then commercial manager or project manager. Because the role sees both the client side and the subcontract side of every dollar on a job, it is one of the better training grounds for running projects later.