Construction Roles and Job Titles Explained

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Glossary

Roles

Construction job titles overlap, and several mean different things depending on whether you are reading a contract, a safety regulation or a job ad. Principal, principal contractor and head contractor are three different parties, and a contract administrator can work for either side.

These definitions explain what each role actually does, and which document the title comes from.

In this topic

terms

Reviewed

by construction managers

Updated

Sept 2026

All terms

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Contract administrator

A contract administrator is the person at a builder or subcontractor who runs the commercial side of a project: letting packages, progress claims, variations, extension of time claims, cost control and the records behind them. On most Australian commercial jobs they are the project manager's commercial counterpart.

Contract administrator

Principal contractor

A principal contractor is the business that has management or control of a construction project, meaning construction work costing $250,000 or more. A project can only have one at a time, and the role carries specific duties including preparing the WHS management plan before work starts.