The development and application of a building contract administration (BCA) checklist for graduate architects managing housing projects

The building contract administrator (usually the architect) is assigned to all the project matters from the conceptual stage till the completion of the project. As the number of projects is increasing and the scope of the building contract administrator is huge, architects are unable to hands-on every project and they require the involvement of graduate architects to assist in their work. Previous research showed that architectural firms are dissatisfied with the quality of graduate architects, and they have to re-train to make them fit for their jobs. Hence, the purpose of this study is to enhance the performance of graduate architects in building contract administration (BCA) through the development of a BCA checklist for graduate architects’ self-improvement. This study adopted a qualitative method where 7 housing projects in Klang Valley were selected as case studies. From the case study, 11 types of documents were reviewed and 20 respondents were selected for semi-structured interviews. Data collected were analyzed using content and thematic analysis. This study serves as a reference tool for graduate architects’ professional development in BCA. Academics can use the outcome of this study as a reference in their teaching modules to help students think about complex situations of BCA.