We recently caught up with Lynda Beard, Junior Contracts Administrator at BE Projects about her career within the WA building and construction industry.

Tell us about your current role as Junior Contracts Administrator:

My day-to-day duties involve a lot of looking over plans! Ensuring the fine details are all included, and the costs match up. Cost control is a big part of my role and I also award contracts, which includes making sure the company or subcontractor the contract will go to has the scope to deliver what we require. I also do a lot of ordering, ensuring everything arrives on site when it needs to, this allows our subcontractors and site supervisors to get on with their jobs with no delays or interruptions.

Maintaining relationships is also a key part of my role, between ourselves, architects, clients and sub contractors. I absolutely love this part of the job and I'm lucky to work with such a talented group of people!

How did you get into your current job as Junior Contracts Administrator?

I started with BE Projects 5 years ago, there was just our Director Troy (King) at the time and he needed some help with data entry and reception.

Since then I have been lucky to grow in my role and be supported by Troy and BE Projects. I moved into the role of Tendering and then enrolled at Central Institute of Technology (now North Metropolitan TAFE) and completed a Certificate IV in Estimating as an apprenticeship in just over 2 years with the help of fantastic lecturers. This allowed me to progress into my current position.

Where would you like to be in your career in 5 years?

I would love to be a Site Supervisor. My current position supports our site supervisors and I think a natural progression would be putting this knowledge into practice in an on site role. I always enjoy going out on site so to work out there full time would be great.

In the short term I am about to undertake some further training to drop the 'Junior' off my title which is a really exciting step in my career!

What do you like about being involved in the WA construction industry?

The people! I work with some brilliant clients, subcontractors and colleagues. It makes my job so enjoyable every day. There is also so much opportunity out there, you can do anything you set your mind to.

What construction work does BE Projects do and what do you enjoy about working for them?

BE Projects work on commercial projects predominantly, with community centres, schools, sporting complexes, boutique apartments and even a monastery which was a fantastic project to be a part of! We also do architecturally designed homes, which is something I am currently working on. These are really enjoyable because of the close links with the client and the architect we have.

The mission statement for BE Projects is to be a 'Personalised Services for your Built Environment'. I think this really is key to what we do and what my job involves. We pride ourselves on the working relationships we have with all of our stakeholders, from clients to the shires we are working within.

Finally, what do you enjoy doing out of work?

I enjoy cooking, hiking and have taken part in the Oxfam Trailwalker a number of times which was really fun.

Otherwise gaining knowledge is really important to me, I enjoy learning and pushing myself to achieve the next step in my career goals.