Balai Ikhtisas Malaysia

Haji Zakaria Hashim qualified as a Chartered Quantity Surveyor in 1975 and started his career as a lecturer at the Institute Teknologi Kebangsaan (ITK) which was subsequently elevated to Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) until he resigned in 1985 to set up his own private practice as a Consultant Quantity Surveyor under the name of Zakaria-Lee and Partners Sdn Bhd. He was elected as a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, United Kingdom and the Institution of Surveyors Malaysia in 1985 and 1984 respectively.

When he was Chairman of BIM, his leadership was put to test affecting BIM numbers and interests arose and had to be resolved. As an umbrella to professional bodies, BIM's dignity was pun on trial. After having a series of dialogues, BIM managed to forward to the Government its common stance on the issues at stake.
The Government was actually enlightened with the professional role of BIM in nation building.

The first Directory of Professionals was also published in 1996 during his tenure as Chairman together with the revised book on Career Guidance which was financed by the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment. In addition to these publication of BIM newsletter was also published in place of "The Professional-Ikhtisas" journal in order to provide an effective line of communication between the members of Balai Ikhtisas Malaysia and the public in general