The sitcom centres on an eccentric general contractor with his trademark yellow boots, curly afro hair and large facial mole.

His personal clothing trademarks are his yellow pair of boots (bought in Beach Road), curly hair, a giant black mole, and long nails on his pinky fingers.

Phua Chu Kang is portrayed as an "Ah Beng", which is a Singlish slang for a stereotypical, uneducated Chinese gangster, complete with habits such as hoisting one leg up on the seat of a chair when he sits down and growing one long fingernail to scratch his ears.

Even his company and office being PCK Pte Ltd is also located at the backyard of his bungalow house either, in which he hired 2 lazy workers who are the fat King Kong (Charlie Tan) who loves "tau huay" (a Chinese bean curd dessert) and the attractive yet slow-witted Ah Goon (Ray Kuan) who dresses in revealing denim cut-offs all the time.

Critics of the show labelled Phua Chu Kang as an inaccurate or perceived undesirable representation of Singapore, and denounced his appearance in The Amazing Race.

In 1999, the second Prime Minister of Singapore, Goh Chok Tong, referenced Phua Chu Kang during a speech at the National Day Rally.

In response, the sitcom's 3rd season opened with Phua Chu Kang earning a certificate for completing the "BEST English" course from Institute of Technical Education, and dialogue had to be adapted to limit the usage of Singlish.

Apparently,[citation needed] the original idea was to have PCK at the pit stop alongside Phil Keoghan (at the end of every stage of The Amazing Race, there would be a local person dressed in traditional clothing welcoming the contestants to the country), but Singaporeans protested that this would give foreigners the wrong impression of the local people in general.

He, along with his younger brother Anthony Phua Chu Beng, made their first advertisement appearance regarding the introduction of 3G mobile services and phones in Malaysia by Maxis.

In 2022, the cast reunited after 15 years on an episode on CNA's On The Red Dot series, titled "Phua Chu Kang Reunion: How's Singapore's Favourite Contractor?".