diff --git a/.changes/unreleased/Features-20231218-155409.yaml b/.changes/unreleased/Features-20231218-155409.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bc965b06f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/unreleased/Features-20231218-155409.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+kind: Features
+body: Add support for checking table-last-modified by metadata
+time: 2023-12-18T15:54:09.69635-05:00
+custom:
+  Author: mikealfare
+  Issue: "938"
diff --git a/dbt/adapters/bigquery/impl.py b/dbt/adapters/bigquery/impl.py
index 3e394ad26..eb2aec175 100644
--- a/dbt/adapters/bigquery/impl.py
+++ b/dbt/adapters/bigquery/impl.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 from dataclasses import dataclass
+from datetime import datetime
 import json
 import threading
 from multiprocessing.context import SpawnContext
@@ -20,9 +21,12 @@
     SchemaSearchMap,
     available,
 )
+from dbt.adapters.base.impl import FreshnessResponse
 from dbt.adapters.cache import _make_ref_key_dict  # type: ignore
+from dbt.adapters.capability import CapabilityDict, CapabilitySupport, Support, Capability
 import dbt_common.clients.agate_helper
 from dbt.adapters.contracts.connection import AdapterResponse
+from dbt.adapters.contracts.macros import MacroResolverProtocol
 from dbt_common.contracts.constraints import ColumnLevelConstraint, ConstraintType, ModelLevelConstraint  # type: ignore
 from dbt_common.dataclass_schema import dbtClassMixin
 from dbt.adapters.events.logging import AdapterLogger
@@ -36,6 +40,7 @@
 import google.cloud.bigquery
 from google.cloud.bigquery import AccessEntry, SchemaField, Table as BigQueryTable
 import google.cloud.exceptions
+import pytz
 
 from dbt.adapters.bigquery import BigQueryColumn, BigQueryConnectionManager
 from dbt.adapters.bigquery.column import get_nested_column_data_types
@@ -118,6 +123,12 @@ class BigQueryAdapter(BaseAdapter):
         ConstraintType.foreign_key: ConstraintSupport.NOT_ENFORCED,
     }
 
+    _capabilities: CapabilityDict = CapabilityDict(
+        {
+            Capability.TableLastModifiedMetadata: CapabilitySupport(support=Support.Full),
+        }
+    )
+
     def __init__(self, config, mp_context: SpawnContext) -> None:
         super().__init__(config, mp_context)
         self.connections: BigQueryConnectionManager = self.connections
@@ -709,6 +720,26 @@ def _get_catalog_schemas(self, relation_config: Iterable[RelationConfig]) -> Sch
                 )
         return result
 
+    def calculate_freshness_from_metadata(
+        self,
+        source: BaseRelation,
+        macro_resolver: Optional[MacroResolverProtocol] = None,
+    ) -> Tuple[Optional[AdapterResponse], FreshnessResponse]:
+        conn = self.connections.get_thread_connection()
+        client: google.cloud.bigquery.Client = conn.handle
+
+        table_ref = self.get_table_ref_from_relation(source)
+        table = client.get_table(table_ref)
+        snapshot = datetime.now(tz=pytz.UTC)
+
+        freshness = FreshnessResponse(
+            max_loaded_at=table.modified,
+            snapshotted_at=snapshot,
+            age=(snapshot - table.modified).total_seconds(),
+        )
+
+        return None, freshness
+
     @available.parse(lambda *a, **k: {})
     def get_common_options(
         self, config: Dict[str, Any], node: Dict[str, Any], temporary: bool = False
diff --git a/dbt/adapters/bigquery/relation_configs/_materialized_view.py b/dbt/adapters/bigquery/relation_configs/_materialized_view.py
index fd0c191c3..81ca6b3de 100644
--- a/dbt/adapters/bigquery/relation_configs/_materialized_view.py
+++ b/dbt/adapters/bigquery/relation_configs/_materialized_view.py
@@ -75,10 +75,10 @@ def parse_relation_config(cls, relation_config: RelationConfig) -> Dict[str, Any
         }
 
         # optional
-        if "partition_by" in relation_config.config:
+        if relation_config.config and "partition_by" in relation_config.config:
             config_dict.update({"partition": PartitionConfig.parse_model_node(relation_config)})
 
-        if "cluster_by" in relation_config.config:
+        if relation_config.config and "cluster_by" in relation_config.config:
             config_dict.update(
                 {"cluster": BigQueryClusterConfig.parse_relation_config(relation_config)}
             )
diff --git a/dbt/adapters/bigquery/relation_configs/_partition.py b/dbt/adapters/bigquery/relation_configs/_partition.py
index 8fe8bf5d6..97e695fc0 100644
--- a/dbt/adapters/bigquery/relation_configs/_partition.py
+++ b/dbt/adapters/bigquery/relation_configs/_partition.py
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ def parse_model_node(cls, relation_config: RelationConfig) -> Dict[str, Any]:
             This doesn't currently collect `time_ingestion_partitioning` and `copy_partitions`
             because this was built for materialized views, which do not support those settings.
         """
-        config_dict = relation_config.config.extra.get("partition_by")  # type: ignore
+        config_dict: Dict[str, str] = relation_config.config.extra.get("partition_by")  # type: ignore
         if "time_ingestion_partitioning" in config_dict:
             del config_dict["time_ingestion_partitioning"]
         if "copy_partitions" in config_dict:
diff --git a/tests/boundary/test_bigquery_sdk.py b/tests/boundary/test_bigquery_sdk.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b8e6c9995
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/boundary/test_bigquery_sdk.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+import pytest
+
+from dbt.tests.util import get_connection
+from google.cloud.bigquery import Client, DatasetReference, TableReference
+from google.api_core.exceptions import NotFound
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("table_name", ["this_table_does_not_exist"])
+def test_get_table_does_not_exist(project, table_name):
+    """
+    TODO: replace dbt project methods with direct connection instantiation
+    """
+    with get_connection(project.adapter) as conn:
+        client: Client = conn.handle
+        dataset_ref = DatasetReference(project.database, project.test_schema)
+        table_ref = TableReference(dataset_ref, table_name)
+        with pytest.raises(NotFound):
+            client.get_table(table_ref)
diff --git a/tests/functional/adapter/sources_freshness_tests/files.py b/tests/functional/adapter/sources_freshness_tests/files.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..eaca96648
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/functional/adapter/sources_freshness_tests/files.py
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+SCHEMA_YML = """version: 2
+sources:
+  - name: test_source
+    freshness:
+      warn_after: {count: 10, period: hour}
+      error_after: {count: 1, period: day}
+    schema: "{{ env_var('DBT_GET_LAST_RELATION_TEST_SCHEMA') }}"
+    tables:
+      - name: test_source
+"""
+
+SEED_TEST_SOURCE_CSV = """
+id,name
+1,Martin
+2,Jeter
+3,Ruth
+4,Gehrig
+5,DiMaggio
+6,Torre
+7,Mantle
+8,Berra
+9,Maris
+""".strip()
diff --git a/tests/functional/adapter/sources_freshness_tests/test_get_relation_last_modified.py b/tests/functional/adapter/sources_freshness_tests/test_get_relation_last_modified.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..08e263edb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/functional/adapter/sources_freshness_tests/test_get_relation_last_modified.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+import os
+import pytest
+
+from dbt.tests.util import run_dbt
+
+from tests.functional.adapter.sources_freshness_tests import files
+
+
+class TestGetLastRelationModified:
+    @pytest.fixture(scope="class")
+    def seeds(self):
+        return {"test_source.csv": files.SEED_TEST_SOURCE_CSV}
+
+    @pytest.fixture(scope="class")
+    def models(self):
+        return {"schema.yml": files.SCHEMA_YML}
+
+    @pytest.fixture(scope="class", autouse=True)
+    def setup(self, project):
+        # we need the schema name for the sources section
+        os.environ["DBT_GET_LAST_RELATION_TEST_SCHEMA"] = project.test_schema
+        run_dbt(["seed"])
+        yield
+        del os.environ["DBT_GET_LAST_RELATION_TEST_SCHEMA"]
+
+    def test_get_last_relation_modified(self, project):
+        results = run_dbt(["source", "freshness"])
+        assert len(results) == 1
+        result = results[0]
+        assert result.status == "pass"