My 17-year-old child is going off to college. She is starting ask questions about industries and careers. She has made me think further about what construction contracting has to offer her. I have concluded it is best career a young person could choose. You may not believe it, however facts will show our business is unmatched. It offers participants long term tangible benefits. Many people will argue however, let me show you many virtues our industry has. You be judge.

Merit Based – construction industry rewards hard work. There is no substitute. We are all dissatisfied with work ethic today. When we find it, we reward it. Let me give you an example – a person comes to you (male / female) doesn’t speak of English well but has promised to work hard and keep their nose clean. You give them a chance and 1 year later, you are glad you did. They kept their promise. Now, what will you do? Ignore them? Cut their pay? Of course not. You will increase their wages and give them more responsibility. Construction contractors reward merit.

Additionally, industry is also. Let me show you. What is best advertising in construction business? A completed project on time and on budget. This speaks volumes of a contractor’s savvy and diligence. Word of mouth travels fast. Excellent contractors have more opportunities for work than their lesser competitors.

Small is Big – Construction rewards small construction firm. That is they make a higher percentage of profit. This is a variable cost business. In other words, you do not have to have “critical mass” to be profitable. Net profit statistics consistently show that smaller contractors make a higher percentage of profit before tax than their larger brethren do.

Tangible – Our industry erects monuments. Our work is visible to everyone. We can see it for decades after we complete it. Construction people show friends and relatives point out these projects. Unlike other industries, we see what we accomplish every day.

Best Earning Years Later in Life – Statistically, this is difficult to prove. However anecdotally, a case can be made. In my travels working with clients in United States, A contractor's profitabilty grows over years. I have seen increases as either percentage or gross dollars or both. Construction becomes more profitable with experience.

In contrast, best earning years of most other industries is between 35 and 50. (Professional Sports excepted). The reason for this youthful compensation is energy, willingness to travel, to take risks and to make extraordinary things happen. Profitable construction is based on consistent and correct processes, somewhat like manufacturing business. The more consistently a person does correct things, better outcome.

Knowing what they do for you ... what you are paying for is vital.

This is part of a series of articles I am writing for you to explain what each profession does in some detail.

Hydraulic Engineers

Most we know what an Architect does, or what a Structural Engineer does, but hydraulic engineer is a bit of a puzzle.

When you hydraulic in development business "think" pipes, "think" water, "think" gas.

In other words "think" of any material that has to be provided by pipes in a real estate development. Lock that into your brain and we'll get to gripes with this service quickly.

If you are a resident of an apartment or a customer of a hotel, when you turn on a hot faucet (tap) you rightfully expect to feel hot water running into your sink soon.

Have you ever wondered how a person on second floor or sixtieth floor gets hot water on demand ... or cold water for that matter.

Similarily, you can ask same question about liquid waste we humans produce in our residential accommodation.

You can add to that fire services and sprinklers that keep us safe or gas service if you want to cook on gas on twentyfifth floor.

Do we want a swimming pool on penthouse level or on ground floor or do we want to recycle your waste water and use it to water garden, then you'll need an hydraulic engineer.

So hydraulic engineer is pretty important to our health and lifestyle. If he did not exist, then high rise buildings would not exist.

So with that overview, let's get into detail.

On receiving initial project brief, all aspects are examined in detail. The client's brief is expanded, analysed and reports are written.

These reports allow client opportunity to evaluate all sections of report, from a financial and technical point of view, in full knowledge of implications of all components of hydraulic services.

Design co-ordination and control is maintained by regular in-house meetings, with resultant elimination of site problems.

And hydraulic engineer's role can be summarised as:

Design documentation - services are drawn to scale.

Obtain all necessary Authority Approvals.

Prepare specification, schedules, quantities and estimates.

Complete 'As Constructed' set of drawings.

Carry out all construction supervision and report.

,i>And approach to their clients' projects is:

* To be cost effective * To be efficient * To contain our latest design innovations

Professional Services

Not all of scope of professional services set out below can be offered by all hydraulic engineering firms.