Building is Invigorating
Have you ever been involved in a construction project like building your house, adding on, building a workshop, etc? Maybe you have been involved with an extensive remodeling of a building. Doesn’t that get you going?
The act of building something that will last a long time is invigorating. I was talking with one of our fellow Aquaterrians this past week and he brought up that subject. He reminisced about a prior time in his career that was particularly motivating, and he recognized that the key reason for this motivation was the building process. They were building something, and it was exciting to be a part of it.
I began to think of what that meant from my point of view. I thought back over my 28-year career in the profession of engineering jobs that were very exciting and those that were simply “work”. That was the common denominator for me too. When I have been a part of building something that is obviously growing into a mature, and well-constructed business, I was much more anxious to show up at work on a Monday morning that I was at those jobs where there was no construction in progress. I think that I just mentioned the key word: progress. Progress means active movement toward a goal of improved conditions.
One does not have to be in the middle of a new start-up, or in a rapid growth mode to feel the excitement of the construction. It is the progress that is the motivator. Take Aquaterra, for example. Our company is not a new company. Aquaterra, in its current state (Aquaterra, LLC) got its start almost 50 years ago in Jackson, Mississippi as a small geotechnical engineering firm. The Baton Rouge business was started in 1985 when I joined the firm. Our Chattanooga operations began in 1993 when a specialty UST consulting practice was purchased. Jeff Breedlove moved his family up there in 2000 to take our engineering practice forward.
In 2001, Aquaterra transitioned to an employee-owned company when several senior employees purchased the assets of Aquaterra Engineering, Inc. to create Aquaterra, LLC. That is what started the construction project that is so exciting to me today. We immediately began to grow with dedicated and motivated employees. We started our Atlanta operations in 2004 when Chanc Moore joined the firm to establish our office there. The Nashville office started up in 2005 when Russ Wharton joined the firm, and Mobile came into being in 2006. Jim Foster is the managing engineer in Mobile. So, since 2001, the “renovation” has been underway. That is the building process that has invigorated me for these past six years. We have progressed from a firm with about 45 employees in 3 offices, struggling to convince our clients and our vendors that we were a new entity that would build upon the good foundation laid years earlier by original founders of predecessor firms, to a company that is 110 employees and 6 offices strong, and we are still growing at a rate of about 20 percent annually.
I have worked shoulder to shoulder with so many of you during this time, and I can see the enthusiasm associated with the construction process in you too. We are progressing. As we have grown, we have employed newcomers that have enhanced our progress in many ways. Together, we are building a company that is premier in the Southeast! It is this construction project that pushes me out of bed on Monday morning. I hope that you feel a part of the construction process too. It is a very satisfying endeavor. We want to build a great organization. Construction of a building takes so many crafts and trades. One person simply can’t do it all. Construction of a premier consulting firm that grows at a pace of 20 percent each year takes a similar set of skilled individuals.
I have been in houses that one can tell were not built with care and concern about the long-term integrity of the structure. I have been in companies that I could say that very same thing about. Not now though. This company is being built by fine craftsmen who want to admire their work for years, even generations to come. Aquaterra is being built to last. What a satisfying and meaningful endeavor.
