Building Communities

My great-uncle, Krishna, is a civil engineering contractor. A contractor is a person or company that undertakes a contract to provide materials or labor to perform a service or do a job. But what does a civil engineer do? If you want to construct a building, the structural details have to be prepared. A civil engineer is a person who draws these schematics for the structure of the building. It is different than architecture in that architects are more focused on the aesthics of the design while civil engineers are more focused on its structure.

Krishna’s father did contract work related to small roads and bridges, so Krishna thought of becoming a contractor, specifically, a civil engineering contractor. He joined a small contracting firm from 1986-1988 as project engineer during which time he constructed a spraining mill, which made textiles. He stayed there until he got enough experience, and then left.

He registered as a contractor, applying for government projects completing them. Some of the projects he worked on were rehabilitation work. Poor people used to live in street huts, and the government wanted them to move off the streets. As a result, the government would constructed houses and gave them to the people. Krishna was one of the contractors who contructed these houses.

He worked on a difficult housing project in Bangalore. This project was in a hilly, rocky area and 1500 families were living in huts. It took 10 years, but he and other contractors broke the rocks and built 1,500 one bedroom houses for the people to live in. He has worked on lots of roads, and is currently building a huge shopping mall, which is 50,000 square feet.

His favorite part of being a civil engineering contractor was getting to help so many people. As a contractor, Krishna helped build thousands of houses, and many communities. This saved thousands of families from the dangers of living in street huts, greatly improving their life.

Being a civil engineer or a contractor would certainly be fascinating. You get to work on amazing projects, like building houses or textile mills. The structures that civil engineers build can last longer than your lifetime. Once you are done, you get a sense of accomplishment. Plus, you get to help a lot of people. Civil Engineering is also quite a well paying job. To be a civil engineer, or a contractor, you have to major in Civil Engineering, which is a 4 year course. After this, you can enter the field and start working.