Site Engineer

A design only becomes real when somebody builds it. My work starts where the drawings end: setting out the space, checking every dimension against what is actually there, and making sure what gets built matches what was promised down to the last millimetre.

Most of my week is spent on site. I walk the works with the contractors, check levels and alignments before anything is fixed, and catch the small things early, because a joint that is three millimetres out on day one becomes a visible line on handover day.

Good interiors look effortless, and that is exactly the trick. Behind a clean wall there is a sequence: services first, then substrate, then finish, each one signed off before the next covers it. Getting that order right is most of the job.

I also protect the design when site conditions push back. A slab is never perfectly level and a wall is never perfectly square, so when reality and the drawing disagree, I work out the solution that keeps the design intact rather than the one that is simply quickest.

What I value here is how short the distance is between a question and an answer. If something on site needs a decision, I speak to the designer directly and we resolve it that day. There is no long chain to wait on, so problems stay small.

It also means I see a project all the way through, from an empty shell to the moment a client walks in. Being trusted with that from start to finish is why the work stays satisfying.