In each issue of Site Prep, we will introduce you to a different individual from the industry and share a little about his or her background and personal philosophy.

Name: Henry “Hank” George

Where you reside: Queen Creek, Arizona

Positions/Companies: President of AZ Grademaker

Responsibilities: “We’re a two-person company, and we’ve been in business coming on 10 years. I operate the grader and do all of the data prep, and my wife takes care of all the office work. We stay busy with a handful of contractors we know, so we don’t really advertise. If they’re bidding a project where we fit in, they’ll call me. Sometimes we’ll come in even before the work starts and build the model to get the surveyors started, and then when the finishing work starts, we come on [the jobsite]. As soon as the finishing is done, we’re off to the next one.”

When you started in construction: “I’ve been in construction off and on all my life--for about 20 years.”

How you started in construction: “I grew up in a small town in Nevada and used to work the summers in a mine. I grew up around equipment and was always working around it.”

What keeps you going in your job: “New challenges keep me interested. Our recent job at the McCarran Airport in Las Vegas was a challenge because of the type of material they used and the tight tolerances. They didn’t stringline the grade--they used a twenty-foot straight edge. And we couldn’t vary more than a quarter of an inch in sixteen feet.”

What grinds you: “Poor planning is the worst. And bad communication, which will end up with the same result.”

Weirdest thing you’ve seen on a jobsite: “One of the craziest things I’ve ever seen was when an old Chevy pickup drove into our job and crashed into the traffic control pickup at about 70 mph. The driver [of] the Chevy was real drunk, but he didn’t hurt the guy in the traffic control pickup.”

Personal philosophy: “I always say: quality, accuracy and efficiency.”

Reason you love construction work: “It’s the challenge of trying to do more, better, faster.”

Favorite/coolest technology you use in your job: “3D machine control. I’ve been using 3D for about five years, and I’ve been using 2D equipment for about the last 12 years. Ninety-five percent of what I do now is 3D. Occasionally we’ll get into something like real steep slopes where we’ll use a laser to grade them.”

Why it’s your favorite: “When I started running the grader, it seemed like I was always waiting on something … waiting on survey or waiting on the grade checker. I was just always waiting and didn’t work efficiently. That’s what I like about 3D machine control--I can work a lot more efficiently and end up with a better finished product.”

Advice for contractors new to the business: “Don’t skimp on the data prep. Pay whatever it costs to get a good model. I see more failures because of bad data than anything else.”

Do you know a contractor who deserves to be profiled as the next “Chuck”? E-mail the editor at jensenk@bnpmedia.com to nominate a worthy candidate.