Nicholas Dawson

What's your job about?

My employer, BMD Group, delivers a range of projects in the civil infrastructure, industrial and development spaces. Every morning I wake up at 5.00 AM to get to site at 6.30 AM to prepare for the day. At 6.45 AM we have a prestart meeting, briefing the project team on the tasks and goals for the day, as well as any associated hazards. We also undertake stretching as part of a switch on program to get ready for the day. Following prestart, I usually spend a few hours in the site office making sure everything is in place and organised for the day and week ahead.

A few hours in, I will head out to the site to check on the works. When I’m out there, I am constantly thinking of safety, efficiency, and compliance to the requirements of the project. Throughout the day I spend a fair amount of time on the phone, talking to subcontractors and clients to negotiate ‘best for business’ outcomes to deal with problems faced on site.

I’ll usually contact the client and superintendent to organise inspections or meetings. The best part of my job is that every day is different! One day we’ve got deep lift asphalt going down, the next we are installing high voltage feeder mains to power entire suburbs. Once the day is complete, I’ll usually catch up with the leading hands and foremen to go through the days’ productivity and sort out the plan for the next day.

BMD has a huge range of projects across Australia which means sometimes we get the opportunity to work away. It’s a great way to see the rest of Australia!

What's your background?

I grew up in the southeast of South Australia in a country town called Robe, and in my later years, my family moved to the Adelaide Hills. Being closer to the city allowed me to be more connected to the types of careers you could have through tertiary education.

I started working for BMD in 2018 as an Undergraduate Engineer in Adelaide. I knew straight away that BMD was for me, the family-oriented culture is great and makes work feel less like work! The graduate program has provided so many opportunities for me to further my skills and career development, and I’ve now been able to step up and transition to the role of Site Engineer.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

BMD really recognises the positive impacts of diversity in our industry and how it allows for more innovative ideas and new perspectives. You just need to be keen to take anything on and be effective at communicating with a range of people from a range of demographics and backgrounds!

What's the coolest thing about your job?

It’s really rewarding to be able to look back on a job after project completion and know you were part of a team that built the project and knowing that people are going to be using it for decades.

I also love working around big machines, there is something seriously cool about big machines and the precision that we can work to with them.

What are the limitations of your job?

Sometimes the workload can be crazy, and you need to have hard conversations about money or reworks. Although BMD’s flat management structure allows me to have direct access to leaders like our Construction Manager who has helped guide and support me through all the exciting times, and the many challenges that come with it.

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...

1. Study overseas if you get the opportunity. I didn’t and regret not doing it.
2. Start working as an undergraduate as soon as possible, this set me up for getting a job out of uni and entering BMD’s Graduate Program.
3. Go to as many pub crawls as possible!