Pond is pleased to announce the hiring of Julian Ramirez as the Director of Pre-Construction Services for its Peachtree Corners, GA headquarters.
Ramirez brings to Pond more than 15 years of experience in civil engineering and construction management. His experience expands across diverse sectors including, oil and gas, power generation, air quality control systems and commercial construction.
Ramirez grew up around construction, with a family business overseeing residential and commercial developments in Colombia, South America. He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia and began his career as a project manager and civil engineer.
After graduating from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a Master of Science in Construction Engineering and Management, Ramirez served as a field engineer, scheduler and cost estimator for various oil and gas projects, and then he transitioned to a large industrial contractor, where he helped the company grow from $60 million in construction annually to more than $700 million.
As his career progressed, Ramirez noticed there were unique distinctions between pre-construction and construction operations. Combining his background in scheduling and cost estimation with his skills in construction management, he created a separate pre-construction department to redesign and optimize the project life cycle, from the project proposal phase to construction mobilization, enabling a successful transition to the field operations team.
Now at Pond, Ramirez will sharpen the distinctions between pre-construction and construction operations not only for Pond Constructors, but also in supporting Pond’s architectural and engineering design.
“If we establish stronger procedures for cost-estimating and scheduling, and refine our project controls and checkpoints, it strengthens our project execution,” Ramirez said.
Jeff Meier, Chief Operating Officer at Pond, sought Ramirez’s skills to further bolster Pond’s service and responsiveness to clients.
“Julian’s main focus will be improving our cost estimating, scheduling, and project controls for our design/build projects, at the same time sharpening our skills for design clients. We must always remain current with industry and economic trends which have a profound effect on construction costs and viability of project execution,” Meier said, excited about this strategic new role. “Julian’s skills and leadership will create a more efficient, more cohesive project delivery system for Pond.”