[HAWAII AT WORK]

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Tony Gaston, Engineer.

Engineer watches
his Mililani grow up

Tony Gaston helps people
move into his old neighborhood

I oversee the engineering and site construction for Castle & Cooke Homes Hawaii's Oahu operations. Our projects are concentrated in the Mililani and Royal Kunia areas. Castle & Cooke is experiencing a high demand for homes and my staff and I feel it first since we are the ones who are out front before the actual house construction can begin.

The entire process from planning to the time someone can move into his or her home takes approximately two years. In the engineering phase, which I handle, the open land is designed with roadways, infrastructure (sewer, drain, water etc.) and individual lots. This phase takes up to one year to complete. After the design phase, I turn it over to my staff to handle the management of the site construction. At the end of our site construction phase, the actual house construction begins.

My days can get pretty stressful. At any given time, there could be up to 20 projects going simultaneously and it gets overwhelming, but I enjoy it. What I like the most about my job is interfacing with a lot of people. I enjoy meeting and talking to people since a lot of what I do is coordination. By far, the most rewarding part of my job is actually driving through a development after it has been completed. I grew up in Mililani and it gives me a good feeling to see it continue to evolve as people move in. Being part of the process that is helping people realize their dream of owning their own home is true job satisfaction.

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