Joselow Consulting Engineers: Well-built with Macs
When Peter Joselow took over his father’s firm, the engineers were still using pencils and paper. “Twenty years ago, building engineers did not use computers,” he says. Joselow knew just what to do. “I bought my first Mac for the firm and started saving this business.”
Today Joselow is one of New York’s most productive and successful building engineers. His firm, Abraham Joselow Consulting Engineers, designs the internal workings of thousands of new and remodeled buildings in New York. It’s a serious business, one that runs almost 24 hours a day to meet the needs of the rapidly changing metropolis. The firm churns through an average of 250 projects a year with only seven full-time employees. “It’s a constant scream, a constant yell,” he says. “I’ll have 25, 30 projects going at the same time and some projects could include 16 buildings. We’re doing the mechanical engineering, plumbing, fire system sprinklers, heating, air conditioning, electricity, everything.”
Joselow does it all — from design to project management to data storage to accounting — with Macs. But Macs aren’t just the center of his business. They’re also at the core of his home life. “I cannot stress how much the Mac has become part of my community,” he says. “My parents, my sisters, cousins, friends, neighbors, business contacts and, most importantly, my children are all connected with Macs. In addition to making my business successful, Apple has touched our lives at home.”
Drawing on Inspiration
The Mac may have worked its way into Joselow’s home life, but it began by transforming his life at the office. When the engineer took control of the firm, he needed a fast, efficient CAD program and an easy-to-learn platform that his engineers could jump right into. He chose the Mac and VectorWorks (then called MiniCAD), two user-friendly tools that jumpstarted the business.
Joselow taught himself how to use VectorWorks during his commute on the train. As CAD applications go, it’s intuitive and easy-to-learn. “You have to be willing to stick your neck out and learn new things or you’re going to fall behind,” he says. Within a year or so most of the old drafting equipment was replaced with Macs running the application. “The use of VectorWorks from that first simple letter-sized drawing instantly clicked,” says Joselow. “There are no commands, no tablets, no overhead. It’s affordable and easy to use. We run a lean office and that’s very important.”
Running lean also means having a clear head. And it’s tough to stay focused when you’re worried about operating systems, computer failures, organization and compatibility. “Apple products have allowed me to clear my mind of operating systems and organizing files, opening documents, manipulating installations and upgrading to newer hardware,” says Joselow. “It just works, which lets me do my work.”
Simple Survival
To get his work done, Joselow’s got to be flexible, fast and efficient. He needs reliable equipment that can grind through work without ceasing up. With the Mac, Joselow gets full reliability — thanks to well-built hardware and a structurally sound OS. “The Mac is a very stable platform,” he says. “The hardware is built for years and years of use and the operating system virtually never crashes. In this business, we don’t have time to deal with computer problems and having Macs has made us so much faster and more efficient than the competition.”
In addition, the engineer needs machines that can handle any file format. That’s why he has an office crammed full of Macs running virtually every program known in engineering and design circles. In addition to VectorWorks, which can crunch and spit out DWG files, he also runs Parallels to deal with PC-specific files and apps.
“Much of my industry’s software is only available on a PC,” says Joselow. “Now with Parallels everything is on my desktop. My Intel Macs can run Mac and Windows applications at the same time. I can do everything; work with every piece of software imaginable, even on my laptop. It really lets me handle anything and I don’t have to deal with compatibility issues. The Mac handles all of the pressures of sorting the hectic frenzy of different files and different programs.”
Overtime
To trump the competition, Joselow puts in serious hours. In fact, you’re likely to find him plugging away in his basement office, working into the night to perfect engineering schematics, organize project files and compile to-do lists. And Joselow can carry his work into the office the next morning on his iPod. “I transfer whatever I’ve done at home to my main computer at work,” he says. “I synch all my work from the night before, back everything up onto the server and I’m up and running.”
