Page 12 - W M Donald Newsletter - Edition Nine

“Honestly Jim. I know we’re laughing about it but Willie did say if you don’t die soon, he’s going to have to sack you!”
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Jim McDougall has worked with, and for, W M Donald from the very early days... and he shows no signs of stopping any day soon. Here are a few of his memories from the last forty years.
Q I think it’s fair to say you’ve worked for W M Donald for many years.
A Yes, I started doing work for W M Donald nearly 40 years ago. At first only rarely, when a contract required some site re-measurement to produce a final invoice for payment for example. Back then Willie priced all the tenders himself with the backing of a full complement of office staff: Elaine!
Q How did your involvement increase from those early days?
A Willie and Elaine gathered around them a tremendous team of site workers, like-minded grafters who
worked long hours for good wages. As W M Donald’s reputation for producing a good job on time grew, my workload increased. Ewan Riddoch joined the staff as a QS/Estimator and proved himself the master of all the technical tasks you can think of in civil engineering contracting. I worked round about Ewan, partly estimating but mostly re-measurement of ongoing contracts. Like the men we worked long hours and, again, we were well paid.
Q What was the office like at the start?
A The ‘Office’ was a room in Willie and Elaine’s house, quite tiny really but cozy! Then out of the house into a dedicated office building, not bespoke but positively palatial to what had gone before. The patter of tiny feet was heard all the time in the office as Willie and Elaine’s girls were in and out constantly. It was a real family business.
The BIG
Interview
JIM McDOUGALL