Engineering a change to live in Guam
By Rianne Peredo
For many people, retirement from work means focusing more on gardening, exercising and other leisure activities.
Harold D. Cullick, principal of Dylan Mechanical Construction Services Inc., embarked on another professional and personal journey when he was set to retire.
Cullick had various roles at Intel Corp. — his previous career stop. Those included senior project engineer and commissioning manager, and he also facilitated the execution of many Intel top projects — including a wafer fabrication facility design in Leixlip, Ireland, which included a central utility plant, office and lab buildings valued at $250 million, plus the management of the project’s $30 million design contract.
In 2007, Cullick founded Dylan Mechanical in Calif.; however, it was not fully operational until 2009 — the year he retired.
Cullick was born and raised in Shreveport, La. He attended the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla. from 1970 to 1972.
“I’d been in Oklahoma for two and a half years and had another two and a half to graduate, but then I switched majors and I wanted to see a different part of the world. Somewhat arbitrarily, [I] picked [the University of] Alberta [in Canada] and it was an extremely good education,” he says.
“I actually started at university not really knowing what engineering was about. But I just started taking classes in engineering and found that I liked it — and I just stuck with it and it’s been a really, really good career,” Cullick says.
He Cullick graduated in 1975 with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering.
“I really believe in education. I always said, “My father gave me two things: clothes and an education,” he says. “If I wanted a new car or something … if I wanted mostly anything else, I knew I wasn’t going to get it. But if you think about it, if you give a kid clothes and an education, [they’ll] go out and make it on their own after that.”
Cullick also obtained his 1980 master’s business administration from Colorado State University, as well as completing courses from Concord Law School in 2003.
His expertise has enabled him to work and live in places such as Canada, Malaysia, India, Israel and Ireland.
Dylan Mechanical is a business that specializes in mechanical engineering and engineering design. The company also performs contracting for its clients.
“So we’ll sit here and design systems and then go out and build on — whether it’s air conditioning systems — or we deal with a fair amount of domestic hot water systems for hotels, resorts and also on [military] bases for the dormitories,” he says.
Cullick says his combined experience in the construction and engineering industries span more than 40 years, and smoothed his entry into the market in Guam and beyond.
Notable projects that he has completed in Guam include a $9 million design-build contract for mechanical and plumbing systems at the Dusit Thani Guam Resort and a $650,000 mechanical and plumbing retrofit installation for the Andersen Air Force Base Visitor Officers Quarters.
Dylan Mechanical has also completed projects for other businesses and firms within the region, such as construction management services to retrofit an energy-saving air conditioning system for the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.’s Health Center in Saipan.
Since he relocated to Guam nearly ten years ago, Cullick says he has noticed some differences regarding the local construction industry.
“In Guam, you have some of the supply chain things … we really have to plan four to six weeks ahead of time if we’re going to ocean freight stuff,” he says. “And rather than being able to get it on a truck and … you might have it from Oregon to Arizona in a couple of days … if it’s something that you’re not going to air freight, you’re looking at different time constants — three or four weeks.”
Cullick has also adjusted to local expectations of a project’s timing.
“That’s been hard for me to realize when people say, ‘Oh, we need this in a hurry.’ They don’t really mean that the way I think of it. When I was told by executives at Intel that they wanted something in or they wanted it in a hurry, they had money to back it up.”
Despite COVID-19’s impact, Cullick says there have not been significant disruptions to Dylan Mechanical’s daily business operations, whether in the private sector or military contracting.
“I’m surprised that in some ways the construction industry hasn’t been affected by the virus because the construction industry hasn’t shut down,” he says. “But somehow, you don’t see the virus on construction sites being a problem. I guess that’s because everyone’s wearing a mask and keeping [socially] distanced.”
Hobbies: Golfing, going to the beach, morning walks |
Favorite local restaurants: Table 35, Mosa’s Joint |
Favorite movie: The Electric Horseman |
Favorite career aspect: “What I enjoyed most in my career was design build.” |