Getting to know Deoroop Matapersad

With more than 11 years of experience, Deoroop serves as a Special Inspections Project Manager at HLZAE. He coordinates projects in the Special Inspections Department, reviewing construction documents to assess the scope of work and establishing inspection guidelines. Deoroop also performs structural inspections and relays any discrepancies observed in the field to the project team to ensure that the work performed by the contractor is in accordance with approved plans and specifications. His work also consists of assisting the forensic engineering department with their condition assessments, leak investigations and day-to-day tasks.

What led Deoroop to his current role isn’t what you would typically expect. He believed that an engineering degree would be the gateway to the construction world. “With that piece of paper, I started off driving trucks in the building materials department and hauling 80lb bags of cement at Home Depot.” From an early age, he was constantly around construction and it always piqued his interest. As he became older, his cousins eventually started their own respective licensed contracting companies. This sparked his idea of becoming a licensed design professional and hoping to eventually have the capacity to assist his cousins as he once did as a child.

On a usual day, Deoroop coordinates and visits sites to perform a variety of inspections, which include welding, bolting and other relevant inspections. After his site visits, if the contractor seems to be deviating from the construction details/drawings, he immediately notifies the project architect/engineer in charge at HLZAE, so the issues can be resolved and addressed without delay. Deoroop also reviews documents and generates the cost estimates to procure further special inspection projects.

What makes Deoroop’s job unique is how versatile his position is. With the experience he’s accumulated over the years, he thrives when placed in any department and studio within the firm. In addition to performing special inspections, Deoroop has received the opportunity to facilitate construction administration services on a variety of façade restoration projects. He also assesses and provides testing services to verify the nominal capacities of anchors and rebar through proof load testing and forensic analysis through Infrared Thermography.

Deoroop appreciates the opportunity to experience the raw template of a space before it is fully altered. Owners and clients typically focus on the ornate and intricate, often expensive, finishes, but Deoroop is more fascinated with the project’s skeleton. Overall, Deoroop considers himself an extremely easy-going and amiable person and typically, the crowd pleaser. The challenge at times is having to be the bearer of bad news and pointing out when there is an issue to a contractor.

One of the most interesting projects Deoroop has worked on is 180 Livingston Street, The Brooklyn Tabernacle. A Dallas BBQ restaurant was operating over an illustrious church facility and water was infiltrating into the church space below from deteriorated waterproofing, loose piping collars, rusted piping elements, mysterious through-slab penetrations and improperly sealed floor drains. The restaurant was closed and after an extensive campaign of water testing and piping assessments, the leakage from Dallas BBQ was finally rectified.

When Deoroop steps away from Special Inspections, he enjoys detaching himself from the city and hiking in the Catskills. He recently took up birdwatching in his backyard over the initial onset of the pandemic and now he spends a lot of time being distracted by the sights and sounds of his surroundings. In his free time, he attempts to practice the tabla (South Indian drum) and he’s a disc jockey specializing in soca, reggae and Caribbean music.

HLZAE offers standalone special inspections services supported by a deep bench of architects, engineers, and building systems specialists who form the backbone of our practice. This multidisciplinary approach provides support across the project life cycle, from initiation to completion, ultimately saving time and reducing cost to our clients. We are committed to providing professional architectural and engineering services, earning our clients’ trust not by reputation alone, but by delivering results. When it comes to Special Inspections, you can count on Deoroop and our team of Architects and Engineers!

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