What an Old Mixer Taught Engr. David M. Consunji About Building
Engr. David M. Consunji’s one-bagger Jaeger concrete mixer (Photo lifted from A Passion to Build: A Memoir of David M. Consunji)
Did you know? Engr. David M. Consunji, remembered as the "Builder of Landmarks" and the "Grandfather of the Philippine Construction Industry," began his career in the late 1940s with a second-hand one-bagger Jaeger concrete mixer.
“The very first equipment that any builder needs is a concrete mixer and I did not have one yet when I began. One day (it must have been around 1949), when I was passing through Gagalangin, Tondo, I spotted a surplus Jaeger, which was a one-bagger concrete mixer. Jaeger was a well-known brand and this mixer was in good condition. It didn’t have an engine but it had a hoist and bowl and wheels,” Engr. Consunji narrated in his memoir, A Passion to Build.
“I stopped and approached the owner to find out if it was for sale and if so, for how much. After some bargaining we agreed on a price of P500, provided that I towed it out of his premises quickly. I thought I had made a real find, but I would not know how much of a find it was until later,” he continued.
After buying the mixer for P500, Engr. Consunji immediately towed the mixer to a friend's shop in Pandacan. “I asked him to have it refitted with an engine and also refurbish it. That cost me P200. So the total cost of the mixer, including repainting it to look like new, was P700.”
One day, a prominent builder passed by the shop where the cement mixer was being refurbished. He noticed it and told the shop owner to inform Engr. Consunji that he was willing to pay ₱3,500 for it.
“In other words, he was offering five times what I paid for it. I was surprised; I did not realize that it was worth that much. I had a choice. I could pocket the money and tell myself to just keep my eye out for another mixer. Maybe I could find one, but maybe not. Another builder might have agreed to sell the mixer. The enormous margin of five times the initial investment was not something that one could easily ignore,” Engr. Consunji noted.
“But I told myself that if I sold it, I would make a big margin, but this margin was something I could earn only once. I told myself also that if this contractor could offer me so much, then clearly he expected that it would give him even more in returns. Surely I too should be able to make the mixer work for me and give me just as much,” he continued.
Selling the mixer for quick profit, he realized, was not aligned with his true passion.
Refusing the offer, Engr. Consunji chose to prioritize long-term vision over immediate gain.
That decision would eventually lay the foundation for his construction company, DM Consunji, Inc. (DMCI).
“That was a defining moment for me. It was not a question of return on investments. I was not chasing financial benefit. To me, accepting his offer would have been like a violinist or a flutist selling his instrument —treating it like a commodity to buy and sell. And of course, that would be unthinkable for a genuine musician. The concrete mixer was my equivalent of a violin. It was the tool which formed the basis of my calling.”
“I said to myself: Without a concrete mixer, how can I be a builder? I could not, and I could not be sure of being able to find another one so cheap, given my limited means. So I told myself the offer was very tempting but I could not sell. And I remained firm in my decision not to sell. What was most important at the time was for me to have the tool to build. Refusing the offer and making the mixer work for me was slower and less certain in terms of returns, but it was the only option that I could accept.”
More than profit, the mixer taught him the deeper meaning of building.
“Soon, I was glad I refused. That mixer would serve me faithfully for several decades. In a very real sense, that P700 cement mixer was the foundation of my company, DMCI, which is considerably larger now than it was in the 1950s. It was my first major expense as a builder and the P700 I used to buy and refurbish that cement mixer was derived in part from money I had saved up for over 17 years, ever since I was a child, saved up from various allowances, and even money I had earned from a small poultry business I had when I was only 10 years old,” Engr. Consunji wrote.
“I think we only stopped using the mixer sometime in the late 1980s. Whatever the margin being offered to me by that prominent builder, that cement mixer has more than repaid me a million times, affirming the correctness of my decision to keep it.”
“This was one of those moments that I knew building was not about making money but putting up structures, making buildings, real things that brought real benefits to other people. That was where I derived my real satisfaction in construction. Of course, I was never intent on losing money in construction; I did my best to make a reasonable profit. But making money is not the happiness I sought; I was not really a businessman but a builder, first and foremost.
Looking back, Engr. Consunji believed his upbringing and the values passed on by his parents, Gaudencio Consunji and Consuelo Mendoza, and his aunt, Maria Paz Mendoza-Guazon, shaped his path in life.
“Why? I think the explanation lies in the values I was taught as a child, in my upbringing —the values that my parents and even my foster mother, Tiya Nena, taught me. They taught me to love work. My parents taught me to value not the quick profit but the satisfaction of doing your own work and doing it well, doing it honestly and proudly.”
These same principles were reflected in The DMCI Creed, which Engr. Consunji himself wrote and which continues to guide the DMCI Group’s philosophy and work ethic 71 years on.
Today, DMCI is one of the biggest construction companies in the Philippines, known for building landmarks and large-scale infrastructures. Its technical expertise, pioneering construction methodologies and large fleet of heavy equipment have allowed DMCI to complete over 1,000 projects of varying scale and complexity across the country and in parts of Brunei and the Middle East.
Sources: Excerpts from “A Passion to Build: A Memoir of David M. Consunji”
How do you feel about it?
