Turning Field Experience Into Practical Innovation

When Uriel Engle steps onto a jobsite, he’s usually thinking about what the field needs next.

Sometimes that means standing with craft teams as they lay out walls. Other times, it means walking a slab marked by a layout robot, looking for where digital models and physical work successfully align, or where they don’t.

Engle works in DPR’s internal Research and Design (R&D) team, supporting how new construction technology is tested, refined and implemented on jobsites. His focus is on making sure tools support craft professionals and improve the quality of the work being built.

That focus reflects a broader truth at DPR: the most effective innovation often comes from people who know the work. For Engle, it also comes from experience. Long before he worked in innovation, he worked in the field.

“They were looking for folks who had field framing experience and who were also comfortable with computers,” Engle said. “Somebody who could pick up 3D modeling and do some coordination on the project.”

Engle did not begin his career in construction. In his early twenties, he spent several years working in programming and database design. After the economic downturn in 2008, he found himself looking for new opportunities and entered construction through a drywall apprenticeship.

He moved through framing, drywall and welding work, eventually running small crews across Northern California. Those years shaped how he understood building, as physical work that requires coordination, clarity and trust between teams.

Fourteen years ago, while working on a project in the region, Engle received a call from DPR. At the time, the company was staffing the UCSF Mission Bay Children’s Hospital in San Francisco and was looking for someone with field experience who could operate in both the field and the digital space.

Within days of joining DPR, Engle moved into a job trailer role and began coordinating and modeling his own scope of work. It was an uncommon shift at the time, particularly for framing trades.

“For a framer to even show up to a coordination meeting, people were clearly wondering 'What’s this guy doing here?'” he said.

DPR supported that transition, allowing Engle to build on his field experience while learning new technical skills, an unconventional move that became the foundation of a career path that continued to evolve.

As DPR’s self‑perform modeling and coordination efforts expanded, Engle’s role grew with them. He began supporting teams beyond Northern California, working across regions as the Self-Perform Work (SPW) Tech Lead on a national scale. The role expanded beyond drywall to all SPW craft scopes, allowing him to share lessons learned and help teams adopt new tools in ways that fit their work.

“My role was more of a knowledge‑sharing role,” Engle said, “collecting lessons learned for our self‑perform scopes and sharing those with other areas.”

That work often took him back to jobsites, standing alongside craft teams as they tested and used new technology. One area where Engle has spent significant time is construction layout.

Layout plays a critical role in quality and coordination. Errors made early can create challenges that are difficult to unwind later. To help reduce that risk, DPR uses construction robotics such as Dusty Robotics, a technology whose origins are closely connected to DPR’s own innovation efforts. DPR developed early robotic layout concepts in-house before later partnering with Dusty, supporting early field deployments and later investing through WND, its corporate venture capital arm, as the technology scaled.

The Dusty FieldPrinter robot prints digital building models directly onto concrete slabs, marking the locations of walls, doors, sleeves and equipment. The goal is to give field teams clearer, more accurate information at the start of construction.

While part of DPR’s Innovation Team, Engle supported early Dusty Robotics deployments by working directly with project teams, observing how the technology fit into existing workflows and gathering feedback on what was and wasn’t working. His role was to help refine how technology worked in the field. 

As Dusty scaled and transitioned into broader deployment, Engle moved into DPR’s R&D team, where he could apply those field insights across a wider range of emerging technologies.

“It was kind of a consultant type role,” he said, “giving feedback on what’s working, what’s not and where technology could actually help.”

As robotics and artificial intelligence become more visible across the construction industry, Engle understands why some teams are cautious. Construction relies on experience and proven methods, and new tools naturally raise questions about reliability and impact.

In his view, that caution is something to engage with instead of ignoring.

"When new technology comes in, you can be the person who doesn't understand it and gets left behind," Engle said. "Or you can say 'This is just another tool in my tool belt.' I want to be involved early, learn how it works and help shape it into something that helps the field."

For Engle, that mindset has shaped his own career path. Rather than stepping away from the field, he leaned further into it, using his trade experience to help guide how new tools are introduced, tested and adopted. It’s an approach that allows builders to extend their impact without losing touch with the work itself.

“I tell people to stay eager to learn and to learn the job of the person next to them,” Engle said. “It keeps you fresh, helps you understand others and lets you see connections you wouldn’t otherwise see. That’s not just for the office, that applies to craft, too.”

At DPR, that philosophy shows up in how technology is deployed: start in the field, listen to the people doing the work and use new tools to support, rather than replace, the judgment and skill that matter most on the jobsite.

Engle’s journey from self-perform work to innovation and now R&D reflects how DPR supports nonlinear career paths. Rather than asking him to choose between the field and technology, Engle was able to create space for both.

By encouraging him to develop his interest in digital tools while staying grounded in field execution, DPR kept craft knowledge and strengthened its approach to innovation. His path reflects how personal passion, when met with DPR’s support, can lead to meaningful career growth that benefits both the individual and the company. 

Today, Engle continues to focus on how technology can support quality, safety and consistency in the field.