Duane Schmitz: Celebrating a 30-Year Legacy
The Legacy Series highlights long-term employee-owners who have dedicated a significant portion of their careers to Morrison-Maierle. These veterans have a wealth of stories, experiences, and wisdom and have helped shape Morrison-Maierle into the company it is today.
Duane Schmitz's Legacy
For this feature, we interviewed Duane Schmitz, an employee-owner who has spent 30 years at Morrison-Maierle.
Name: Duane Schmitz
Position: Professional Land Surveyor
Education: Dawson Community College
Years with Morrison-Maierle: 30 years
Total years of experience: 42 years
Duane’s Early Days
Duane Schmitz grew up in Glendive, Montana. After finishing high school, he worked as a furniture salesman at a local store. In 1978, he decided he’d had enough of sales and decided to move on to his next career.
He graduated from Dawson Community College in 1982 with his associate’s degree in land surveying. Shortly after that, he moved to Missoula, MT, to work in the area.
After about 10 years in Missoula, Duane and his family—self-proclaimed ‘flatlanders’—decided to get away from the western Montana valleys and closer to family in North Dakota. At that time, they relocated to Billings, MT.
Joining Morrison-Maierle
Once in Billings, Duane decided it was time for a new chapter of his career. He joined Morrison-Maierle as a surveyor in 1993.
He spent the next 16 years working as part of a survey team on projects in the Billings area before relocating to Gillette.
The Gillette Years
In the late 2000s, Morrison-Maierle started work on a major 42-mile pipeline project in Wyoming near the Gillette office. They needed on-the-ground help with the project, and Duane volunteered to relocate to assist with the effort for the next eight years.
After the initial portion of the pipeline project ended, Morrison-Maierle had to increase its clientele to continue in Gillette. At that time, Duane took on a wide range of small survey jobs and resident project representative (RPR) work.
RPR or Survey Work – What’s Your Preference?
According to Duane, there are pros and cons to both surveying and RPR work, and he enjoys aspects of each. He also acknowledged how fieldwork can inform your office approach and how work in the office can help shape your behavior in the field. All in all, he believes his well-rounded experiences are an asset for projects, no matter what hat he’s wearing that day.
Industry Changes Over Time
Over the years, surveying technology has changed and evolved from transit and chain to the technology-heavy work we see today. Duane has watched survey crews shrink from three to four members to now just a single person.
He also reflected upon the switch from front-heavy to backend-heavy workflows. Initially, most survey work was completed in the field. Now, much of the work comes from interpreting the data and making it usable using programs like CAD.
With these shifting dynamics, Duane has noticed that the type of mentorship roles he performs have shifted. Initially, he would guide folks from the Morrison-Maierle side through projects. Now, with improving technology, contractors can perform more survey work themselves, and he finds himself guiding their employees as well. He says, “Keep up the effort of continuing your education because everything changes; nothing stands still.”
Projects for the Books
Over his 30+ year career with Morrison-Maierle, Duane has amassed a variety of stories, lessons learned, and favorite projects, but one stands out above the rest. In 2016, the chief engineer of the Sheridan VA Hospital called Duane when they needed some survey work done on the campus in Sheridan.
Duane took it on as the biggest job he had ever done alone. After the better part of two years, he developed a client relationship that was so strong that it lasted until the present day. Even now, Morrison-Maierle is still on call for services for the VA hospital.
He also has memorable highlights from surveying at the Round Mountain Mine in Nevada for our industrial group. This project turned him into a road warrior of sorts, and after two trips down—and spending a night in the Denver Airport—despite the distance, he decided he’d rather drive and have all his gear than get on a flight to Nevada.
Outside of Work
It’s no surprise that Duane’s creativity, passion, and hard work ethic would shine through outside of work. His motto is always to leave things better than you found them, and he directly applies this to his personal life. In his spare time, he and his wife have flipped several houses in towns in Eastern Montana and Northern Wyoming.
Furthering this idea of self-sufficiency and improvement, Duane is also a passionate gardener and enjoys growing and harvesting a variety of fruits, vegetables, and sunflowers.
Back to Billings
After working for 10+ years out of our Gillette office, Duane and his family made the choice to move back to Billings, where he continues to work as both a surveyor and RPR, depending on project needs.
