It started as a part-time endeavour for three friends and young professionals in complementary fields and subsequently became a flourishing partnership that celebrates its fifth anniversary this year.

And for the partners of CompuCAD Training & Services Limited, electrical engineers Troy Lewis, 35 and Diallo Rabain, 33, and Chartered Surveyor Quinell Francis, also 33, the success they have enjoyed in building the business comes down to delivering on everything they commit to do for their clients, even in the face of initial scepticism in the market.

"One major issue when we started full-time with the business was people thinking that we were so young maybe we didn't know what we were doing, not realising the extent of our experience and background," says Mr. Lewis, an Electrical Engineering Technology graduate.

"Once people saw that we could deliver whatever came at us, and deliver it well, the referrals started coming in."

The partners can now proudly state that CompuCAD is a 'one-stop shop' ? the only company in Bermuda currently providing complete architectural drafting, land surveying and project management services in one location. The company's comprehensive range of services includes residential architectural design for new home construction, as well as renovations and alterations; drafting services for architectural and engineering drawings; land surveying and mapping; large format scanning, printing and archiving of architectural drawings and project management for residential and commercial building projects. CompuCAD clients comprise a wide cross-section of public and private sector entities, including construction companies, law firms, government departments and agencies, real estate firms and private individuals. The company also provides training in AutoCAD, the specialist architectural design software programme, for architects, engineers, designers and draftspersons.

It was in fact from teaching the AutoCAD programme as part of his responsibilities at work that Mr. Lewis first came up with the idea to use this skill more broadly. By the time he approached Mr. Rabain, who had returned to Bermuda with a B. Eng Engineering & Technology in 1995, with his business idea they were both working in government within the Works and Engineering Department on electrical engineering projects.

"Troy thought that since we were both conversant with AutoCAD and there was a demand outside of what were were doing at work we could fill a niche in training," says Mr. Rabain. "We decided to conduct training classes in the evening and ended up renting the CAD lab at CedarBridge in 1998. We held classes for a year and found that people started asking about drafting services as well."

The enquiries evidently grew into a steady demand for both services resulting in them opening their own small office.

"It was in the Recorder building on Court Street and we trained five people at a time," says Mr. Rabain.

Miss Francis, who has a Bachelor of Technology degree in Survey Engineering in addition to achieving her professional designation, and was the first Bermudian to become a qualified land surveyor (she is still the only female in the profession here), also worked in the Works and Engineering Department. She would eventually join her partners in 2000, also on a part-time basis initially, bringing her land surveying skills to complement the architectural design and drafting services that they developed in addition to the AutoCAD training.

Whilst the two men continued to teach at their new premises only in the evenings they did take on their first full-time employee in line with what the three partners still see as one of the core mandates of the business ? to help young Bermudians with the drive and interest to qualify in architectural design and drafting as well as land surveying, so that more locals begin participating in those professions here.

"It's part of our mandate to try and encourage Bermudians to become qualified," Miss Francis says. "And in our training we want to help them on the production level, technically, but also in terms of life skills as well."

"We hired a trainee fresh out of high school who was interested in learning architecture to be in the office full-time; it was our first step in that regard," adds Mr. Rabain.

That 'first step' developed into employing more young people on a full-time basis and during summers, as well as helping high school students to gain experience and insight into the architectural and land surveying professions via day-release programmes with Berkley Institute, CedarBridge Academy and Saltus Grammar School. And that first employee is currently in college on track to a professional designation.

"We'll offer training and help in any way we can, but we've got to see that the self motivation is there as well," says Mr. Rabain.

Although Mr. Lewis adds: "Sometimes you have a problem to find Bermudians that have the ambition to be better."

The partners continue to support their self-appointed mandate to encourage Bermudians to enter their respective professions in various ways. Most recently they took their three other full-time employees, who cover both the drafting and land surveying services, with them to the US for a week of training seminars and workshops organised annually by the manufacturers of AutoCAD.

"This way we all stay sharp and in this business you have to stay up-to-date technically," says Mr. Rabain, the goal being to ensure that clients get the best training even as the software is constantly updated.

Making the move to becoming full-time entrepreneurs was a major decision for all three partners, however, it ended up being a natural transition. By the time they left their jobs in 2001 they had built a solid foundation for the business, having ploughed revenue earned right back into the company thereby ending up with very little debt, and benefiting from the good reputation they had earned in the market.

"We were also awarded the contract to do all the surveying work for the second senior secondary school, a major contract, so it was a good time to make the decision," says Mr. Rabain.

"I had always had a plan to form this company really, but had not been sure when it would happen," says Mr. Lewis. "But we were confident going into it, we had built up the resources to support ourselves full-time for at least a year. And and if it didn't go well we knew we had the background and experience to get another job."

They have invested time, finances, many late nights and early mornings over the past five years and remain a close-knit and respectful team, even though they admit they do clash in terms of ideas from time to time.

"But the best thing about being in a partnership is the varied ideas and the extra set of eyes; having the support of the people who are with you in the team," says Mr. Rabain.

"And open communication is absolutely key," adds Miss Francis, who as a woman in a male-dominated profession has been confronted with assumptions and expectations directly related to her gender.

"Sometimes going on a construction site people think your (male) assistant is actually your boss," she says by way of example. "But it's actually gotten better over the years."

They are all looking forward to the next phase of development for the company.

"Our plans for the next five years are basically more growth, and us (three partners) moving from the production level to more of the management level," says Miss Francis. "We eventually want to employ additional qualified people and be able to offer more services as well, especially in terms of geomatrics, which includes mapping, land surveying, geographical information systems and global positioning systems. We're just limited by our current resources to do that at the moment."

They remain committed to the principles that they believe have contributed to the company's success.

"Our commitment to our clients and ourselves is to make sure we do whatever it takes to get things done and we continue to always deliver on what we say we do," says Mr. Lewis.

"When people come to us what they get is high quality, efficient services that are competitively priced," adds Mr. Rabain. "And because we're small they are dealing with the partners, there are no barriers between them and the people who ensure they get what they need."