Andreas Peeples was in grade school when he first became fascinated with the idea of building things.

At just 8, he often found himself staring at walls, trying to figure out how they stood up by themselves and what they were made of.

“I would go behind the door and poke little holes in the wall to see what was in there,” Peeples said.

Now, the general manager for HISD’s Construction Services is responsible for building them.

With a bachelor’s degree in construction and engineering and a masters in management, Peeples oversees school construction across the district, including the voter-approved 2012 Bond Program, which calls for the renovation or rebuilding of 40 schools.

That work includes making sure HISD students have access to the best possible facilities and that they are built and opened on time and within budget.

He has more than two decades of experience in construction, the last four of which have been at HISD.

“Impact, exposure, and remedy. Those are the three points I live by and that help my team assess any situation,” Peeples said. “Impact — what is it or what happened? Exposure — how am I exposed to it? And remedy — how am I going to fix it?”

Being in construction for so long has helped Peeples understand the time and effort it takes, even on the most stressful days. Typically, people make schedules, but Peeples knows things don’t always go according to schedule.

“You have to be very adaptive,” Peeples said. “It’s not boxed-in work because anything can happen in construction or construction-related fields.”

But even on the most stressful days, Peeples still loves his job and the challenges that come with it because he knows his work is making a difference.

“We want to provide a learning environment that puts everybody on equal footing, regardless of their economic background,” Peeples said. “Once you have an education, that can never be taken away from you. Every student in HISD deserves the best possible opportunity to get an education.”