When asked how she has been able to complete so many projects in so many places, she simply explained that she works seven days a week.

“I just work all the time,” she explained, laughing. “I have two residences and I have two offices.”

Jasmine celebrated its 20th year this January. Jasmine Construction Management is a division ofJasmine Engineering, Inc.

“It was formulated back in the 1980’s after working on the Alamodome project,” Azima said. “In 1987 I started doing more construction and project management services.”

Azima went to work for a Houston and Austin company with an emphasis on mechanical, electrical and plumbing design after she graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1981. She became CEO and president of that company. She pointed out that it was the only job she ever had, since she left to start her own business and has worked for herself ever since. Azima said running her own business was always her dream.

She opened Jasmine in San Antonio, not Houston, because she did not want to compete directly with the company she used to run.

Azima said her specialty was planning and doing the numbers. “One of the talents that I have is number crunching and being very good at cost estimating,” Azima said. “Our projects are always under budget.”

Jasmine changed its focus after the Alamodome project from mechanical, electrical and plumbing to project and construction management

“We found our niche,” Azima said. “We are unique in the community and in the market because we are more knowledgeable than the typical construction company when it comes to design understanding.”

Jasmine has done extensive work for the school districts in San Antonio. She also mentions the Nelson Wolf Baseball Stadium as a project where the company performed well for its client. Jasmine also worked on the Police Training Facility, which Azima said was one of the most energy efficient buildings in the city.

In Austin, the firm has also worked extensively on school construction, and Jasmine counts the U.S. Treasury Building as one of its projects.

The company worked on the convention center projects in both cities. They have also worked at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and for the State of Texas. Jasmine just started in El Paso, opening its office there 14 months ago. Azima said for now, the company has a very small presence in that city, but she expects that to change.

Azima said she owes a lot to the multi-disciplinary team at Jasmine. “Because we have licensed engineers on board, we’re very sensitive about the design,” Azima said. “We never take the integrity of the design away from the project. We always try to make sure that the design is intact before we do our value engineering services, which is part of the project management services. We do cost estimating, value engineering, a constructive energy review, scheduling, quality control and quality assurance.”

In addition to the big projects for government entities, Jasmine has often worked with private businesses like Xerox and PetSmart.

In San Antonio, Jasmine’s offices are located in the Milam Building at 115 East Travis St. In Austin, the company’s offices are at 3000 S. I-35. –cg

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