OUR STORY

DUEx founders Ian Sanchez and Alvin Alvarez have been best friends since the 90s.  Here is their story from their eyes…

Ian

Alvin and I have been friends for so long!  We did everything together during our younger days, from basketball, fascination of cars, the love for Jollibee (Filipino fast food restaurant) and even working together during our college years.   It only made sense, To convince  Alvin to apply at the dry utility design firm I was managing.   I remember Alvin working a shift from 7-4 at his hotel concierge job and would train on AUTOcad until the evening.  

A couple years later we were all hit with the 06/07 financial crisis which ultimately liquidated my management position.  Upset and unsure of the future I shifted to the sales and marketing field, where I learned marketing strategy that translated into multiple positions in a completely different field.

During this time Alvin and I remained the best of friends and both started families. Alvin continued in the dry utility design field and he reached out to me in 2014 for help on a project.  We then reconnected from a business standpoint and started a dry utility division at our previous firm.  We grew that business exponentially and built amazing relationships

Our dreams of opening DUEx came to fruition in 2019, where Alvin and I endeavored in the Duex journey.  It’s been an amazing journey and we are looking forward to growth for many years to come

Alvin

DUEx – Dedication and Undeniable Experiences shared by partners, Ian and Alvin, started what was once dream venture 😊

Alvin came here in the US in 2000 where he met Ian through family friends. They immediately clicked and were inseparable since then. 

It was Ian who introduced and mentored Alvin in the Dry Utility industry after his first job as a hotel receptionist. They work together at Moote and Al Hoyo Utilities in 2005, with Ian as the Applicant Design Manager and Alvin as an Assistant Design Project Manager. 

Then during the recession in 2008, the inseparable duo pursued a different path.  Alvin remained in the industry while Ian moved on to another field. 

But fate had a way of reconnecting them and sure enough, they worked back together at Murow|CM in 2015.  They built a dry utility division where they honed their skills and acquired a substantial amount of experience . 

Ian and Alvin then felt the desire to explore more possibilities and decided to pool their expertise to be able to share them to a wider audience and to break new grounds. 

Then in January 2019, their brainchild DUEx - Dry Utility Experts was born. Their humble beginning took place at Starbucks in Orange Circle, which became their office for few weeks sharing a cup of coffee and a refill. In no time, they have expanded dramatically and what was once a dream has become a rewardingly sweet reality.