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When can you start engineering my project?

We have what refer to as a "rolling queue" of projects. This means that we do projects in the order they come in, and we are continuously updating our project list.​

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For a project to have a slot in our rolling queue, we need to have a signed contract and a retainer from the client.

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We will give you a sense of where our rolling queue is when we issue our proposal to you. That will be a snapshot of where our backlog is at that moment in time. If you then take a week or month to sign and return the contract, you may find that our start time as moved significantly.

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We do this in order to honor those who commit to working with us first.

We're in a hurry and want to save money by doing the civil drawings instead of Grunt Engineering, does that work?

Short version: That sounds bad and we never do it.

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Long version: When we’ve done it in the past, it hasn’t saved time or money because we still end up drafting some version of the details in order to communicate our intentions with whoever is doing the drawings, and then we have to do an onerous back-and-forth editing process to get them right. It takes forever and is exhausting and sad for everyone involved. It’s like saving money by reading WebMD and removing your own tonsils instead of paying a live doctor to do it — you’re going to end up in the ER anyway…

Do we have to have a survey done or can you just use GIS / LiDAR?

Short version: Yes, a survey performed under the direction of a Licensed Professional Surveyor is required.

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Long version: High-quality survey LiDAR (QL0-QL1) has vertical accuracy of 0.15 - 0.33 ft. This is accurate enough for most designs, but this data is not usually publicly available. Normally this level of accuracy can only be achieved by surveying professionals using specialized equipment.

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The publicly available LiDAR (QL2) that is commonly accessed through USGS has vertical accuracy of 0.33 ft or less. This is accurate enough for preliminary site evaluation, but not accurate enough for design. Additionally, information like property boundaries, benchmarks, storm and sanitary invert elevations, wrested vegetation, stream centerlines cannot be ascertained from LiDAR data.

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We have attempted in the past to use publicly available LiDAR data for simple grading and drainage designs in an effort to help our clients save money on surveying, but in these cases we've ended needing to a physical survey done anyway.

We tried to save money by having a non-licensed person who lives in a third world country complete our drawings, can you review and stamp their plans?

Short version: Absolutely not. We never have and never will. It's both illegal and unethical.

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Long version: Unfortunately, this is common practice that we see a lot today, particularly in private residential development. The laws and ethics that govern professional engineering require that all work bearing the seal/signature of the Licensed Professional Engineer be performed under his or her direct supervision and direction. Rubber stamping drawings completed by other people is a clear violation of this.

 

There are numerous companies set up with a single US-based licensed professional and all of their design is completed entirely by people in third world countries like India, Pakistan, The Philippines, etc. Not only is this a legal and ethical problem, but the result is substandard design. The people performing this work do not have the same education, qualifications, and experience as those who live and work in the United States.

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Additionally, the people in third world countries are not subject to the laws and regulations of The United States which means they don't have any "skin in the game." The US laws that govern the Practice of Professional Engineering are designed to protect public welfare - people outside of the United States are out of the jurisdiction of these laws.

Can you provide a discounted rate if you don't stamp or sign your plans?

Short version: No. 

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Long version: The laws that government the practice of Professional Engineering in most states require that all work preformed by a Licensed Professional Engineer bear his or her seal and signature, regardless of whether the work is preliminary. If the work leaves our office, it has to be sealed.

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Many people think with engineering that you are just paying for a seal. In reality you are paying for specialized education, training and experience that goes into all of our designs. The seal is simply proof of our qualifications. To ask for a discounted rate for lesser work that didn't bear a seal would be both illegal and unethical. 

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