Project Spotlight
Fort Apache
Over the past three years we have provided civil engineering designs for eight commercial shopping center projects developed by Desert Vista Development.
One of the more interesting projects is located along Fort Apache Road, south of Oquendo and consists of approximately 2 acres of retail development including a restaurant, and day care facility. NBD is responsible for all civil improvement plans on this project. A challenging aspect was the hydrology study that brought to light the need to capture storm water that crosses Fort Apache from the adjacent property as well as flows running down Fort Apache. In order to use off the shelf materials and thus save the client a great deal of money, NBD designed two parallel 8' x 2' box culverts running a total of 313 LF each through the site from Fort Apache to the east along Oquendo. A third 8' x 2' box culvert picks up flows running south along Fort Apache and then turns to parallel the other two boxes for a total of 324 LF. The three boxes send the captured flows into a 12' x 4' box transition structure, which in turn ties into an existing, structure approximately 52 LF away. |
Jonathan D. Abbott, EI
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah but raised in Nevada, JD (as he prefers to be called), graduated from the University of Nevada Las Vegas with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. JD's six years of experience has been intense, giving him a diverse amount of experience in various areas such as roadway design, mass grading, underground utilities, and concrete. His hands on project experience have taught him the techniques of cost estimating, scheduling, subcontractor coordination, and quality control. He is familiar with both the design and construction of a variety of projects.
Married to Rochelle, JD and his wife are the proud parents to five children ages 7, 5, 4, 2, and 1 years of age, with the latest family addition due in July. JD enjoys spending time with his family while camping, boating, and water skiing. He also enjoys hunting and cooking.
JD participates as a "youth advisor" to teens ages 16 through 18 in the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints, as well as an Assistant Scout Master to a local Boy Scout troop.
|
 |
|
|
|
Innovative Civil Engineering
For Visionary Clients |
|
The New Year
As we near the end of January, you don't have to listen very carefully to hear the sound of New Year's resolutions as they fall and shatter upon the floor. But here at Nevada By Design (NBD) our resolutions are holding fast and we are maintaining our continuing commitment to engineering excellence and client communication.
In an effort to increase our client communications and give you information that you can use on your next project, NBD will be sending out a newsletter each month. We hope that you enjoy reading what we have to say and I encourage you to reply with any comments and questions that you might have.
We wish you continued success in 2008 and look forward to the opportunity to be a part of your next project.
Craig A. Ruark
Director of Business Development |
Numbers - What Do They Mean
By: Craig A. Ruark, Dir. Of Business Development
This morning, I was handed a survey form from a local "business publication" requesting information about Nevada By Design's staff and projects. The information requested would be used to rank our firm against other engineering firms in town. However, the ranking is not based upon the competency of our work, our client successes, or even the way our firm gives back to the community. The ranking is based upon how many professional engineers and technical support personnel we have on staff; in other words - the size of our firm.
I was blindly filling in the blanks on the form when Michael Pullen and Kent Anderson (NBD's principal owners) walked into my office on a separate matter. Michael asked me why I was filling out the survey and questioned whether we have ever gotten any business from being on one of these lists. More to the point, do clients even look at the list? As the three of us spoke, it became obvious that Michael was right; the list is meaningless to anyone but our competitors who use the ranking to puff up their chest in boastful fashion about who is the larger firm. As if size has anything to do with the quality of work that we provide.
Needless to say, we have elected not to submit the survey and in fact have decided not to participate in any future surveys for any publication that bases their ranking solely upon number of technical and professional staff. We feel that we are much better off absent from a list of this nature then to appear as a number ranked in a field of over fifty firms.
Growth for growth sake can be very detrimental and demoralizing to a firm and its staff. I once worked for a firm that has written into its business plan, to become a firm of ten-thousand persons by the year 2010. When the CEO of that firm made the announcement of this lofty goal, the local employees began to feel they were not recognized as contributing employees working toward the success of the firm, but merely a number. The company also changed in the way it looked at clients. There was pressure to bring in more business regardless of workload or the firm's ability to perform. Thus, customer service began to falter within the local office and clients became just a number that improved the bottom line in the annual stockholders report.
The principals and staff at Nevada By Design have a passion for the work that we do and we care about the client's needs. We look at each project as a new challenge and each new client as an opportunity to build a lasting relationship.
Nevada By Design is a growing firm and we have a couple of positions open for both professional and technical personnel; but we are careful about whom we hire. The successful candidates must not only be technically qualified but compatible with our culture and have concern for the client as well.
Numbers - what do they Mean? At Nevada By Design, we use numbers as the basis for creative, innovative, project specific engineering that will bring success to our client's projects. |
|
The Primary Mission of Nevada By Design ("NBD"), is to provide sustainable, high quality civil engineering designs, services, and build-able solutions to our clients.
Craig A. Ruark
Nevada By Design
Director of Business Development |
|
|
