What has been your most rewarding professional experience?

Growing a company. For more than twenty years, my “design project” has included engineering projects for clients and designing the business of FTF. I love building and construction, and I love growth — both personal and professional growth for myself and for those around me. I have a passion for building a company that thrives on collaboration and respect — internally and externally.

How does an owner’s business mission affect how you engineer their buildings?

The owner’s mission should drive the project. Some engineers and firms know this, and their practice can provide a wide range of design services that are customized to individual projects. At FTF, we get most excited when we get to truly partner with an owner — helping them understand structural and earthquake engineering and how it affects their business goals and operations, and advising them where “code minimum” will meet their objectives, and where a more robust solution is warranted.

What has been your most rewarding professional experience?

Growing a company. For more than twenty years, my “design project” has included engineering projects for clients and designing the business of FTF. I love building and construction, and I love growth — both personal and professional growth for myself and for those around me. I have a passion for building a company that thrives on collaboration and respect — internally and externally.

How does an owner’s business mission affect how you engineer their buildings?

The owner’s mission should drive the project. Some engineers and firms know this, and their practice can provide a wide range of design services that are customized to individual projects. At FTF, we get most excited when we get to truly partner with an owner — helping them understand structural and earthquake engineering and how it affects their business goals and operations, and advising them where “code minimum” will meet their objectives, and where a more robust solution is warranted.

What has been your most rewarding professional experience?

Seeing the first structure I designed and be constructed from start to finish. What started as a paper sketch and developed as a collaboration among the design team emerged as something tangible to show friends and family. Now working as a mentor, I get to see that excitement on the faces of young engineering staff as their buildings emerge from the ground.

How can a good structural engineer make a difference?

A mentor of mine once told me that a surgeon may save a couple hundred patients a year, but with each well-designed building that does not collapse in an earthquake, a structural engineer will have saved thousands. While I am not ready to pat myself on the back just yet, creating safe buildings that will protect their inhabitants before, during and after a seismic event is what excites me the most about structural engineering.

What has been your most rewarding professional experience?

While it is rewarding to collaborate with owners and architects to turn their visions into buildings with sound structural backbones, it is not too often in your professional career that you see your designs perform at design level forces. Approximately one year before the Napa earthquake I was fortunate enough to work on an existing structure near Downtown Napa which partially served as temporary housing for at-risk families. The structural scope of the project included replacing the near century old stone foundation and basement walls with new reinforced concrete walls and foundations as well as plywood shear wall retrofits. After the Napa Earthquake, I was able to squeeze in a site visit on my own time to check on this important building in between the numerous building structural reviews we were contracted to complete at the time.

I was able to see that the building I retrofitted as well as a neighboring building that had also received critical cripple wall seismic upgrades, sustained relatively minor cosmetic damage. Unfortunately, another neighbor’s home of similar construction and age was red tagged because it had slid off its original stone foundations. I can easily say this was one of my most rewarding professional experiences.

How do you create value for clients (owners and architects) through structural (and civil) engineering?

Value is created by being proactive in the conceptual and even the proposal phase of a project. True value is not just designing the most efficient beam or smallest anchor. It is discussing and understanding the architect’s and owner’s priorities from the beginning to develop early structural design alternatives. If cost is the main priority, suggesting modest layout and alignment revisions to drive construction to a less expensive building material aids in achieving the target value. If schedule is the main priority, utilizing the same members and connections could be the key to achieving the target value. There may be some material cost increase because of the more standardized gravity and lateral design, but in the end the project will benefit from the repetitive nature of the design. Another way I have contributed to schedule goals is providing more conservative early design before all the finishes and MEP systems are selected allowing large steel sections to be ordered well in advance of permit submittal to manage long lead times. In those special projects where the architect’s and owner’s aesthetic vision is the main driving value for the project, providing more focused and extensive design addressing multiple varied conditions with multiple structural materials and lateral systems is likely the key to achieving that value. Since every project is as unique as its owner and architect, knowing the clients’ project goals and priorities is the key in bringing structural value to the team.

How do you create value for clients through civil and structural engineering?

I view projects that I work on as if they were my own by asking myself, “If this were my house, or my yard, what would the best design to achieve the vision?” In doing so, I always have a client’s best interest in mind and am able to provide a solution tailored to them, not just a “one-size-fits-all” solution.

How can a good structural engineer make a difference?

Good engineering is like a good set of directions. Say you buy a piece of exercise equipment, and it comes in a box with 25 different parts and 3 different bolt sizes. Some people try and put it together without the directions or with poorly crafted directions, and they may end up redoing steps because they were connected in the wrong order or with the wrong bolt. However, with a good set of directions, it is easy to follow the steps and it takes less time to assemble. The same is true for a structure; the better the plans, the smoother and faster the construction.

What is something that comes up in your work that people often overlook but makes a big impact on how buildings perform?

A building’s future use is an issue that can have big impacts on how it ultimately performs. Owners and design teams who understand current and potential future uses before the design process starts are far ahead of the curve and can accommodate for a wider range of circumstances.

What do you think is the most important part of the quality control process? What is your favorite part? What gets overlooked?

The most important part of the quality control process is to make sure that construction documents are up to our standards. Providing FTF quality standards helps see that the building has not only good design, but good detailing as well. Catching errors early can help mitigate problems later on and save owners and project teams a lot of time and money.

What has been your most rewarding professional experience?

My involvement with FTF’s growth for over 20 years! I have worked with the firm behind the scenes and now “on the front line,” promoting FTF’s projects and engaging with clients and industry partners. Currently, business development and marketing are my sweet spots. I leveraged my previous career experience, marketing FTF’s expertise and capabilities, connecting with clients, and developing new business for the firm. I am grateful to have exposure to the company’s internal workings and the opportunity to promote FTF’s experience and value-add to clients and the industry. It is rewarding to be able to tell the company’s story.

What is your favorite FTF project?

All of them! I love sharing the FTF’s stories and ensuring our projects are featured on our website and promoted in our newsletters and on social media. But if I had to pick a favorite, it would be when FTF creatively adapted a large-scale project seismic system to a single-family residence to address the client’s desire for their house to be both environmentally sustainable and seismically sustainable after an earthquake. To accomplish this, FTF designed an advanced lateral force-resisting system consisting of thirteen steel brace frames with viscous fluid dampers manufactured by Taylor Devices Inc. Our innovative approach significantly increased the structure’s seismic performance with only a tiny overall construction cost increase.

What are exciting changes in structural (or civil) engineering that make buildings better? The process smoother?

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been the most exciting change in structural engineering since I have been in the business. When I first started in this business I was drawing with a pencil, then I was drawing with digital lines, but it was always in a 2D format. Then along came BIM and the type of buildings I worked on became more complex and interesting, and if we implemented BIM properly we found that we could cut down on drafting time, construction mistakes and in the end save the project a lot of money.

What are your favorite activities outside of work? (or some other personal, interesting thing about you.)

I enjoy winter skiing, snow shoeing and hiking and really like to travel and be outdoors. I also coach our local 4H trap team and enjoy visiting skeet and trap clubs for fun shoots and teaching kids my knowledge of shooting sports how to safe with firearms.

How do you create value for clients (owners and architects) through structural (and civil) engineering?

I engage in every project with the mindset that my design should match the high standards and quality of FTF. I do my best to fully understand the scope of a project and my client’s needs before starting. Doing so provides the most efficient and suitable solutions, which in the end saves time and money. Communication is the key to this approach, so I constantly communicate with all parties involved in the project.

What are exciting changes in structural (or civil) engineering that make buildings better? The process smoother?

Structural engineers are adopting new analysis techniques and concepts from other branches of engineering and science more rapidly than ever before. To me, one of the most exciting advancements is using cloud-based computation, which fosters more collaborative work and harnesses power in ways that enable structural engineers to efficiently design very complex structures.

What has been your most rewarding professional experience?

Imagining the children studying and playing at the new classrooms, libraries and gyms I designed, I get a real sense of achievement. It is exciting to see something you designed being built, knowing that your skills were instrumental in bringing it into being. And the buildings are going to be there for many years, used and enjoyed by thousands of kids. This makes me feel it’s really rewarding work.

Why did you become a structural engineer?

Structural engineers are responsible for designing the strength, durability and stability of buildings and infrastructure safe to use, stand up during earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters. We also help society to address disaster relief. It is very meaningful.

Why did you become a structural (or civil) engineer? What excites you about structural (or civil) engineering? About design and construction or real estate?

Ever since I was a kid, I have been captivated by construction sites and the process of turning raw materials into safe and stable structures. I was always curious about how the workers knew how to put everything together and it was then that I discovered the role of structural engineers in the design of buildings. This realization sparked my interest in studying structural engineering, and the more I learned about it, the more I knew that I wanted to become a structural engineer. The feeling of accomplishment when a building I’ve designed is constructed and stands tall is indescribable and my passion for the field has never wavered.

How does an owner’s business mission affect how you engineer their buildings?

When it comes to designing a safe and practical building, the owner’s business mission is a critical factor that affects the building’s design, construction, sustainability, and functionality. If the business mission is centered around sustainability, then eco-friendly features and construction methods may need to be incorporated. On the other hand, if the mission is all about innovation and creativity, the building may need to include features that encourage collaboration and creativity among employees. Additionally, the building’s functionality may need to cater to the specific needs of the business, such as accommodating heavy machinery or high customer traffic. In short, understanding the owner’s business goals and priorities is crucial for engineers to design and construct buildings that align with the business’s specific needs and support its overall mission.

How can a good structural engineer make a difference?

Engineering is a career which combines science and math to create, develop, design, test and analyze solutions for society’s needs and critical problems. A good structural engineer adds life to what once was just a dream and a plan on a paper, allowing the architect’s ideas to become reality with a long-lasting impact.

Why did you become a structural engineer? What excites you about structural engineering?

When I was in high school, I always wondered about the skyscrapers, the high-rise buildings, and other structures and wondered how they are made safe and stable. In my studies I became more curious about them, and I became more and more interested in engineering. Eventually, I came to realize that engineering is not only the path for my success, but it is also fun for me.

How can engineering contribute to better sustainable design strategies?

By investigating and implementing them of course. As structural engineers with strong community roots, we often learn about new research in sustainability before it becomes public knowledge. Undertaking the challenge of implementing that knowledge in our projects provides our clients with a resilient product and better comprehension of sustainable solutions for future projects.

How does an owner’s business mission affect how you engineer their buildings?

If owners invested their heart in their company, I want to match that dedication by devoting my time to find them the best solutions to fit their needs. This could mean working to reduce costs by making details simple enough to be built by volunteers or advocating for sequential development of a project. Passion makes the project after all.

How do you create value for clients?

In our world of instant gratification, we want solutions, answers to our questions, and information right away. At FTF we are not insulated from this mindset. In my role as an office and marketing manager the most important way I create value for our clients is through clear communication and follow up. When I interact with clients, I listen to their concerns and questions first, then I ask questions from them, if necessary, to mutually find the most practical option.

Why do you like working at FTF?

Working at FTF has been rewarding both professionally and personally. When I was hired a few years ago, FTF was a one-office firm with a staff of six. Today we have fourteen engineers supported by two CAD Specialists and two administrative staff, and we have a second office in San Luis Obispo! I am proud to be part of this expansion and to work with our leadership team, who push themselves and everyone else to achieve more and educate themselves in their respective fields. They also hold the company together by creating time and space for us to get to know each other.