Today we’d like to introduce you to Richard Shroads.
Richard, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
While in engineering school at Cal Poly Pomona, I worked at a medium-sized engineering firm in California specializing in multi-faceted elements of Civil Engineering. This firm was structured in eight specialty engineering departments – Planning, Engineered Grading, Flood Control, Wastewater, Water Resources, Mapping, Roads, and Land Surveying. During my tenure there, I was fortunate enough to have worked in each of these departments. I was able to learn a lot about these various engineering categories and after graduation, even manage some of these departments. It also happened to be that, during this time, a new technology was presenting itself to engineers: computers. For the first time in engineering history, each engineer, designer, draftsman, and technician was being equipped with a computer terminal wired to a mini-computer for use in computerized calculating, drafting, and (yes) even plotting plans and maps. I was in charge of managing our new technological revolution.
It was during this time of love for engineering coupled with intrigue of this new fascination called computer technology, that I felt the enthusiastic desire to create a new venture with some of my past fellow engineering students. After quite a bit of thought, two former students and I decided to create a new Civil Engineering company that would run on the enthusiasm of youth and the coolness of computer technology. Thus, it was no stretch to think of naming our newborn something that captured these two ideologies. “Civiltec”… Yes, that will do nicely! (We almost chose the name “Civiltech,” but Civiltec seemed so much more pure that it won out.) We incorporated the firm in 1986 and trekked into a world of the unknown.
We set up our first office in a multi-storied office building in Pasadena. It was chosen because the building managers would actually lease 400 square feet to a start-up company with no money and no credit. We had just enough room to set up three drafting tables, a computer (of course), a pen plotter, and a refrigerator. We were most fortunate, however, to have a sliding glass door access to an outdoor second-floor balcony where, while working long into the night, we could escape for some fresh air. That was the beginning.
The three Cal Poly graduates were the first Civiltec employees. Later, I modified the ownership structure to include a good friend I worked with at my former job as well as my brother-in-law who were good surveyors. As we grew, we brought in a seasoned engineer and a couple of young graduate civil engineers. This group of talent caused the company to be put on the map. We engineered hundreds of private development projects and began public agency engineering work at that time.
After some time, it was discovered that opportunities for growth in our field were presenting themselves east of Los Angeles. It was time to investigate the Inland Empire and even Arizona. After much time spent doing market research, it was obvious that there were great opportunities for Civiltec in Arizona since growth was bustling statewide. Taxes were low and less restrictive regulations were attracting attention from businesses all over the country. I was so optimistic about this opportunity, we bifurcated the firm into a Civil Engineering firm (Civiltec) and a Land Surveying firm (Western States Surveying), and we reshaped Civiltec to include two new partners from another engineering firm I had great relations with in the past. Civiltec’s current President, David Byrum, is one of these partners. It was a memorable time. I moved to Arizona to oversee the new endeavor there. Traveling back and forth from Arizona to California was commonplace but, with perseverance, we were able to make two companies out of one, establish Civiltec branches in California and Arizona, and broaden our abilities to serve new markets.
As we continued to grow, my partners and I became more involved in learning corporate management issues. We attended seminars about corporate finances, liability, law, strategic planning, business development, marketing, economics, and other such non-engineering issues. We were launching ourselves into the next step in corporate existence. In 2006, we began strategically planning for our future. In August of that year, we held our first company-wide strategic planning session. This was truly the beginning of the Civiltec metamorphosis.
Our Vision: A company with multiple offices with several employee/owners, top quality civil and water resource engineering company to be the company of choice for employees and clients alike.
Our Culture: To grow in size while preserving our open, empowering culture, staying focused on our core values, preserving the employee qualities we enjoy whilst serving clients that provide us sound opportunities for profitable growth.
Our Core Values: Integrity, Communication, Leadership Development, Employ the best, Family-like, Continue our Education, Client Service, Have fun, recognize success, Employee retention, and Desire to help one another (across all offices).
We now have three new managing partners in our firm, who bring fresh new ideas. Transition brings on change, which brings on innovation and new developments, which all lead to exciting opportunities. Now, as we pass our 31st anniversary, I am reminded of the changes kindled by myself in the early days of Civiltec’s existence.
In looking back at the history and making of Civiltec, from a one-room, 400-square-foot office to a multi-office company, it offers one peace of mind and solace to know that every person involved in our company–past and present–has created a sense of goodness for fellow employees and the clients we have been so privileged to serve.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Starting up and growing a small business can be compared to starting and growing a family. For years, the business consumed almost all of my free time. While it was extremely rewarding to create a new venture out of nothing, there were surely struggles along the way. The challenges we faced typically followed the ebbs and flows of a capitalistic economy. When the economy was hot and clients had easy access to capital for projects, we were challenged with maneuvering through a heavy workload and finding capable engineers, designers, drafters and surveyors to get the work done. When the economy slowed down, we were faced with the same challenges many small businesses face such as paying taxes, paying rent, making payroll, finding projects, collecting payments, and meeting other business obligations. Our road became a smoother ride as we settled in with a good strong client base and solid engineering staff, and employing a more structured management style. These actions enabled us to grow in a controlled way, smoothing out the peaks and valleys resulting in a steady, linear growth pattern we still enjoy today.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Civiltec Engineering – what should we know?
Civiltec is a consulting engineering firm that creates engineering plans and documents that enable our client’s contractors to build infrastructure that benefits mankind. Our specialties include General Civil Engineering, Water Engineering, Wastewater Engineering, Drainage Engineering, Transportation Engineering, Construction Management and Land Surveying.
We have always taken pride in presenting our firm as one that offers small firm attention to our clients with a depth-of-bench more akin to a medium sized firm. We discovered that our clients wanted their projects to include involvement from our principals and managers, with support from a strong engineering team. To this day, we continue to operate using this style because we care deeply for our clients not only from a business standpoint but from a personal standpoint. We believe this sets us apart from other consulting firms that get gobbled-up in revenue and profit obsessions and forget to focus on the true needs of the client. In the end, we can look back and be proud of being people helping people. This mantra has resulted in continuous repeat-client business and the feeling of personal satisfaction knowing that we made a positive contribution to a more comfortable lifestyle for the public that benefited from our civil engineering projects.
In my discussions with other consulting engineering firms of our size, I often hear their stories of the lack of corporate planning by their leaders. From a company management perspective, I am proud of some of the steps we have taken to ensure long-term success of the firm. We work on our living Strategic Plan continuously. We have developed ownership transition plans, leadership transition plans, and company handbooks. We share quarterly newsletters with our employees and clients. We spread news internally about who our employees are, their areas of expertise, their hobbies, and personal activities through our “Staff Spotlight” program. We embrace continuing education for our staff. And last but not least, we offer our employees an opportunity to be empowered. Take chances. Fail. Succeed. Learn. And grow.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
By far, my proudest moments have been when visiting with our employees and their families. We consider our employees as family members, and to be able to spend time with them and their spouses, significant others, and children leaves me with a sense of pride that I was able to be a part of helping them have successful lifestyles. Equally rewarding is watching our employees grow up through the ranks of the firm, and witness them providing the same opportunities to our newer staff members. Seeing this continuous flow of professional and personal growth of people associated with Civiltec is the best reward of all.
Contact Info:
- Address: 118 W. Lime Ave.,
Monrovia, CA 91016 - Website: https://www.civiltec.com
- Phone: 626-357-0588
- Email: dbyrum@civiltec.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CiviltecEngineering
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/civengineering
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtqH7mQrV4JnuhwuQ0Y2BdQ
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