Building the Right Project Team From the Ground Up

Getting from one to the other takes much more than construction.

Before the first foundation is poured, landowners, developers, architects, surveyors, Civil Engineers, Geotechnical Engineers, Structural Engineers, earthwork contractors, and other professionals may all have a role in determining what can be built, where it can be built, and how it should be built.

At Ingram Engineering Services, we see this process from several different perspectives. Our team has supported large residential developments in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, commercial projects throughout Philadelphia and at Philadelphia International Airport, large storage facilities in the Baltimore area, complex coastal structures in Delaware, and even a challenging resort project in the Caribbean.

The projects may look very different, but they share something important: the site and the structure have to work together.

So, who does what?

It Starts With the Landowner or Developer

Every project needs someone driving the vision.

For a residential project, that might be a landowner evaluating whether a property can support a new home, a builder purchasing individual lots, or a developer considering a large parcel for a new community.

On the commercial side, it could be a developer evaluating land for a warehouse, office building, retail center, multifamily community, storage facility, or industrial project.

Before committing significant capital, the owner or developer needs to start answering fundamental questions.

What can we build here? How many buildings or lots can the property support? What site improvements will be required? Are there soil, drainage, grading, foundation, or structural conditions that could significantly affect the project budget?

This is where assembling the right team early becomes important.

The Surveyor: Understanding What Is There

Before designing what comes next, the team needs accurate information about what exists today.

Surveyors establish property boundaries and collect information about the physical characteristics of the property. Depending on the project, surveying can document existing elevations, structures, utilities, easements, rights-of-way, and other site features.

That information creates an accurate picture of the property that Civil Engineers, Architects, and other professionals can use as design begins.

Ingram works closely with partner Surveyors when projects require these services, helping create a more coordinated approach for the client.

The Architect: What Are We Building?

Architects focus heavily on how a building will function for the people who use it.

For a commercial project, the Architect may develop the overall building concept, floor plans, entrances, circulation, accessibility, exterior appearance, and many of the details that ultimately define the finished structure.

For residential construction, an Architect may design a custom home, addition, multifamily project, or help adapt an existing design to a particular property.

But a building cannot be designed in isolation from its site.

Where the Architect wants to put the building needs to work with grading, utilities, stormwater management, setbacks, access, soil conditions, and structural requirements.

That requires coordination with the engineering team.

The Civil Engineer: Making the Site Work

If the Architect is helping determine what the building will look like and how it will function, the Civil Engineer is focused on making the overall site work.

Civil Engineers commonly address:

• Site layout and grading
• Roads, driveways, and parking
• Stormwater management and drainage
• Water and sewer infrastructure
• Utility coordination
• Erosion and sediment control
• Site access
• Permitting requirements

On the large residential developments Ingram has supported in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, that coordination can involve an entire neighborhood. Roads, lots, utilities, stormwater systems, building pads, and proposed grades all need to function as a single development.

On commercial projects, including work Ingram has performed in Philadelphia and at Philadelphia International Airport, the environment can be very different. Existing infrastructure, utilities, adjacent structures, restricted work areas, permitting requirements, and construction sequencing can add layers of complexity.

In either situation, there is something important that a site plan cannot show by itself:

What is underneath it.

The Geotechnical Engineer: Understanding the Ground

This is one of the areas where Ingram Engineering Services enters the project.

A Civil Engineer, Architect, developer, builder, or property owner may retain Ingram to perform a geotechnical investigation of the proposed site.

Depending on the project, our team can perform soil borings, test pits, Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) testing, soil sampling, groundwater observations, and laboratory testing.

Our Geotechnical Engineers use this information to evaluate conditions such as soil composition, density, bearing capacity, existing fill, groundwater, and settlement potential.

Then we translate that information into practical engineering recommendations.

Those recommendations can influence foundation design, site preparation, excavation, fill placement and compaction, pavement sections, retaining structures, groundwater management, and soil remediation.

The importance of those recommendations becomes especially clear when the environment gets more complicated.

In coastal Delaware, for example, projects can involve subsurface and groundwater conditions that require careful consideration when designing foundations and improving soils. Ingram has provided engineering solutions for complex coastal structures where understanding the interaction between soils, water, foundations, and the proposed structure is essential.

Understand the ground before making expensive assumptions about what goes on top of it.

The Structural Engineer: Making the Building Stand

This is another area where Ingram can remain directly involved.

While our Geotechnical Engineers focus on how the ground will support the project, our Structural Engineers focus on how the structure itself will carry and transfer loads safely through its foundation and ultimately into that ground.

Structural Engineering can include the analysis and design of:

• Foundations
• Bearing walls
• Beams and columns
• Floor systems
• Roof framing and roof trusses
• Structural steel
• Wood framing
• Concrete and masonry systems
• Retaining structures
• Structural modifications and additions

The scale and complexity can vary considerably.

A residential project may require foundation and framing design for an individual home. A large storage facility, such as projects Ingram has supported in the Baltimore area, can introduce an entirely different combination of building loads, structural systems, foundations, site conditions, and construction requirements.

Because Ingram provides both Geotechnical and Structural Engineering, we can look at both sides of that equation.

The Geotechnical Engineer determines how the ground is expected to perform and provides foundation recommendations. The Structural Engineer uses that information as part of designing the foundation and structural system above it.

Instead of treating the ground and building as unrelated components, the two disciplines can communicate directly.

The Earthwork Contractor: Turning Plans Into a Buildable Site

Eventually, the project moves from drawings and reports to heavy equipment and dirt.

Earthwork contractors, excavators, and site contractors begin clearing, grading, excavating, placing fill, installing site infrastructure, and preparing building pads, roads, parking areas, and other improvements.

Their work needs to follow the requirements established by the project plans and engineering recommendations.

This is another point where Ingram’s involvement can continue in the field.

Our technicians can perform compaction testing to verify that engineered fill is being placed according to project requirements. Bearing conditions can be evaluated before foundations are placed. Concrete and other construction materials can be tested as work progresses.

And when unexpected conditions are uncovered, our engineers can help determine the next step.

That responsiveness matters.

When an excavation is open and earthwork equipment, concrete crews, or other trades are waiting, every day matters. Getting an engineer to the site quickly and developing a practical solution can help keep an unexpected condition from becoming a much larger scheduling and financial problem.

Sometimes the Project Is Anything but Typical

Not every development is a subdivision or commercial building on a relatively accessible site.

Ingram is currently involved with a resort project in the Caribbean where severe limestone erosion along a cliffside is affecting areas adjacent to private villas.

The engineering challenge goes beyond developing a technical solution. Materials, equipment, site access, marine conditions, and construction logistics all have to be considered. With portions of the property accessible only by water, even getting the appropriate equipment and materials to the work area becomes part of the engineering problem.

Ingram’s approach includes evaluating the existing limestone and developing a low-pressure grouting solution while coordinating how the appropriate materials and equipment can practically reach the site.

It is an unusual project, but it demonstrates a principle that applies just as readily to a neighborhood in Pennsylvania or a commercial building in Philadelphia:

Engineering has to work in the real world. A solution needs to be technically sound, but it also needs to be buildable.

It Isn’t Always a Straight Line

A development project rarely moves neatly from Surveyor to Architect to Civil Engineer to Geotechnical Engineer to Structural Engineer to contractor.

There is considerable overlap.

A Geotechnical Engineer may discover conditions that cause the Civil Engineer to reconsider grading. The Civil Engineer may change a building elevation that affects the Architect. The Architect may modify the building layout, requiring changes from the Structural Engineer. The earthwork contractor may uncover an unexpected condition that sends the team back to the Geotechnical Engineer.

Good projects depend on communication between disciplines.

And the earlier that communication happens, the more opportunities there are to solve challenges while they are still relatively inexpensive to change.

One Property. One Project. Many Areas of Expertise.

From large residential communities in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to commercial projects in Philadelphia, airport facilities, storage developments in Maryland, coastal structures in Delaware, and complex projects well beyond the Mid-Atlantic, every site brings a different set of challenges.

At Ingram Engineering Services, we provide both Geotechnical and Structural Engineering, along with field testing, special inspections, construction materials testing, and AASHTO-accredited laboratory capabilities. We also work closely with Civil Engineers, Surveyors, Architects, developers, builders, contractors, and property owners.

That gives our team a broad perspective on a project, from the soil supporting the foundation to the structural systems supporting the building.

For a landowner or developer, the goal isn’t simply to hire a collection of individual consultants.

It’s to build a team that communicates, identifies problems early, and develops practical solutions that help turn raw land into a successful project.