Skip to content
MCC-property

MCC-property

Epicurean real estate

Primary Menu MCC-property

MCC-property

  • Real Estate News
  • House for Rent
  • Construction
  • Furniture
  • Apartment
  • Building
  • About Us
    • Advertise Here
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Sitemap
  • Home
  • How to Hire the Best Civil Engineer for Your Retail CRE Development
  • Building

How to Hire the Best Civil Engineer for Your Retail CRE Development

Rickey Andreu May 20, 2022

Table of Contents

Toggle
  • Project type and location determine your needs
    • Location, Location, Location
    • Current knowledge of regulatory requirements
  • Type of Project
    • Ground-Up Development
    • Redevelopment  
  • Verify their Qualifications
    • Licensing and accreditation
    • Evaluating Land-Use knowledge
  • Look at teamwork skills
    • Effective communication
    • A team player, not a pushover
    • Quick and professional responses
    • Review proposals 
    • PETER KRAHENBUHL >
      • Vice President of Development
    •  
    • Other Posts by Peter: 

[ad_1]

Hiring a civil engineer for your commercial real estate project is going to be dependent on a range of factors, all of which need to be deeply examined to ensure that they can best serve your project. You should research and vet a healthy range of civil engineers to ensure that you find the professional that will best fit your needs. Let’s take a look at some of the important factors that you will need to consider when hiring a civil engineer for a retail development. 

Project type and location determine your needs

Location, Location, Location

When you are looking to hire a civil engineer for a retail development project, one of the major factors that you need to consider is going to be their knowledge of the property location. Have they worked in the vicinity of the property location previously? They will need to assess the raw land, and available infrastructure for development, so location-specific knowledge could prove a major benefit to your project. 

 

Hiring a local civil engineer, one that is located within the city or county, means that they usually have established relationships with the municipality that you are looking to entitle your project within. Local civil engineers also should understand their region’s typical soils issues, traffic design requirements, and any state stormwater reporting requirements. 

 

There are also cost savings to be realized by utilizing a local civil engineer when on-site meetings are required during design or construction. These meetings would prove exceedingly costly and time-consuming if the engineer was not local. A good rule of thumb to follow is that the civil engineer should not be located more than 2 hours from the physical site being developed.   

Current knowledge of regulatory requirements

It will also be vital to ensure that the civil engineer you hire is up-to-date with not only the current regulatory requirements for retail construction in the area where your development is located but also proposed updates to these requirements. These requirements can shift and update relatively quickly, and the ideal fit for your development is going to need to be aware of these changes before they go into effect. 

 

A local civil engineer is going to understand their region’s soil and earthwork issues, which will determine how grading and drainage need to be addressed. An engineer who works in the arid Southwest US is not as versed in something like hydric soils or major precipitation events commonly found in the Pacific Northwest on a daily basis. Local civil engineers should also be knowledgeable about the necessary off-site traffic design requirements, and any state stormwater reporting requirements when the property is above 1 acre in size in that state.

 

A good civil engineer will also interface heavily with the local municipality’s public works department, or the state stormwater authority, on their design for the proposed development. A good working relationship between the civil engineer and the municipality department in question is going to be a necessity, as this can be a complex and time-consuming process. 

Type of Project

Ground-Up Development

A ground-up development typically requires grading and drainage, new utilities installation, paving, and stormwater plans to all be performed on-site. The off-site work that can also be required could include design for public streets that connect to the proposed site, left- and right-turn vehicle lanes into the retail center, center median improvements, traffic light signalization, street light installation, and even public utility line extensions of great lengths. 


Redevelopment
  

Existing developments may already have most of these design requirements met and will require minimal civil design updates to match or connect to existing infrastructure with the new designs. This tends to result in far lower design costs than ground-up developments for a civil engineer, as instead of starting from scratch, they simply need to verify the property is prepared to support the new design from already design plans.

Verify their Qualifications

Licensing and accreditation

It is going to be essential for the success of your project that the civil engineer you hire has the appropriate licensing and accreditation. This will mean confirming that they have all of the appropriate license stamps needed so that a civil permit can be issued by the government agencies that manage the region your project is located within. 

Evaluating Land-Use knowledge

Because of the constantly changing land-use regulations with new development design, you are going to need to ensure the engineer is up to date with current development standards and common retail design practices that retailers users typically require.  A good example is experience with drive-thru retailer users, and the recent drive-thru vehicle stacking requirements a municipality might require of your site to ensure customer traffic does not back up into a public street. Careful design to maximize stacking along with the use of double drive-thru lanes are some good site design examples.

 

This will also be a good time to evaluate the frequency, and quality, of their past experiences. The amount of exposure to different design teams that they hold should prove to be a good indicator of the level of experience and knowledge that they possess. You should ask them about the recent projects they worked on, and what the scope required for the design was, to get a better understanding of their experience level. 

Look at teamwork skills

Effective communication

You want a civil engineer that can work constructively and efficiently with a large and varied team including architects, surveyors, landscape designers, traffic engineers, structural engineers, wastewater, biologists, mechanical engineers, plumbing engineers, and electrical engineers, whenever changes need to occur within the site. 

 

Sometimes, being a local civil engineer means that they are the only “boots on the ground” consultant with the municipality, so they may also need to handle full plan submittals, public hearings, and interface with the local city government for the site, problem-solving issues that could extend beyond civil design work. The ability of an engineer to speak to a city politician or developer in easy-to-understand terms or to provide comparison examples is critical because these people tend not to understand the complex engineering side of what is required on a site design.

A team player, not a pushover

You are also going to want to always be challenging your civil engineer, and asking them direct questions. It is going to be their job to find creative engineering and design solutions to the toughest design challenges of your site, and they are typically geared towards this way of thinking naturally as an engineer.  

Quick and professional responses

The civil engineer that you hire will need to be capable of answering all Requests for Information (RFI’s) as they come from general contractors once the project has started construction. They will need to be able to address any “surprises” that arise in the soils once work starts with grading, and until the project completes construction. They may also be required to go into the field and meet on-site to come up with a design solution that was on paper proved not an option in the field.

Review proposals 

Much like hiring with other vendors and contractors, you will want to get multiple proposals from different civil engineers for honest pricing of the needed scope from differing civil engineers’ opinions. These proposals should allow you to verify four (4) things about a civil engineer. 

 

First, it is another check on their project comprehension, and the type of technical design knowledge they will bring to your project. 

 

Second, it will help to define the scope of the project, which if not properly laid out can lead to confusion, mistakes, added costs, and delays for your project.  

 

Third, it will lay out the design team responsibilities and client expectations, the roles of the civil engineer and other design consultants, and the individual experience of all involved. 

 

Fourth, it will allow for the design budget to be set, and hopefully held by the civil engineer’s proposed scope. 


 

While the local development standards and the civil engineering sciences that each civil engineer will need to follow seem similar, the way that each design firm handles these can be quite different. The best fit civil engineer for your development project is going to be one that can not only keep the project designed as much as proposed by the client’s needs, but that can efficiently and professionally work with the rest of your construction and development team to deliver it on time and under budget.

 


 

Byline_Peter-Krahenbuhl.v2

PETER KRAHENBUHL >

Vice President of Development

Peter Krahenbuhl started at SimonCRE in 2015 as a Project Manager and now serves as Vice President of Development. He plays a vital role in the daily planning and development associated with successfully driving multiple projects from inception to completion.

 

Other Posts by Peter: 

Should You Hire a Developer to Redevelop Your Space?

Hidden Costs of Commercial Redevelopment & How to Avoid Them

Top Benefits of Commercial Redevelopment + Examples

 

 



[ad_2]

Source link

Post Navigation

Previous Building a Curriculum to Address Our Shared Future | Smithsonian Voices
Next 130 Social Sharing Sites That Boost SEO & Drive Traffic

More Stories

Inside Trump’s Private Jet: The Features That Make It Luxurious
  • Building

Inside Trump’s Private Jet: The Features That Make It Luxurious

Rickey Andreu May 20, 2025 0
Trump’s Luxury Jet vs. Air Force One: A Bold Comparison
  • Building

Trump’s Luxury Jet vs. Air Force One: A Bold Comparison

Rickey Andreu May 14, 2025 0
Why Buying a House at Auction Could Be Your Best
  • Building

Why Buying a House at Auction Could Be Your Best

Rickey Andreu May 1, 2025 0
June 2025
M T W T F S S
 1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
30  
« May    

Archives

  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016

Categories

  • Apartment
  • Building
  • Construction
  • Furniture
  • House for Rent
  • Real Estate News

Recent Posts

  • Inside Trump’s Private Jet: The Features That Make It Luxurious
  • Trump’s Luxury Jet vs. Air Force One: A Bold Comparison
  • Transform Your Living Room with These Design Ideas
  • Modern Interior Design Ideas to Transform Your Home
  • Why Buying a House at Auction Could Be Your Best

Fiverr

Fiverr Logo

Tags

C&M Real Estate C&R Real Estate Services C.F. Real Estate C J Real Estate D&B Real Estate D'Arcy Real Estate D'Ettorre Real Estate D Real Estate Appraiser D Real Estate Daily D Real Estate Logo E Real Estate Agency E Real Estate Agents Act 2008 E Real Estate Corp E Real Estate Depot E Real Estate Depot Mission Tx E Real Estate Llc E Real Estate Logo E Real Estate Meaning F&C Real Estate Investments F&G Real Estate F Real Estate Developer F Real Estate Logo F Real Estate Management F Real Estate Words H&F Real Estate M&D Real Estate Real Estate Data Real Estate Definition Real Estate Degree Real Estate Desoto County Ms Real Estate Developer Real Estate Development Consultant Real Estate Dyer County Tn Real Estate Dyersburg Tn Real Estate Etf Real Estate Exam Prep Real Estate Exam Questions Real Estate Express Login Real Estate Express Reviews Real Estate Fayette County Tn Real Estate Florida Real Estate For Dummies Real Estate For Sale Real Estate For Sale Memphis Tn Real Estate For Sale Near Me
nestskin
putritrans

You may have missed

Inside Trump’s Private Jet: The Features That Make It Luxurious
  • Building

Inside Trump’s Private Jet: The Features That Make It Luxurious

Rickey Andreu May 20, 2025 0
Trump’s Luxury Jet vs. Air Force One: A Bold Comparison
  • Building

Trump’s Luxury Jet vs. Air Force One: A Bold Comparison

Rickey Andreu May 14, 2025 0
Transform Your Living Room with These Design Ideas
  • Real Estate News

Transform Your Living Room with These Design Ideas

Rickey Andreu May 10, 2025 0
Modern Interior Design Ideas to Transform Your Home
  • Real Estate News

Modern Interior Design Ideas to Transform Your Home

Rickey Andreu May 8, 2025 0
Why Buying a House at Auction Could Be Your Best
  • Building

Why Buying a House at Auction Could Be Your Best

Rickey Andreu May 1, 2025 0
mendocinocoastproperty.com | CoverNews by AF themes.

WhatsApp us