Thoughtful Services Used to Streamline Success – An Engineering Firm’s Approach

Suburban Consulting Engineers
Written by fmgadmin

Through the understanding that success is driven from client satisfaction combined with offering forward-thinking solutions on projects, Suburban Consulting Engineers, Inc. (SCE) has gained the honorable reputation it holds today in the engineering industry.
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Since its inception, SCE has remained true to its simple, yet essential core values which are centered around providing clients with innovative and thoughtful services. This vision is upheld by the leadership team and is the foundation of the many activities and decisions which are conducted daily by the firm.

From the firm’s initial formation in 1986 by five engineers who specialized in providing consulting services on large concrete pipeline projects, SCE has impressively transformed into a full-service multi-disciplined engineering, landscape architecture, land surveying and geospatial consulting firm, extending its services nationwide from three office locations. SCE’s office headquarters is located in the Township of Roxbury (Flanders), State of New Jersey and is supported by both its in-state office located in the Township of Wall and most recently opened Alpharetta, Georgia office. Each of these offices are an imperative part of the company and were selected based on the location of the firm’s clients’ projects. The offices offer extended resources and accommodations to field personnel who work in several states across the nation and allow SCE to fully market its broad spectrum of service areas.

The company’s commitment to offering clients advanced leading-edge services and onboarding employees who demonstrate the same level of excellence and passion in their area of expertise led to the creation of SCE’s diverse service departments: Municipal Engineering, Land Development, Land Surveying, Landscape Architecture, Water/Wastewater, Gas Utility, Geographical Information System (GIS), Construction Observation and Environmental. Each department is directed by a manager specializing in that field. The managers work together as a team to develop solutions that meet each of their clients’ specific project requirements. This is a unique set-up which generates collaboration amongst professionals, produces sophisticated approaches to complex sites and delivers prompt results in an industry where completion time and creativity are of the utmost importance.

Championing this process is the company’s deep-rooted knowledge and expertise in various regulations that are highly valued by many public and private sector clients. SCE’s large knowledge base allows the company to respond quickly to project complexities and navigate a path that is economically considerate to the area and conscientious to the client’s budget. Talented in more ways than one, the professionals of SCE skillfully tackle various obstacles of today’s rigorous development standards, environmental constraints, land use planning and agency approval processes by diligently managing and coordinating every step of a project.

“The most rewarding part of working with the great resources here at SCE is how diligently we make progress for our clients. Not a day goes by where everyone at SCE doesn’t think and act in a manner that delivers results for our clients,” best described by Andrew S. Holt, PE, Executive Vice President at the firm.

Again, understanding that skills alone can only take a business so far, SCE has been strategic over the past five years under the direction of the new ownership team, to develop and standardize a process work flow that can easily be implemented by all employees and incorporated in every project at the firm. This work flow includes various check-in points to ensure a project is being properly managed, remaining on schedule and in line with the outlined goals. Check-in points include client kick-off and close-out meetings and 30, 60 and 90 percent project budget and status reviews. Other benefitting factors to this system include immediately identifying the team members who are accountable and responsible for the completion of tasks and evoking continued communication and coordination with the client to ensure project satisfaction. Regular training sessions are provided at all company office locations and are available to employees throughout the year.

Assisting the team in coordinating this process work flow is a sophisticated and full-service enterprise resource management (ERP) tool in which the company has invested significant time, customizing it to fully support a project’s lifecycle. From marketing leads to project planning, recruitment, invoicing and employee timesheets, SCE utilizes many of the program’s available tools and resources. Both technical and non-technical staff members are set up and trained in understanding this program and its capabilities, so they can utilize it throughout their daily functions to complete tasks in a quick and efficient manner. This program is a one source system that provides real-time updates and is an essential part of SCE’s continued advancements and success.

Further recognizing the importance of sophisticated technologies, SCE encourages its employees to research the latest available tools in the industry that can utilized on their clients’ projects. In a continually evolving profession that demands creativity and customized project solutions, this investment is imperative and has fueled the company’s growth. The firm is particularly proud of the accomplishments its staff has made as inventors of customized data collection processes and resource databases for assisting clients with asset management. The information collected and filed in the cloud-based databases assist clients in operation and maintenance, as well as planning for future funding needed to facilitate system expansions and rehabilitation of aging infrastructure. It is through the use of these systems that clients can economically and efficiently manage and avoid costly and disruptive system interruptions and failures, which can be detrimental to the consumers and communities they serve.

Some other advanced technologies which SCE offers include 3D LiDAR scanning and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), also known as Drones services. Both of these technologies have the ability to capture greater amounts of data when compared to conventional methods which require significantly more time. Benefits of utilizing these technologies in projects include gathering data more quickly, improved access to challenged sites, eliminating return trips to the field and acquiring data in the form of georeferenced aerial imagery in full 360-degree form. Offering these technologies has gained the company new projects, valuable relationships and exciting recognition in the industry.

Many of SCE’s projects have earned outstanding achievements and awards from organizations including American Sports Builders Association (ASBA), New Jersey Society of Municipal Engineers (NJSME), New Jersey Planning Officials, New Jersey Recreation and Parks Association (NJRPA), New Jersey Society of Professional Land Surveying (NJPLS), American Water Works Association (AWWA), and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and countless other professional recognitions have been gained by this exceptional team of professionals.

Not once has SCE shied away from tackling intricate design projects. SCE’s talented team literally moved mountains out of the way for an all-women’s preparatory school to build an athletic facility that they were told for years would not be possible. Another challenging and award-winning project accomplishment was the restoration and reopening of a historic municipal staircase located in a beloved region of a municipality, utilizing the capabilities of the company’s 3D LiDAR scanning equipment.

Reyna M. Burger, Vice President, sums this excellence up as, “SCE prides itself on innovative solutions to challenging projects. SCE keeps our clients’ long-term goals in perspective which allows us to offer thoughtful alternative approaches to current project needs.” This focus on innovatively and efficiently meeting client needs has enabled the company to fully embody the motto which drives it: Excellence. Economy. Environment. These are values which have guided the firm since 1986, and which continue to propel it forward into the future.

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