NOW with KNOT SQUARE DESIGN, LLC: REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING
In Collaboration With
Knot Square Design, LLC in collaboration with Cascade Engineering, Inc. on many, if not most of its projects, now serves Montana, Oregon and Washington.
Dmitri Wright, PE is the CEO of Cascade Engineering. I met Dmitri in 1990 when attended the Architecture B Program at Arizona State University, a combined degree in architecture and structural engineering. During the 5 years we were there, no other students took this difficult program and to this day I have only met one other professional that had. We then worked back to back in an office for Ali Homsi, PE and Bruce H. Middleswart, PE in Phoenix, AZ prior to starting our independent companies.
While Dmitri made the decision to focus almost exclusively on structural engineering I went the path of utilizing both, but with a main focus on design. We have developed our drafting standards together and continued to collaborate over the years. At times he needed some assistance with getting designs drawn up and I needed help getting calculations for structural members.
I started my first company in 1996 out of my home, working by modem prior to the internet becoming a real entity of everyone for Bruce H. Middleswart, PE and Ali Homsi, PE. From there things grew into an office in Flagstaff, a second in Prescott and finally a third in Scottsdale. My company I had prior to the recession in 2008 had an annual project count of 200. Some projects where several hundred homes in a single project or sub-division. I ran all three offices in Arizona prior to the recession and my eventual return to Montana in 2014. Work had dried up and I returned to work as a Mechanical Designer for Resodyn, Inc., my father’s company here in Butte, where I engineered mixers and other equipment in a software named SolidWorks. Once my industry began to recover I started at first back in construction and when a project was snowed out in the large storm that buried Anaconda and much of the state I set up my building design company here in Butte back in the field I truly love and enjoy. My Arizona companies where Clyde’s CAD & Design, LLC (residential design and construction management); Clyde’s Architecture & Civil, Inc. (commercial architecture, civil engineering and surveying) and Cody Equipment & Leasing Corporation, Inc. (owned the equipment and buildings for the other businesses). I was also partnered in two companies, Vice President of the first and President of the second. One was a construction company where we built several custom homes and spec homes, Architectural Builders of Northern Arizona, Inc. and the other Associated Excavation, Inc.
Typically I would design and draft everything, including all of the structural layout, sections, construction details and reference everything within a plan prior to sending it to Dmitri for sizing. He is very proficient and extremely detailed, not to mention a heck of a lot faster at getting the calculations complete with ‘software’ he has written himself. The layouts I provide are templates from which he can work and will make any changes he deems necessary.
This relationship will provide great benefit to my clients as they will have a Registered Professional Engineer going through their plans at no additional charge in most cases. If a jurisdiction requires a Montana PE to stamp a page or two of my plans there is an additional fee, but that is disclosed prior to contract signing if it can be foreseen. If not, it is disclosed the moment it becomes obvious. This is typically brought on when retaining walls in particular jurisdictions exceed what can be sized using “Prescriptive Code” or where lateral analysis drives the same scenario. Most Montana jurisdictions do not require a PE to stamp the plans and the State of Montana accepts my Certified Professional Building Designer stamp without question. This title allows me to practice both architectural and structural design.
My time is limited however and Dmitri is fast, professional and we utilize a system that we developed as a team when I was based out of Flagstaff. His collaboration will allow me to take on more work, especially in the area of commercial building design.
Nowhere in any of the International Codes is the term Architect or Engineer used to my knowledge and I have read the codes extensively over the years. The code is free to use by anyone and a link to the section copied here is provided. Without a subscription you will not be able to use some functions such as searching, but it is well organized and you can look up anything you wish.
SECTION107
SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS
[A]107.1General.
Submittal documents consisting of construction documents, statement of special inspections, geotechnical report and other data shall be submitted in two or more sets with each permit application. The construction documents shall be prepared by a registered design professional where required by the statutes of the jurisdiction in which the project is to be constructed. Where special conditions exist, the building official is authorized to require additional construction documents to be prepared by a registered design professional.
Exception: The building official is authorized to waive the submission of construction documents and other data not required to be prepared by a registered design professional if it is found that the nature of the work applied for is such that review of construction documents is not necessary to obtain compliance with this code.
The experience Dmitri and I share in this industry almost always offers us the foresight to see the need for extra services and I create the most comprehensive contract and to the best of my ability to do what I can to ensure that there are no surprises, whether it be commercial or residential.
Since we design in full 3D, you and your contractor will get Materials Lists per contract. There is a Linear List to get a quick estimate. a Buy List which breaks out how many of each and what size to buy, and a Cut List, telling the contractor to what length to cut each board.