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There have been countless ripple effects resulting from the pandemic. No one could have foreseen how the world would be forever changed. One surprise outcome has been the tremendous growth in the demand for real estate, commercial construction and other projects, and the subsequent need for the services of all related industries, including engineering.
“We are doing really well, busier than ever,” says Brett Parker, principal, PE of HWA, which provides engineering, land-use planning and surveying services throughout Central Oregon. “We definitely have gotten a lot more apartment and housing-type projects. We are doing well with the City; we picked up some construction inspection work with Deschutes County. This is due to the influx of people; all the building going on for residences and apartments, all the people coming in and of course lots of businesses wanting to start up and grow out here as well.”
At ColBreit Engineering, which provides mechanical, electrical, plumbing engineering and design services, the staff is back in their offices in Bend and Corvallis and business is busy, according to Laura J. Breit, PE, LEED AP, principal and CEO. “Our team is embracing our return to the office after being away for a year and a half,” she says. “April 2020 was scary. We locked our expenditures down and spent only on what we needed to. However, we remained busy and even made a few hires. We ended the year profitable – near our goal.”
Century West Engineering Corporation, which provides general, civil and aviation engineering services, also remained robust during the pandemic. “We have been fortunate to maintain and expand the long-term planning, design and construction management contracts throughout the pandemic, and are continuing to build our backlog for the coming years. This includes both our aviation and our municipal markets,” says Tom Headley, PE, CWRE, office supervisor and Sr. project manager.
Rolf Armstrong, PE, SE, branch manager and principal of Eclipse Engineering in Bend, says business has been healthy for Eclipse as well, and the staff has maintained a steady workload. “Flexibility has been key to our success, as well as staying positive and proactive while we worked through the challenges as a team,” he says.
Working Remotely: The Good, the Bad and Everything Else
The engineering professionals all seem to agree that learning how to work remotely was perhaps the biggest challenge they faced during the pandemic closures. However, once the learning curve had subsided, remote work proved to be beneficial in the long run. As a result, most of the companies are retaining the practice to some degree.
“The pandemic has definitely been interesting. At the very beginning, we were all working remotely, and this was a bit of a learning curve. This doesn’t work well with civil engineering because there’s lots of teamwork that needs to happen. But we adapted,” says Parker. “A couple of people are still working remotely part time, but the majority are back in the office now. Probably 90 percent of us have gotten our vaccines now.” He says the option to work remotely is one change that is likely permanent. “We will allow some employees to work remotely every once in a while now due to family issues and such, which was not really an option before.”
“We hired a few employees who are permanent remote employees,” says Breit. “We also went back to a partial in-office model, where employees are in the office about three to four days per week. The remainder of the time, employees have the option of working remotely.” She agrees, however, that the lack of face-to-face interaction was difficult during the closure. “Our team suffered from some communication challenges while remote, which is one main reason we decided to open the office up again,” she says. “We are pleased that returning to the office has resolved the communication challenges.” Although she says training new staff remotely has been a hurdle, the company has succeeded in doing so. “We learned that with the right attitude, anything is possible.”
Armstrong says the Eclipse team, which provides structural engineering services and has five offices located in the northwest, had to learn how to manage projects and teams remotely, but that now, virtual work has proved helpful in some ways. “Staying connected, and the level of effort required to maintain a collaborative environment while working remotely, was a challenge but forced us to learn how to function more digitally while being remote.” He adds, “Many of our employees have adapted easily and found ways to be more efficient through this process. This has created opportunities for some employees to work remotely on a permanent basis.”
At Century West, the staff took steps ahead of the pandemic to prepare for remote work, Headley says. “In our Bend office, each of our employees tested their home work environment in February 2020. This ensured that the details of a work-from-home scenario were already in place, from comfortable workstations to surge protectors. When we closed our doors to the public in March 2020, the transition to project delivery from home took just a few weeks to smooth out.” He adds, “Civil Engineering is a relationship business. This includes the relationships we have with our clients and the relationships we have with each other as we collaborate to serve our clients through project management, planning and design. Our young engineers learn from our experienced engineers — and vice-versa. While there are tremendous advantages to online collaboration, it is not a substitute for drawing up solutions on the same piece of paper together. We missed the face-to-face meetings with clients, but we adapted quickly to the online videoconferencing platforms like everyone else.”
Staffing Hurdles
As with most industries, engineering companies are struggling through the labor shortage. “We have had ads out for quite a while, and we are having trouble finding skilled workers,” says Parker. “We have the option of hiring people right out of school, but we are so backlogged we need people with existing skills who can plug and play.” To help ease the situation, Parker says the HWA team is working more hours now, and the principles who typically handle project management are now delving into doing the design work themselves. “We did get a hire from North Carolina who will be here in a couple of weeks, which will help.” But procuring contractors to perform the work is also a hurdle, he says. “They are completely booked through the end of the year. We have projects that are ready to be constructed, but we just can’t get to them.”
“It’s always been a bit challenging to find experienced staff in the Central Oregon area, and that hasn’t changed,” adds Breit. “We are concentrating on looking for the right new staff, and of course, treating our current staff well.” At Eclipse, Armstrong says they have been fortunate to be able to hire a few “very impactful employees” during the pandemic, and have been able to grow company-wide over the past 18 months.
“Staffing was a challenge before the pandemic and remains so today. Demand outstrips supply when it comes to qualified Professional Engineers (PE) with several years of experience,” says Headley. “Our industry generally enjoys and rewards career loyalty, so it can be hard to bring in those seasoned hires. Thankfully, Oregon is home to several excellent civil engineering colleges, so we do see new talent entering the field each year. To the civil PEs reading this: If you’re interested in the work we do, please call me.”
Triumphs: Positive Outcomes from the Pandemic
Because of the explosive growth of the region, Parker says HWA has been able to open a new division of construction inspection. “The city has the need for additional inspectors because they are short-staffed. The workload has been continual. We are hopeful that this trend continues, and that we don’t see any bubble bursting like it did in 2008.”
At ColeBreit, Breit says that keeping the personal connection between the Bend and Corvallis offices was difficult, but that the situation ultimately became a good thing. “When everyone went to work from home, the playing field was leveled, and it allowed those connections to build. Similarly, we have been able to meet with our clients more often via video conference than we would have been able to in person.” She adds, “We have also been able to make some new client connections remotely. One of our clients recently stated that it has been pleasing to learn that they can work efficiently with our team, even though we are located in a different geographical area, due to the use of virtual meetings and other virtual platforms. This has and will continue to help our business grow.”
Headley agrees that one of the silver linings resulting from the pandemic was the ease with which they were able to work remotely. “Now, we are more comfortable seeing occasional remote work as an option for those who would like a break from the commute, have a flight to catch mid-day or just want to recharge by working from home for a day or two. The remote work tools that have been introduced and refined through the pandemic will remain valuable to us moving forward.” He adds, “To the Central Oregon engineers who will be welcoming the engineers-in-training graduates of the COVID-19 era, please congratulate them on getting through their degree programs amid such a challenge. They’ll rely on us, more than before, to learn the value of face-to-face learning. Engineering is a profession of lifelong learning, and that learning flourishes in an engaged workplace.”
Armstrong says that the Eclipse staff and their ability to work through adversity has been a success story that has come out of this past season. “We have been able to add and develop many key roles and key employees throughout our company, and this has put us in a great position moving forward. Throughout our history, Eclipse has invested time and energy into defining our core values, and I believe that has given us a strong foundation to be better equipped when challenges like this occur.”
hwa-inc.org • colebreit.com • eclipse-engineering.com • centurywest.com
