When our Chattanooga Engineering Group (CEG) team began work on the Painted Ridge community, a residential neighborhood on the Red Bank-Hixson border only 10 minutes from downtown Chattanooga, we were thrilled to discover a project underway with tremendous potential.
Yet, our engineers decisively shifted the work in two directions that ultimately saved countless hours and thousands of dollars.
First, our engineers introduced creative solutions that dramatically cut construction costs. We streamlined and simplified an initially inefficient earthworks-excavation process, which had downstream effects, saving significant amounts of time and money.
Secondly, we pivoted from an original plan to develop the entire 60 single-family home lots in one phase, which left builders vulnerable to soaking-wet winter weather that would delay work for weeks, if not months. Instead, our engineers implemented a four-month micro-project to develop an initial eight lots. Such directed design was far more accommodating for the builder; by winter's end, eight homes were fully constructed as walk-in-ready, reducing considerable costs in interest and loan payments to the developer.
We managed the bidding process, contractor selection, on-site construction and permitting process, all while serving as a proactive, problem-solving liaison with the community. Our CEG team also built earthworks and streetscaping that generously transformed the entire neighborhood.
CEG founder Rocky Chambers
A single looped street carries the whole neighborhood, with finished homes and driveways to the south and the later lots still in construction along the northern edge.
The savings came from the design side, a simpler way to move dirt and a smaller first phase the builder could finish before the weather turned.
