GEOTECHNICAL & CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS ENGINEERS
Kessel Engineering Group’s engineering staff consists of 4 professional engineers with concentrations in geotechnical and construction materials engineering. Our engineers follow projects through both the pre-construction and construction phases. This engineering continuity allows for ease of communication with the project team and increased responsiveness in our developing engineering recommendations.
Our engineers provide engineering consulting and construction testing review and oversight during the construction phase of projects. The strongest quality of our engineers is their knowledge and experience in the field of construction. Our engineers have a wide range of experience with construction testing projects including educational facilities, municipal construction, industrial construction, commercial construction, and site development. Our engineering staff has a thorough comprehension of field and laboratory test procedures required for providing construction materials testing and special inspections in accordance with Chapter 17 of the North Carolina Building Code, the North Carolina Department of Transportation, ASTM procedures, ACI procedures and project specifications. Our construction experience includes providing services for earthwork, shallow and deep foundations, cast-in-place and pre-cast concrete, masonry, wood, structural and cold-form steel, exterior insulation and finish systems (EIFS), and sprayed fire resistant materials.
Our experience, responsiveness, and ability to develop value-added engineering solutions that keep projects on track are what have made Kessel Engineering Group successful. We are dedicated to developing cost-saving engineering recommendations without compromising quality, service, or safety. Our engineers take time to ‘think outside the box’ and to collaborate to find solutions to construction issues which are sensitive to cost, constructability, availability of materials, time constraints, etc.
Our engineers oversee our field technicians’ activities and communicate regularly with them while they are in the field. Our engineers rely heavily on the data and observations collected in the field technicians in order to develop engineering recommendations. The confidence we have in our field technician’s abilities and experience allows our engineers to efficiently collect the information they need and to quickly formulate recommendations, often times, without our having to re-visit to the project site.
Our geotechnical engineering staff also has extensive experience in performing various types of pre-construction subsurface investigations. Information obtained from these investigations is used to develop geotechnical design and site preparation recommendations for project items including:
- Ground Improvement
- Site Preparation
- Pavements and Grade Slabs
- Embankments
- Dewatering
- Retaining Structures
- Reinforced Soil Slopes
- Seismic Site Classification
- Shallow Foundations
- Deep Foundations
Our experience working in the mountains of Western North Carolina has allowed us to develop a comprehensive knowledge of slope analysis and stabilization techniques; mountainside roadway evaluations and pavement improvements; and retaining wall selection and design analyses.
FIELD TECHNICIANS
Kessel Engineering Group employs 12 engineering field technicians who are experienced, trained, and equipped to provide construction materials testing and inspection services at your request. Instead of the ‘dime a dozen’ attitude, which characterizes many firms’ outlook on the value of their field technicians, we foster a different approach. Our technicians’ training and experience in the industry and their skill and competence on the job site are paramount to our success. For this reason, we rigorously promote their career growth and retention. Our senior level technicians have 7 to 38 years of experience in our industry.
Our technicians are cross-trained to be proficient in each aspect of the construction materials testing and inspection services that we provide. Our technicians can perform physical testing of soils, aggregate, concrete, and asphalt to verify compliance with project specifications. They can monitor and test shallow and deep foundation installations for structures including bridges, retaining walls and culverts. Our technicians can monitor and test subgrade conditions to provide support for pavements, sidewalks, embankments and backfilling. They are also experienced in the testing, inspection and documentation of construction activities associated with the installation of retaining walls, geogrid reinforcement, buried utilities, slopes, culverts, and French drains.
At KEG, we emphasize training by investing and encouraging technicians to obtain industry certifications to promote their career development and to verify their knowledge of test procedures. Our technicians have obtained certifications from the following industry organizations:
- National Institute for Certification of Engineering Technicians (NICET)
- American Concrete Institute (ACI)
- International Code Council (ICC)
- National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA)
- North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT)
Each KEG technician is assigned a company vehicle which is fully equipped to perform standard field testing for soils, asphalt, stone, concrete, foundations and masonry materials. All field testing, equipment management, sample management, and data recording are performed in accordance with applicable ASTM standards and guidelines outlined by Kessel Engineering Group’s quality system. Our quality system also includes guidelines for technician training and annual performance evaluations.
In addition to being trained to perform construction materials testing, our technicians are educated on safe work practices. Technician safety training requires familiarity with our safety and health plan, education on general job site safety, and proper use of personal protective equipment prior to performing field or laboratory testing.
