Watson Engineering Celebrates 50 Years
As Watson Engineering Company (WEC) celebrates 50 years of providing engineering services, we recently spent some time reminiscing with President Tim Watson about the engineering firm’s rich history and promising future.
Watson Consulting Engineers (WCE)
Tim’s father, Ralph, started Watson Consulting Engineers (WCE) in 1972 in the basement of the family home in Cedar City, Utah. Ralph was employed as a project engineer for the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) and was working on the construction of I-15 southbound from I-70 to Cedar City. At the time, it wasn’t uncommon for UDOT engineers to do a little moonlighting outside of regular working hours to help support a family or practice a new skill.
Ralph worked out of his basement until 1980, when he built an office for Watson Consulting Engineers on Main Street in Cedar City. After primarily doing roadway engineering and surveying work in Southern Utah, the company expanded its reach to Las Vegas. For more than 30 years, Watson Engineering worked on a large number of projects for Clark County School District as well as the Regional Justice Center in downtown Las Vegas. The small team of engineers even designed projects in Arizona and New Mexico.
Eckhoff, Watson & Preator Engineering (EWP)
In 1976, Watson Consulting Engineers expanded and joined with other professional engineers in forming Eckhoff, Watson & Preator Engineering (EWP). The formation of EWP began in 1965 with Rodney Preator’s move to Salt Lake City to start an office for a large engineering firm based in Helena, MT, Morrison Mairele and Preator Engineering. A decade later, Ralph’s brother, Ken Watson, and David Eckhoff decided to partner with Ralph and Rodney to purchase an interest in the Helena firm, which was the inception of EWP Engineering. The firm was headquartered in Salt Lake City and Ralph continued working in Southern Utah and managed the company’s branch offices in Cedar City and Las Vegas.
One of EWP’s notable projects was the West Desert pumping project. The project was a flood control initiative to enhance the Great Salt Lake’s natural evaporation process. Between 1982 and 1987, due to record-breaking amounts of snow and rain, the Lake’s levels rose over 12 feet, doubling its surface area. Flooding to the surrounding areas caused an estimated $240 million in damages to I-80, railway systems, treatment plants, recreation areas, and public and private property.
EWP completed the engineering feasibility report and then created a joint venture team to develop the design and construction drawings. The $60 million project was designed and constructed in record time. By 1987 three water pumps, each weighing 81 tons, removed 1.3 million gallons of water per minute into Utah’s West Desert. A massive success, the project was awarded the Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement of Merit by the America Society of Civil Engineers in 1988.
With successful projects like the pumping project, it was no surprise that EWP became the largest locally-owned engineering firm in Utah. The Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce even recognized the firm with its “Small Business of the Year award for its involvement in significant community projects.
Watson Engineering Company, Inc. (WEC)
In 1992, Ralph Watson left EWP Engineering and formed the firm we know today: Watson Engineering Company, Inc. (WEC). Ever the resourceful engineer, Ralph had been studying soil properties to help design foundations for roads and new buildings. Tim recalls Ralph “cooking dirt” in his mom’s oven and running proctor compaction tests from a storage unit to determine the maximum dry density and optimum moisture content of soils. In 1995, WEC began providing geotechnical engineering services, including soil investigations, construction materials testing, and foundation repair/stabilization.
The Next Generation
Around the inception of WEC, fifteen-year-old Tim began working for his father, Ralph, in the field on a survey crew. After graduating from high school, Tim studied at Southern Utah University (SUU) and later transferred to Utah State University. In 2002, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and went on to pursue a master’s degree at UNLV. While earning his master’s degree, Tim worked for a structural engineering firm in Las Vegas to bolster his experience and expertise. In 2007 he became a licensed professional engineer.
It was 2009 when father and son began discussing ownership transition. Ralph and his wife, Suzanne, had been called to serve a mission in Hawaii for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Tim and his wife Shauna were able to step in and continue the firm’s leadership. Together, Ralph and Tim developed an ownership transition plan to prevent interruptions to the business and protect the company’s six employees. After being named president, Tim purchased the company from his parents in 2013.
Since becoming president and principal of Watson Engineering Company, Tim has fostered a company culture that emphasizes exceptional client service. “The firm’s value of ‘have you eaten yet?’ serves as a reminder that our clients keep us in business and enable our employees to put food on their table. It’s important to me that we serve our clients to the best of our abilities,” says Tim.
WEC’s Evolution of Services
From an initial focus on roadway engineering and land surveying over 50 years ago, the firm has evolved into Southern Utah’s only “one-stop shop” for engineering services. The firm maintains a highly qualified team of civil engineers, geotechnical engineers, surveyors, and drafters who focus on project collaboration.
WEC has added environmental engineering, materials testing, special inspections, and expert witness consulting services. The firm has also created a robust portfolio of renewable energy projects that have been dotting the landscape of Southern Utah in recent years.
Renewable energy clients rely on WEC’s ability to provide full-service engineering to complete massive photovoltaic power generation sites in Iron and Beaver counties. WEC’s knowledge of local ordinances, the building permit approval process, and the relationships with local jurisdictions ensure that clients’ needs are consistently met and projects progress.
The Milford Wind Corridor is the first wind-powered renewable energy project in Southern Utah and is a noteworthy feature project for the firm. Located at the north end of the Escalante Valley along the main wind corridor, the 97 operating wind turbines generate enough clean, renewable electricity to power more than 60,000 homes.
Another first-of-its-kind project is the Cove Fort Power Plant. The plant is the world’s first large-scale power generation facility to combine geothermal with hydropower technology successfully. WEC provided construction staking and site layout surveys which identified the alignment and layout of the well-field piping (production and reinjection pipelines).
Due to Southern Utah’s natural environment and favorable regulatory environment, WEC has become a reliable contributor of civil design and layout, permitting and approval, construction staking, survey and layout, topography, materials testing, and special inspections. Projects like Thermo 1 and 2, Blundell Power Plant, and Sulphurdale (all in Beaver County) position the firm well for new projects as the federal government creates incentives to develop alternative energy.
Institutional clients have also come to rely on Watson Engineering’s diverse skill set and ability to deliver cost-effective and creative designs. From projects spread across the Southern Utah University (SUU) campus to middle and high schools for local school districts, Watson Engineering Company finds joy in working on projects that shape the communities in Southern Utah.
Watson structural engineering group has provided services for a variety of clients, such as developers of multi-family residential, single-family custom homes, and commercial projects. Additionally, their civil engineering team has provided designs for subdivision design and layout, roadways and street design, and hydrology and drainage studies. One of WEC’s notable projects is the Old Sorrel Ranch Master Plan, a 435-acre master-planned community with commercial, residential, and multi-use components. This philosophy of “shaping the communities we live in” will continue into the next 50+ years of engineering consulting services for Watson Engineering Company.
Our Values
Watson’s values convey the most fundamental message about who we are. Our values remind us that our integrity extends to everything we do, from how we communicate to the atmosphere in which we work.
MAKE IT HAPPEN
Our purpose is to make our clients’ visions a reality. First and foremost, we listen and confirm that we understand our clients’ needs. Next, we do everything in our means to bring those dreams to fruition.
OWN IT
We take ownership of our work. We accept and are accountable for all the effects of our efforts.
STRETCH
We live in the present and stay engaged so that we are equipped to facilitate and negotiate more options, solve more complex problems, and provide informed solutions.
DID YOU EAT YET?
We serve first. The services we provide to clients, coworkers, and peers keep our doors open and food on our table. We find happiness as we lose ourselves in serving.
SOLVE THE PROBLEM
We ask the better question. We speak up, think, and take initiative. We are proactive, innovative, and impossibly relentless when searching for solutions.
ROGER THAT!
Communication leads to community. We listen with the intent to understand, not to reply. We seek to know more than we say, think more than we speak, and we always follow up quickly.
AIM SMALL, MISS SMALL
To hit the bullseye every time takes careful aim. We shoot to win by calibrating, clarifying, and designing with exactness. We focus our attention so that our products are accurately crafted and highly detailed.
WEC – The Next 50 Years
President and Principal Tim Watson has often said managing a firm like Watson Engineering Company is more of a calling than a career. “The company provides a service to our clients, but it also serves our team,” he shares. “They can utilize what they achieve at Watson to better serve their families and community.”
As a family-run business, Tim wants to leave a legacy of providing a high level of service to the community. “I would like Watson Engineering to be known as a company that made our community better,” he says. “We’ve tried our best to live up to our values of honesty and integrity. We’ve strived to be a trusted business partner that doesn’t cut corners.”
As to whether Watson's influence and tradition continues remains to be seen. Whether the business is bought out or one of his sons wants to take a leadership position, Tim would love to continue the engineering tradition. Regardless, Watson Engineering remains in the business of providing the best services to clients and the community.
