Our primary focus in this market is to provide the best competitive and currently available wood framing techniques and product specifications to our clients.
Residential
For the past 30 plus years, D.C.S.E. has provided quality engineering services in the residential building market. Our leadership and best “Value Engineering” practices have built a strong relationship with the greater players in the “Single Family” industry. Our clientele portfolio includes: Standard Pacific, Warmington Homes, Irvine Pacific, Toll Brothers, Lennar, etc. and continues to expand with the innovators in this industry. During rough economic periods, our office has shined among our competitors by providing a “Quality” product for the best money spent.
This is extremely critical for the Single Family Developer to reduce the number of customer service complaints. Our primary focus in this market is to provide the best competitive and currently available wood framing techniques and product specifications to our clients. D.C.S.E. collaboration (coordination and value-engineering meetings) during the “Schematic Design” phase ensures the best Structural design intent without compromising the “Architectural” elements is always achieved.
Apartments
D.C.S.E. provides superior Structural design in this product type and that has promoted our firm to one of the favorite Structural design firms in the Southern California Area. Our close consultation with the Architectural design team ensures cost saving applications to the developer. With a vast experience of a variety of Structural designs ranging from 3 to 5 Story Wood Structures (Type III and Type V), our designs provide a solid, cost effective Structural solution evermore critical to being competitive in today’s market.
Mixed Use
Aside from the conventional residential apartment projects, D.C.S.E. also provides Structural designs for mixed-use applications such as those product type with Commercial/Retail spaces mixed within the Multi-Family structures. This includes Tenant Improvement Commercial/Retail Spaces or Live/Work Unit Townhome Style Apartments these are current market trends in land “in-fills” used in many major metropolitan areas. A combination of Structural building materials such as wood framing (or manufactured wood products), steel, concrete, masonry, and light gage steel framing are typically used for these building types.
Wood Podium
With the latest architectural code revisions, a new “Structural Wood Podium” has emerged as another solution for higher “Unit Density”. D.C.S.E. Structural conceptual collaboration with some of the top architectural firms in Orange County has led to major Structural improvements and cost savings with these new architectural designs. Currently our office is at the beginning stages of construction with this building type in the Irvine Area and working with other major architectural firms in “Schematic Design” in several other locations.
Concrete Podium
D.C.S.E. continues to provide Structural design solutions for Concrete Podium/Parking Structural Wrap Product Building types where “Higher Density” is essential in major metropolitan areas. D.C.S.E. offers a variety of Structural solutions such as conventional “Stand Alone” parking structures with 4 to 5 stories of wood apartment buildings “wrapped” around and hiding the structure from view. Also frequently preferred is the typical above grade “Concrete Podium” with 4 to 5 Stories of Wood Apartment Units framed above. This concept remains among the most popular design solutions that our office provides.
Student Housing
In an economy where education is the leading way to a professional career, D.C.S.E. stands out providing Structural for Student Housing resident homes for the new leaders of tomorrow. A higher demand for the “in-house” residency has led to major improvement in the infrastructure at major student campuses in the Northern and Southern California Area. Architectural design concepts such as Faculty – Townhome Units, Apartments/Resident Units or Multi-purpose Buildings with roof top amenities applications require a well thought-out Structural solution. A variety and/or combination of all the various building materials may be required depending on the school / campus program proposed and construction budget. Again, D.C.S.E. early collaboration during the “Schematic” design phase helps ensure that the Structural framing system will fall within the Owner’s construction budget.
As these types of structures frequently come with their specialized needs, we take care to listen and inquire about the unique features and equipment that is required to be incorporated into the building.
Commercial
D.C.S.E.’s commercial branch has extensive experience in engineering a variety of building types ranging from Office spaces, Warehouses, Restaurants, Bix Box Stores, Retail, Mix-used, Auto Dealerships, Churches and Industrial – New construction as well as rehabilitation and remodeling of existing structures. The Commercial branch is versed in all major construction materials such as wood, concrete, steel, masonry and light gage steel framing. We also utilize our experience in designing non-structural components used in commercial applications such as high density shelving systems, high pile storage, PV solar panel installations and acoustical barrier products into the building design with our understanding of their unique installation requirements. D.C.S.E.’s experience in this branch of the construction industry provides our Clients with the best possible design solutions meeting not only the Architectural design intent but also the construction budget which is critical in today’s competitive market.
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In addition to the typical Commercial building types, our Commercial branch has broad experience in Municipal structures such as Fire Stations, Police Stations, Police training facilities, City Maintenance facilities, Municipal Administration buildings, City Park structures, Sewage and Water Treatment Facilities, Storm water structures and more. As these types of structures frequently come with their specialized needs, we take care to listen and inquire about the unique features and equipment that is required to be incorporated into the building. D.C.S.E.’s 30 plus years of experience in this segment of the building design industry ensures providing an affordable design solution will always be provided no matter the location.
Expert Witness
From almost the firm’s inception, D.C.S.E. has been called upon by leading Attorneys, Construction Experts, Developers, Property Owners and/or Insurance Companies to provide Consulting Expert Structural Engineering Services. These forensic services frequently involve construction defect claims, design defect claims, peer reviews for due diligence studies (existing projects), peer reviews for design code compliance (new projects) and many other tasks. D.C.S.E. has been hugely successful in providing the most equitable settlements over the years and enjoys referrals handed out by a vast network of our past and current clients.
Structural Investigation
D.C.S.E. has a lengthy resume of Structural Investigations of existing buildings and/or individual structural components which are reported to be in distress. The firm’s services have been requested by Building Officials, Developers, Building Owners, Insurance Companies and others. As one example, the firm was called to be a “volunteer earthquake inspector” by the San Francisco Department of Water and Power in 1989 following the Loma Prieta Earthquake and was recognized by the County of Kauai (Hawaii) as one of the only two Structural Engineers performing damage assessment reports after Hurricane Iniki in 1991. Another example of our client services in this category are fire damaged structural investigations. Our firm has provided investigation and repair consultation and design/drawings for evaluation and repair for all types of fire damage buildings. Some were near total losses/rebuilds, while others were limited repair of isolated structural elements. A key role D.C.S.E. plays in these cases is the experience and knowledge our office brings to the table in evaluating what is truly fire damaged material, as opposed to smoke or aesthetic only damage. The Structural Investigation segment of the D.C.S.E. practice continues currently as one of the most interesting and rewarding facets of our discipline.
Seismic Retrofit
Many Building Departments have increasingly strict requirements regarding the seismic upgrade and retrofit of existing buildings. Early on this consisted of designing and implanting improvements of key structural components (primarily connections of the various structural elements within a given load resisting system) with regard to life safety. D.C.S.E. has participated in the design and upgrade of many such projects as well as the mandatory upgrade of structures which are being modified, remodeled or added to. Each of these projects presents unique challenges and requires an additional level of “out-of-the-box” thinking. This is necessary to ensure the client receives the most structurally compliant solution at the absolute lowest construction cost, (extremely important here since funding for the retrofit type of projects are typically not planned for by project owners). D.C.S.E. continues to accept and look forward to seismic/structural retrofit type projects.