CIVIL ENGINEERING
I will not work on a project unless Lea & Braze Engineering is the civil engineer or land surveyor. No one else will give me the quality I need to complete a successful project.” –Steve Patrick, Midglen Studios
CIVIL
- Grading and Drainage Plans
- Storm Water Management
- Street Improvement Plans
- Erosion Control Plans
- Utility Design
Invisible Functionality: Seamless Infrastructure Systems
Civil engineering along with land surveying is the core of Lea & Braze Engineering. The ideal civil engineering drawing is one where the city and contractor have everything they need to approve and build the project.
Our goal is to not only get a permit but to devise a system that is highly effective and does not take away from the overall project. All of our staff are trained to treat your project as if they were going to personally live and or work there. We do not like to see any large infrastructure sitting in the middle of your lawn or newly landscaped area. Our experience allows us to effectively “hide” catch basins, man-holds, and inlets so they are unobtrusive or not visually distracting. We will work with the architect, landscape architect, developer or home owner to come up with a design that blends into the surrounding.
We encourage you to get us involved early on with your project. We are not here to simply provide a grading drainage plan or to get a permit—we use our decades of experience and expertise to help guide your project through the approval process—this is our specialty.
Your Trusted Partner for All Civil Engineering and Land Surveying Services
GRADING & DRAINAGE PLANS
A quality grading and drainage plan is the key to a successful project. Water intrusion is a project’s worst enemy and something that should not be done cheaply or haphazardly. This includes more than just the building but includes the entire site. Our goal is to blend the site seamlessly with the building and proposed landscape. Our highly detailed and complete plans will allow your contractor to build properly with little guess work. A skimpy grading and drainage plan by others with minimal detail give little guidance to the contractor and that typically is not the best solution for keeping water from being an issue on your project. A complete plan will ensure a successful project and will keep you from incurring unexpected issues or additional costs.
STORM WATER MANAGEMENT
Storm Water Management is the process of controlling and/or treating stormwater from your project so that you are a Stewart to the environment. It is typically required for any new project. As with all Lea & Braze Engineering projects we strive to blend in any visual impacts from these requirements to produce a system that is both highly functional and visually disruptive as possible.
C.3 Storm Water Quality
Most non-residential projects (and potentially to soon to be required for residential projects) require you to treat storm water run-off from the property prior to entering the environment or a city storm drain system. We have decades of experience in treating storm water. The intent is to remove small trash or pollutants prior to leaving the site. This can be as simple as a small filtration based on various landscape elements or other methods to comply with the rigorous state mandated storm water quality regulations.
Hydromodification
Hydromodification is the process of altering the natural flow of water such as detaining storm water. When a project proposes new hardscape, rainwater no longer has the ability to infiltrate into the ground and instead in typically caught by storm drain facilities. As our built environment expands, the more water is collected and directed to streams, creeks or manmade structures before ultimately discharging into a larger body of water such as the bay or ocean, potentially causing erosion or flooding.
Our job is to not add to the problem by placing water onto existing systems but to create a system where we are releasing water at a slower rate. Typically, our job is to release water at a pre-development rate. This is accomplished through various storage and metering devices. Thereby, helping the environment by not adding to the problem.
STORM WATER POLLUTION
PREVENTION PLANS (SWPPP)
SWPPP is a document required by the state of California that spells out and assists the contractor on how to perform their daily functions while keeping storm water and overall environment in mind. It applies to all projects that disturb 1.0 acres or more. This can include anything from grading to vegetation clearing. The SWPPP provides recommendations and requires frequent monitoring of the construction process including water testing during the rainy season. Pollution is kept to a minimum during construction.
The State of California Water Resources Board oversees this program and requires frequent monitoring for inspection services of all SWPPP related projects. We offer full-service engineering solutions to keep your project in compliant with the SWPPP along with design, administration and inspection that comply with the State of California rules. Our job is to keep the project out of trouble and work one-on-one with the contractor and as a team to have a compliant site.
Qualified SWPPP Practitioner (QSP) services
We take care of all permitting and plan development of the SWPPP and we do so in a way, to allow the contractor to easily follow the recommendations.
SWPPP and NOI (Notice of Intent)
With our qualified SWPPP Practioners, we take care of all inspections for you. In general, the State requires weekly inspections throughout the entire construction process, plus pre-storm, post-storm and daily during rain event inspections—including water quality testing that must be reported directly to the State Water Board.
STREET IMPROVEMENT PLANS
Street Improvement plans are construction drawings for the contractor to build roads and utilities. This includes roadway/sidewalk geometry, utilities, grading, hardscape design, including specifications so a contractor has very little guesswork. An improvement plan would typically be included in most new subdivision/commercial projects. Improvement plans can include: storm drainage, sanitary sewer, domestic water, location of power, gas and communication lines. Also included is the horizontal, vertical control for the placement of the all the various utilities and hardscape. A high quality improvement plan is critical to a successful project.
Plans that are not of high quality lead to much guesswork and speculation on the part of the contractor. This can lead to everything from additional time to mistakes in the field and ultimately the cost of the project- as change orders are extremely expensive. Let us show you how the Lea & Braze Difference can save you time and money by providing a correct plan the first time.
EROSION CONTROL PLANS
Erosion control is the process of containing silt, dirt and other pollutants on site before it has an adverse effect on the environment once it has left the site. Erosion control can include wind or water erosion of soil on construction sites. The various controls are there to minimize the release of silt and is a very common and highly effective way of preventing soil, silt pollution from effecting the environment. With decades of experience we can help your site and keep you out of trouble with any government agencies in charge of inspecting erosion control. Cities have been known to shut to down projects due to ineffective erosion control measures.
UTILITY DESIGN
Lea & Braze Engineering has provided “wet” utility design since its founding. This includes any utility that may use water such as storm, sanitary sewer, domestic water and fire prevention water. We also coordinate with mechanical engineers or joint trench designers who would design “dry” utilities such as power, gas and communications. Our job as always is to design a highly effective system that is out of sight and out of mind – that is visually unobtrusive as possible. From day one, all staff are trained to design as if the project was their own and where they lived. We strive to push the envelope where our facilities will be seen and hide them as much as possible.
GRADING & DRAINAGE PLANS
A quality grading and drainage plan is the key to a successful project. Water intrusion is a project’s worst enemy and something that should not be done cheaply or haphazardly. This includes more than just the building but includes the entire site. Our goal is to blend the site seamlessly with the building and proposed landscape. Our highly detailed and complete plans will allow your contractor to build properly with little guess work. A skimpy grading and drainage plan by others with minimal detail give little guidance to the contractor and that typically is not the best solution for keeping water from being an issue on your project. A complete plan will ensure a successful project and will keep you from incurring unexpected issues or additional costs.
STORM WATER MANAGEMENT
Storm Water Management is the process of controlling and/or treating stormwater from your project so that you are a Stewart to the environment. It is typically required for any new project. As with all Lea & Braze Engineering projects we strive to blend in any visual impacts from these requirements to produce a system that is both highly functional and visually disruptive as possible.
C.3 Storm Water Quality
Most non-residential projects (and potentially to soon to be required for residential projects) require you to treat storm water run-off from the property prior to entering the environment or a city storm drain system. We have decades of experience in treating storm water. The intent is to remove small trash or pollutants prior to leaving the site. This can be as simple as a small filtration based on various landscape elements or other methods to comply with the rigorous state mandated storm water quality regulations.
Hydromodification
Hydromodification is the process of altering the natural flow of water such as detaining storm water. When a project proposes new hardscape, rainwater no longer has the ability to infiltrate into the ground and instead in typically caught by storm drain facilities. As our built environment expands, the more water is collected and directed to streams, creeks or manmade structures before ultimately discharging into a larger body of water such as the bay or ocean, potentially causing erosion or flooding.
Our job is to not add to the problem by placing water onto existing systems but to create a system where we are releasing water at a slower rate. Typically, our job is to release water at a pre-development rate. This is accomplished through various storage and metering devices. Thereby, helping the environment by not adding to the problem.
PREVENTION PLANS (SWPPP)
SWPPP is a document required by the state of California that spells out and assists the contractor on how to perform their daily functions while keeping storm water and overall environment in mind. It applies to all projects that disturb 1.0 acres or more. This can include anything from grading to vegetation clearing. The SWPPP provides recommendations and requires frequent monitoring of the construction process including water testing during the rainy season. Pollution is kept to a minimum during construction.
The State of California Water Resources Board oversees this program and requires frequent monitoring for inspection services of all SWPPP related projects. We offer full-service engineering solutions to keep your project in compliant with the SWPPP along with design, administration and inspection that comply with the State of California rules. Our job is to keep the project out of trouble and work one-on-one with the contractor and as a team to have a compliant site.
Qualified SWPPP Practitioner (QSP) services
We take care of all permitting and plan development of the SWPPP and we do so in a way, to allow the contractor to easily follow the recommendations.
SWPPP and NOI (Notice of Intent)
With our qualified SWPPP Practioners, we take care of all inspections for you. In general, the State requires weekly inspections throughout the entire construction process, plus pre-storm, post-storm and daily during rain event inspections—including water quality testing that must be reported directly to the State Water Board.
STREET IMPROVEMENT PLANS
Street Improvement plans are construction drawings for the contractor to build roads and utilities. This includes roadway/sidewalk geometry, utilities, grading, hardscape design, including specifications so a contractor has very little guesswork. An improvement plan would typically be included in most new subdivision/commercial projects. Improvement plans can include: storm drainage, sanitary sewer, domestic water, location of power, gas and communication lines. Also included is the horizontal, vertical control for the placement of the all the various utilities and hardscape. A high quality improvement plan is critical to a successful project.
Plans that are not of high quality lead to much guesswork and speculation on the part of the contractor. This can lead to everything from additional time to mistakes in the field and ultimately the cost of the project- as change orders are extremely expensive. Let us show you how the Lea & Braze Difference can save you time and money by providing a correct plan the first time.
EROSION CONTROL PLANS
Erosion control is the process of containing silt, dirt and other pollutants on site before it has an adverse effect on the environment once it has left the site. Erosion control can include wind or water erosion of soil on construction sites. The various controls are there to minimize the release of silt and is a very common and highly effective way of preventing soil, silt pollution from effecting the environment. With decades of experience we can help your site and keep you out of trouble with any government agencies in charge of inspecting erosion control. Cities have been known to shut to down projects due to ineffective erosion control measures.
UTILITY DESIGN
Lea & Braze Engineering has provided “wet” utility design since its founding. This includes any utility that may use water such as storm, sanitary sewer, domestic water and fire prevention water. We also coordinate with mechanical engineers or joint trench designers who would design “dry” utilities such as power, gas and communications. Our job as always is to design a highly effective system that is out of sight and out of mind – that is visually unobtrusive as possible. From day one, all staff are trained to design as if the project was their own and where they lived. We strive to push the envelope where our facilities will be seen and hide them as much as possible.
