Our Vision

is to continue as an internally owned, relationship-driven company that focuses on professional development, building synergy and strategic growth.

Company History

Civiltec Engineering, Inc. (Civiltec) is a medium-sized engineering firm serving the California and Arizona markets. We pride ourselves in delivering professional engineering, surveying and construction management solutions through honest upfront communication, innovation and quality services.

The firm was founded by Mr. Richard Shroads, PE, PLS, in 1986 in Pasadena, California. The primary focus was on private development, subdivision design and federal design-build projects. In 1990, Civiltec moved its main office to Monrovia, California. Over the years, the company built up an amazing staff, and expanded its scope of services to include water engineering, environmental engineering and general municipal engineering with the addition of Mr. W. David Byrum, PE and others in 1992.

In 1993, Mr. Shroads opened an office in Prescott, Arizona with the mission of providing quality civil engineering services to central and northern Arizona. Transportation engineering, wastewater engineering and surveying were added to the list of services. Mr. Shroads and Mr. Chris Dusza, PE, CFM, opened the Phoenix, Arizona office in 1999 with an expertise in floodplain management, water system analysis, storm drain systems and more. In 2007, Mr. Dusza became an owner and Principal in the firm. In 2018, Civiltec added in-house electrical/controls engineering to its list of services, followed by the addition of a PFAS solutions service area in 2020. Octavio Solorza, CPESC, QSD/P joined Civiltec’s leadership as an owner and Principal in early 2020, and the firm opened its fourth office in Fullerton, California to finish the year. Today, Civiltec is a premier civil and electrical engineering firm specializing in water and wastewater, drainage and transportation engineering and surveying.

Civiltec is a legacy firm with a focus on internal leadership and ownership transition. The company’s long-term leadership and ownership transition plan was originally enacted in 2007. In 2014, Mr. Shem Hawes, PE, became an owner and Principal in the firm. Mr. Shroads, who founded the company in 1986 and has long been the lead in the Prescott office, stepped into a Founder’s role for the organization in 2015. As Founder, Mr. Shroads serves in an advisory role for the firm. Mr. Byrum became President and Mr. Dusza became Vice President and expanded his role to oversee the company’s Arizona operations. In 2017, Mr. David Song, PE, became an owner and Principal in the firm followed by Andrew Shroads, PE, CFM in 2018 and Octavio Solorza, CPESC, QSD/P in 2019. We could not be more pleased to see our careful planning come to fruition. We have been very fortunate to have so many talented and dedicated people join our team over the years.

Leadership

Richard Shroads

Richard Shroads, PE, PLS – Founder

Mr. Shroads is the original Founder and Principal Engineer for projects we undertake in Prescott, Arizona. He has been involved in the civil engineering arena since 1976. He is responsible for design and construction surveying for hundreds of infrastructure improvement projects including pavement management, roadways, water supply and distribution systems, sewer systems, pump stations, drainage and floodplain studies/design, airport specialty design, government facilities and construction management issues. Private development experience includes housing and condominium projects, industrial and commercial facilities, and many other types of projects. He has completed land planning studies, feasibility studies and preliminary maps, conditional use permits, zone change processing, development plans, final maps and plats, boundary and topographic surveying, entitlement processing, land title matters and legal assistance.

David Byrum

W. David Byrum, PE – President, Principal Engineer

Mr. Byrum is Principal Engineer and company representative for projects we undertake in both California and Arizona. He joined Civiltec in 1992 has extensive experience as a systems planner, design engineer, project manager, principal engineer and construction manager (since 1977) on numerous municipal and special district water system projects. He serves as City Utility Engineer or District Engineer in charge of various aspects of municipal and water engineering for the several cities and water districts in Southern California. Design and construction management experience includes steel and concrete reservoirs, booster pump stations, pipelines, treatment plants and wells. Mr. Byrum is also responsible for overall supervision of design, coordination of work assignments, successful completion of projects and attendance at critical meetings with our clients. Mr. Byrum also prepares system evaluations and master plans. He also prepares regulatory agency compliance reports, technical studies and is responsible for field coordination activities, attendance at critical meetings, supervision of inspection personnel and management of contractor submittals, change orders, pay estimates and overall schedule and field coordination of work.

Chris Dusza

Chris Dusza, PE, CFM – Vice President, Principal Engineer

Mr. Dusza is Principal Engineer and company representative for projects we undertake in Arizona. He joined Civiltec in 1996 and has extensive experience (since 1993) in the design and construction of public works/capital improvement projects including street improvements, water system analysis and improvements, sewer system analysis and improvements, storm drain system analysis and improvements, grading and drainage projects, area master drainage studies, hydrology studies, hydrologic modeling, hydraulic modeling and floodplain studies. His typical responsibilities include the supervision of staff throughout Arizona, management of project budgets and schedules, effective utilization of resources, and maintaining lines of communication between staff and project stakeholders. Mr. Dusza is well-known throughout Arizona for his technical expertise and management of complex processes involving drainage engineering. He is considered a premier leader in solving complex drainage issues.

Shem Hawes

C. Shem Hawes, PE – Principal, Senior Engineer

Mr. Hawes joined Civiltec in 2007. He has been providing professional water and wastewater engineering since 2002. His primary responsibilities include acting as the Branch Manager of Civiltec’s newest office in Fullerton, California, the daily supervision of a large design team, management of project budgets and schedules, effective utilization of team resources to meet project technical and schedule requirements, maintaining lines of communication between staff and clients and assisting in Civiltec’s quality assurance and technical review programs. He has been the responsible engineer for hundreds of unique planning, modeling and analytical projects. Water and wastewater experience also include the design and construction of numerous pipelines, pump stations, reservoirs and treatment facilities. He also prepares master plans, drought contingency plans, operation and maintenance manuals, process and instrumentation diagrams and permitting.

David Song

David Song, PE – Principal, Senior Project Manager

Mr. Song joined Civiltec in 2006 and became our newest owner in January 2017. Since 2004, his expertise has been in potable water infrastructure design, engineering and management. Typical responsibilities include project management and supervision of design staff, client correspondence, management of project budgets and schedules, construction management, technical writing and planning, hydraulic analysis and modeling, developing contract bid documentation, preparing specifications and cost estimates, and performing project plan checks. Mr. Song is an expert in distribution and transmission pipelines, traffic control design, pump stations, wells and reservoirs. He has secured permits for projects with public agencies and cities located in Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura Counties, California Division of Drinking Water and Caltrans. He has also completed numerous traffic control plans conforming to the MUTCD, Caltrans and various city standards including Pomona, Garden Grove, Suburban Water Systems, Newhall County Water District and La Canada Irrigation District.

Andrew Shroads

Andrew Shroads, PE, CFM – Principal, Project Manager

Mr. Shroads began working at Civiltec as a part-time intern in 2004 while attending the University of Arizona (UofA). He started his full-time employment in 2011 after earning both his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Civil Engineering. He became an Associate in the firm on January 1, 2018. His experience includes developing improvement plans, specifications and cost estimating for large storm water recharge basins, grading and drainage plans, highway improvements plans, roadway design, water and sewer plans, utility coordination, preparation of area master drainage plans and implementation of Civiltec’s quality assurance and technical review programs. He is also an expert in storm drain hydraulic modeling, hydrologic and hydraulic modeling with HEC-1 and FLO-2D, hydraulic modeling of drainage structures, ponds, and rivers, water master plan analysis and GIS processing.

Octavio Solorza

Octavio Solorza, CPESC, QSD/P – Principal, Senior Project Manager

Mr. Solorza joined Civiltec in 1988 and has an extensive background in general civil engineering (since 1985) including design of site improvements for educational facilities, religious facilities, federal design-build projects, water system facilities and private land development projects. He is an expert in the preparation and processing of grading and drainage plans, water pollution control plans, street improvement plans, storm drain plans, water and sewer plans, street lighting, drainage concepts, hydrology studies and hydraulic calculations, and the preparation of technical studies and computer modeling of systems. He is familiar with the requirements of the current MS4 permits and Industrial General Permit and has extensive experience implementing NPDES requirements in its various forms, including conforming to the requirements of the Standard Urban Stormwater Mitigation Plan (SUSMP) and the preparation of Water Quality Management Plans (WQMP). Mr. Solorza is certified as a Qualified Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) Developer and Practitioner and has extensive experience implementing the requirements of the Construction General Permit for capital improvement projects, site improvement projects and linear underground/overhead projects, including the preparation of SWPPP.

Terry Kerger

Terry Kerger, PE – Associate, Principal Engineer

Mr. Kerger joined Civiltec in 2006. His primary responsibilities include serving as a technical advisor, management of project budgets and schedules, maintaining lines of communication between staff and clients, and maintaining Civiltec’s quality assurance and technical review programs. He has extensive experience (since 1970) in the design and construction management of water and wastewater facilities for various public works improvement projects. His experience includes flow computations for master plans, hydraulic calculations, pipelines, flow control facilities, pump stations, reservoirs, wells, treatment plants, investigations of wellhead water treatment and well water blending, capital improvement planning, telemetry system design, feasibility studies for purchase of adjacent mutual water systems, including system appraisal, financial options, and identifying system upgrades, flood control facilities, bikeway, roadway design, structure design, grading plans, water master plans and agency plan check programs.

Richard Aldridge

Richard Aldridge, PE, MBA – Branch Manager/Principal Engineer

Mr. Aldridge joined Civiltec in January of 2018 is the Prescott Branch Manager. His extensive engineering experience (since 1980) includes project management, planning and design for public and private entities throughout Northern Arizona. He experience also include managing user groups and project stakeholders, design charrettes, site and project master planning, and the design of roadways, flood control systems, pavement rehabilitation, water and wastewater conveyance systems, airports, wells, reservoirs and recreational/sports facilities. He has provided engineering services via standard design-bid-build, construction manager at risk and design-build delivery systems. Mr. Aldridge’s quality assurance/quality control experience includes construction plan reviews for various agencies for code compliance and competent design, subdivision plat reviews for conformance with construction plans, construction inspections, agency certifications, evaluation of testing report submittals, and review of contractor materials submittals for conformance with project specifications.

Industry Partners

Civiltec partners with the following organizations to foster community and collaboration within the industry.

American Council of Engineering Companies of Arizona
American Council of Engineering Companies of California
Association of California Water Agencies
American Floodplain Management Association
American Public Works Association Arizona Chapter
American Public Works Association Southern California Chapter
American Society of Civil Engineers
American Water Works Association California-Nevada Section
Arizona Water Association
California Stormwater Quality Association
California Utility Executive Management Association
California Water Environment Association Los Angeles Basin Section
International Erosion Control Association
Monrovia Chamber of Commerce
Orange County Water Association
Rural Water Association of Arizona
Southern California Water Utilities Agency
San Gabriel Valley Water Association
Society for Marketing Professional Services Arizona Chapter
Society for Marketing Professional Services Los Angeles Chapter
Water Environment Federation
U.S. Green Building Council

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As an individual in charge of a small public water agency, it’s very fortunate when you find a quality engineering firm of the caliber and competency of Civiltec Engineering, Inc. Their attention to detail and design and the effort given to see each project to its completion is exceptional.

Douglas M. Caister, Manager/Secretary, La Cañada Irrigation District

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Contact Us at

  • Monrovia, CA 626-357-0588
  • Fullerton, CA 714-459-7957
  • Prescott, AZ 928-771-2376
  • Phoenix, AZ 623-582-0970