A Conversation With ... Travis Miller

Company: Miller Engineering PC

Education: Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, Missouri University of Science & Technology

License repertoire: Miller is licensed in eight states and is pursuing licensure in Nebraska, Montana and Alabama.

Contact: (417) 866-6664

Tell us about your company.

When I graduated from (college), I went to work for Carson-Mitchell Inc., and I worked there for six years under Kit Carson as a construction project manager. I decided to break out on my own in January 2004. I have one full-time employee and two part-time employees. I’m the only engineer on staff. We specialize in structural engineering, which is kind of a subcategory of civil engineering. We (perform) commercial and residential (work), probably about 10 percent residential.

As a structural engineer, what’s your role in a building project?

Typically, the look of the building, the shape of the building and the function of the building is already figured out by the architect, (who) hires me to essentially make sure that the building won’t fall down. I make sure that it holds up under the wind loads, quake loads and soil loads.

What structural challenges do you face in southwest Missouri?

We’re really fortunate in this area, because seismic (activity) doesn’t typically control the design. We’re up on top of a limestone plateau that actually acts as a buffer to cushion us from the (seismic) jolt. Here, we’re basically designing for bad thunderstorms. We basically design (to withstand) a 90-mile-an-hour wind that lasts for three seconds. That’s the wind load that buildings are designed for.

Where is your client base?

Most of the people I work with are here in Springfield. I do have a couple of clients in northwest Arkansas. The overwhelming majority of (clients) are architects. I’m licensed in Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi and Pennsylvania. If there’s a good enough project to go after, and there’s the likelihood that there might be some (follow-up) work, then I’ll go ahead and get licensed in a new state.

What are some of your most notable design projects?

We did the Memphis Sports Center, which was a really big one for us. If I recall right, it has 11 indoor basketball courts, and two indoor soccer fields, all under one roof.

Locally, we worked on the addition to Glendale High School.

What was one unusual project you designed?

One that comes to mind is a historic building in Lebanon that had a tractor-trailer run through it. We get called in on a lot of tornado damage situations, and ... I’ve learned a lot from seeing what those severe wind conditions can do. I’ve seen pieces of fescue stocks sticking out of siding, where it’s punched through, and it almost looks like there’s grass growing on the side of the house.

Your firm also does a lot of historic downtown design work. What have you learned from that?

There are all kinds of quirky things in older buildings. You see that people made do with what they had, and you just can’t believe it’s been standing there for 100 years that way.

Has the current economy presented any challenges in terms of business volume?

We are having a record year, in a good way. I’m trying to figure out what I’m doing right to stay busy. We have not seen any slowdown in commercial or residential. We’ll likely (hit) somewhere in the neighborhood of $320,000 this year in gross billings.

Tell us about your family and what you do outside of work.

My wife, Laurie, and I both grew up in Willard and have stayed in the area our whole lives. We have twins, Alex and Brooke. They’re 5 and starting kindergarten.

I’m secretary of the local chapter of the Construction Specifications Institute, and I was formerly a scout master for Boy Scout Troop 198. [[In-content Ad]]