Engineering duo launches new business

The pair, formerly employed at Scott Consulting Engineers, knew each other for about five and a half years before venturing out together to open their own firm.

Managing contracts and handling administrative chores have presented the greatest challenges so far for the entrepreneurs.

“Business has started much faster than we expected,” Murphree-Roberts said. “We had projections … and have exceeded them. We have started out – not faster than we would have hoped certainly – but faster than we had reason to expect. We thought we’d have a lot of spare time to get all of the office stuff set up, but that hasn’t been the case. That being said, that’s a great problem to have.” He added that he doesn’t have specific numbers for revenues yet, but the firm is ahead of where he and Starns thought it would be at this point in terms of covering expenses and getting work.

Dick Scott, president of Scott Consulting Engineers, said that although his former employers are now his competition, he wishes them well. Both Starns and Murphree-Roberts are “good, dedicated engineers,” Scott said.

“Consulting and engineering is both a technical thing and a business; it’s good to have both sides. Anthony (Starns) has his master’s (degree) in business. He worked as our office/business manager here. Scott Murphree-Roberts worked as a project manager, which means he took projects from the beginning all the way through, so I think their skills are matched well because they have the business side and the technical side,” Scott added.

To date, the firm’s sole employees are Murphree-Roberts and Starns, but they hope to add an employee within their first year of operation.

“With only the two of us, we’re sort of jacks-of-all-trades right now. But we don’t want to hire someone too quickly because we want to be sure that we’re building the right foundation. Everybody has heard of someone who failed because success came too quickly. I’m not sure that’s something we actually have to worry about, but it’s something that we want to keep in mind. We’re not going to take every job that walks through the door. We want to keep our workload at a level where we can really be responsive to our clients,” Murphree-Roberts said.

The firm has built its client roster to eight, serving primarily contractors and architects, one of which is Joel Chamberlain, president of Chamberlain Architects PC.

Chamberlain, a long-time acquaintance of Murphree-Roberts, offered encouragement to the budding entrepreneurs.

“I have worked with Scott Murphree-Roberts for a number of years on a number of projects,” Chamberlain said. “I also know him from when we both worked in Alaska. We found ourselves both here quite by accident. He was one of the project managers on Jordan Valley Park and we did the construction administration for that project. He knew that I had started my own business – I am in my fifth year of owning my own business – and he asked me how difficult it was and whether I would recommend it, and I did.”

Since Deka Engineering opened its doors, Chamberlain has worked with the firm on several projects.

“We do a lot of medium-sized private projects. The very first project we did with them was for a company called Double F Transport (and the project) is still under way. They did a good job,” Chamberlain said. “They are working with us on three or four more that are in the design stages right now. The thing that’s really great about Deka is that these guys are able to provide high quality service quickly and at reasonable rates. New companies are hungry and really eager to provide you with high quality service. It’s great having companies like these guys around.”

Murphree-Roberts said the company would like to be able to work with other engineers when they find themselves with too much to do.

Basically, he said, the firm handles projects outside of buildings or underground, including sanitary sewers, storm sewers, parking lot layouts, grating, storm-water detention, roads and streets. The key, he added, is to work behind the scenes.

“If (clients) take what we do for granted, then it is working perfectly. It’s not like architects designing a building. Architects design a building as something everyone will look at. Engineering is a necessary and ancillary part of what they are doing, but it’s not the focus. We make it so that people can pay attention to why they are there, not how they got there,” Murphree-Roberts said. “For the most part, if a civil engineer has done his job correctly, no one knows what he has done. The rain falls and the water goes away. You don’t have flooding problems to think about.”

Also important, added Starns, is “the ability to deliver what the client wants and needs without any surprises.”

Deka Engineering’s service area covers southwest Missouri.