Engineering firm split creates Pinnacle Design

A new name signaled a change in ownership early this year for a southwest Missouri engineering firm.

Pinnacle Design Consultants LLC, a civil and structural engineering company, grew out of the dissolution of HBH Engineers, incorporated in 2001 by engineers Ronald Hamme, David Bodeen and Tim Hamilton.

A disagreement over business direction led to a split in April. Company assets were divided and Tim Hamilton left HBH and formed his own business, Battlefield-based Pond Creek Designs, while Ronald Hamme and David Bodeen remained as principals and changed HBH's name to Pinnacle.

Although the name is new and the ownership has changed, everything else remains the same, officials said.

"Our location at 1715 S. Kansas Ave. has not changed, our employees have not changed, and most of our customers are the same," Hamme said.

Pinnacle handles building construction, design of bridges, box culverts, parking lots and roadways, and site preparation engineering services, including streets, storm-water drainage and sanitary sewers.

Although much of the firm's work is local, Pinnacle is licensed in 16 states and contracts for work in other areas through local companies.

"Computer technology enables us to handle projects in other locations right here in our Springfield office," Hamme said.

Much of the company's structural design client base is concentrated in schools, commercial buildings and churches. Hamme and Bodeen estimate that 90 percent of Pinnacle's current clients have been with the business since it opened.

Ongoing local projects include new school buildings and additions in Republic, Marionville, Osceola and Clinton, and design work for an addition to Holy Trinity Church in Tulsa.

Site preparation work includes storm sewer, sanitary sewer, drainage and streets for commercial buildings, subdivisions and municipal projects.

Bodeen said site work can sometimes be tricky because of the Ozarks' underground rock ledges and underground streams.

Springfield design firm H Design Group LLC handles a lot of design work for multifamily projects and uses Pinnacle for most due diligence site preparation work, including utility availability drainage. H Design Group principal Brent Stevens said Pinnacle currently is handling site work on an H Design project at the intersection of Lone Pine Avenue and Allen Street.

Stevens says the property is scheduled to become a multifamily building site.

"But it's rocky, narrow and steep and that in itself creates problems." Stevens said. "There will obviously have to be a lot of cut-and-fill. There is also a flood plain involved, so balancing the site is pretty complicated."

Pinnacle also does pre-purchase structural evaluations on commercial and multifamily buildings, though Hamme said the amount of that work has slowed in recent months due to bad weather and a slowing real estate market.

One area of the structural design business, forensic investigation, sounds like it should be part of crime scene work. Hamme said, however, that it entails inspection and evaluation to determine the cause of structural failures.

"For instance, if a grain elevator collapses in upon itself for no apparent reason, or if the floor in an existing structure becomes uneven, or a roof begins to sag, then it's our job to determine the underlying cause and provide an estimate of what it will take to fix the problem," Hamme said.

For the nearly eight months the firm has operated as Pinnacle Design Consultants, Hamme estimates revenues of $400,000.

Although the slowing economy has affected Pinnacle slightly, Hamme and Bodeen are optimistic about the future.

"We don't have the backlog we had a year or so ago, but we're keeping pretty busy," Hamme said. "We've got space for two or three more people and may be doing a little hiring when the weather improves."