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Kevin Lowe, left is client manager for Olsson Associates Inc., which now owns Scott Consulting Engineers, founded by Dick Scott, right.
Kevin Lowe, left is client manager for Olsson Associates Inc., which now owns Scott Consulting Engineers, founded by Dick Scott, right.

Olsson Associates integrates Scott Consulting Engineers

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After 30 years at the helm of Springfield-based Scott Consulting Engineers, Dick Scott was looking for a company to take the reins as he neared retirement.

Through process of elimination, he found the perfect match in Olsson Associates Inc., a Lincoln, Neb.-based engineering and design firm that has a Springfield office at 1525 E. Republic Road.

“We’ve looked at five or six other firms,” Scott said. “We’ve considered and found that Olsson really matches up very well.”

Olsson Associates acquired Scott Consulting Engineers June 28. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In the present
For now, Scott Consulting Engineers is keeping its name as a division of Olsson Associates, but it will adopt the Olsson name in early 2011, said Rachel Wiester, senior marketing coordinator with Olsson Associates. That delay should give people time to get used to the new ownership, she said.

“We want their clients to know what is happening and be comfortable with it,” Wiester added.

In the future

Wiester said the Scott Consulting’s 13 full-time employees would remain in their office, 550 E. St. Louis St., and Olsson’s 22 full-time employees will join them gradually, with all of them relocated by early October. Kevin Lowe, client manager for Olsson Associates, said two surveyors who were working with Scott Consulting on a contract basis will not be used by Olsson post-acquisition because the company already has a survey crew in place.

Lowe said previous plans for Olsson Associates to build a new office in TerraGreen Office Park off Blackman Road, a nine-acre office park promoting sustainable commercial development, are still on, but construction likely won’t begin until 2015.

As for Scott, he’s not retiring just yet, but his role has changed.

“My role will be to continue to work with existing clients that we have and assure them that there won’t be any major changes in personnel, to assure them that we’ll be able to offer more services than we have in the past,” he said.

Scott said he plans to stay on the firm for at least two years before retiring.

“We’ll just have to see how it goes,” he said.

Projections
While Scott would not disclose Scott Consulting Engineers’ most recent revenue figures, he said they were down 30 percent in 2009, compared to 2008, but they held steady in 2010. Lowe said Olsson’s 2009 revenues were $2.1 million, down from $2.5 million in 2008. The company posted $1.1 million in 2010 revenues through June and are on pace to hit $2 million for the year.

In the meantime, he said, the acquisition won’t affect current Scott Consulting projects.

“For the most part, our clients won’t see a change because a lot of the work we are doing now the people who have been working on their projects will continue,” he said. “We’ll just be able to offer more services.”

Scott Consulting primarily focuses on municipal engineering such as wastewater systems, but as a result of the acquisition, it will be able to offer more transportation, mechanical and electrical design work.

Some of Scott Consulting’s past projects include the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Fort Leonard Wood and drainage improvements at Dickerson Park Zoo, according to Springfield Business Journal’s list research.

Wiester said Olsson Associates also stands to benefit from the acquisition because it will broaden the company’s reach.

“(Scott Consulting) do city engineering for several communities in the Ozarks, and that is an area we’ve been looking to grow in, so it was a good complement to the services we already offer,” she said. Olsson’s project roster includes Arvest Bank’s new facility on National Avenue and Associated Electric Cooperative Inc.’s headquarters expansion.
Wiester said even with the Scott Consulting acquisition complete, the company isn’t ruling out other opportunities to grow.

“Olsson’s goal is always to continue growing, looking for new initiatives, new opportunities to get involved with, so we’ll continue to keep our eyes open and look for anything that comes up,” she said.[[In-content Ad]]

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