By Bill Ivey

Principal Consultant

It is hard to believe that it’s been 30 years since my wife Nancy and I were sitting at a table in our garage printing out our first mailers, stuffing them into envelopes and licking all those stamps. Yet dates don’t lie, and my additional gray hair and some aches and pains confirm that we’ve indeed been in business for three decades.

Humble Beginnings

Ivey Engineering’s beginnings were humble. When we started the company, I worked out of an office in our garage (you can only do this in San Diego) while Nancy continued working at her job with a local general contractor. Soon after, we hired our first employee, a draftsman. Shortly after that Nancy quit her job and set up shop in a small bedroom of our home that we converted into an office. At that point, we were off and running!

It wasn’t long before we grew out of our home and moved into our first real office space. Within eight years we moved twice to accommodate our growth. In 2006 we moved to our current San Diego location at 8330 Juniper Creek Lane.

Initially our business was HVAC and plumbing design and project coordination drawings. With the help of a colleague, we got into forensic consulting which included expert witness work after a couple of years. We enjoyed this new challenge and ultimately flourished in it. Currently, we’ve completed about 2,000 projects, of which approximately 1,600 includes forensic analysis and expert witness consulting.

What Has Driven Our Success?

We emphasize integrity and objectivity in our dealings. As a result, over 25 percent of our business is with repeat clients and another 25 percent is from referrals. We are retained equally by plaintiffs and defendants.

We put employees first. We strive to hire the best and the brightest and provide a good working environment and benefits.

We work hard. As Vince Lombardi said, “The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.” There is no substitute for being diligent.

Looking back, we’ve had some challenging and rewarding years. COVID took a toll like it did on other businesses. There have been other ups and downs as the economy and laws change. Still, we persevered and flourished. In 2016 we diversified by marketing and working nationwide. We are currently licensed as engineers in over 30 states and have worked in at least 20 states.

Obviously, we wouldn’t have arrived at this point if it weren’t for our employees and clients. Thank you! We will continue to strive to be among the most diligent and ethical experts in our field.