Engineering Overflow Support

Engineering Overflow Support When Your Team Hits Capacity

Don’t let capacity constraints or missing expertise force you to turn away profitable work. Let’s talk about whether engineering overflow support makes sense for your firm.

• Free 30-minute discovery call
• Ongoing flexible support
• Complete Project Submittal
• Faster Project Delivery
• +285 Projects Completed

Schedule A Meeting

We’ll contact qualified projects within a few working hours!

When Your Firm Needs Support

Common triggers:

• Project backlog overwhelming your in-house drafting capacity
• Water/wastewater components on projects your firm doesn’t specialize in
• RFP opportunities requiring utility expertise you don’t have in-house
• CAD production bottlenecks keeping engineers stuck on drafting instead of design
• Offshore drafting work requiring extensive rework and quality fixes
• Growth opportunities that would require hiring full-time staff you’re not ready for

Early overflow support helps engineering firms deliver projects on time, win larger contracts, and keep principals focused on client relationships instead of late-night CAD work.

Key Benefits To Help Engineering Firms Grow Capacity

We focus on PE-reviewed deliverables, clean communication, and flexible support that plugs in only when you need it.

Protect Your Team from
Burnout

Keep your senior engineers focused on high-value client relationships, design decisions, and business development instead of drowning in CAD production and routine calculations. Overflow support prevents the feast-or-famine cycle that forces your best people into 60-hour weeks during busy periods.

Win Work You Currently Turn Away

Stop declining water and wastewater projects because you lack in-house expertise or capacity. Overflow support gives you instant access to specialized capabilities (treatment plant design, hydraulic modeling, I&I analysis, TCEQ/CDPHE permitting) that expand your service offerings without long-term overhead commitments.

Scale Revenue Without Fixed Overhead

Add $500K to $2M+ in annual water/wastewater revenue without hiring full-time PEs, designers, or drafters. Pay only for productive capacity when you need it, not for idle staff during slow periods or benefits/overhead during lean months.

Maintain Quality and
Control

All work is PE-reviewed and delivered under your standards, templates, and quality control processes. You’re not outsourcing to a black box. You’re gaining a transparent, communicative extension of your team that makes you look better to your clients.

Leverage Multi-State PE Credentials

Access PE stamps in Texas, Colorado, California, and other states without maintaining expensive multi-state licensure for your own staff. Particularly valuable for firms pursuing out-of-state opportunities or national clients with multi-jurisdiction projects.

Predictable Turnaround and Production

A distributed team working across multiple time zones means work continues around the clock when deadlines are tight. Typical turnaround: 2 to 5 days for routine production, faster for rush projects with a clear scope.

You Need Us For

We support engineering firms with civil-focused overflow work that integrates cleanly with your project management and client relationships.

Concept Planning

Your firm wins a project and needs preliminary layouts and cost estimates fast. We develop concept plans that show site constraints, preliminary grading, utility routing, and infrastructure requirements. You get feasibility-level drawings and cost estimates to present to your client without pulling your engineers off other projects. We evaluate topography, drainage patterns, utility access, and site-specific challenges so you can provide clear go/no-go recommendations during early project phases.

Project Permitting

Your client needs city approvals and you’re managing multiple permit submittals simultaneously. We prepare site plans, drainage studies, utility plans, and grading plans formatted to local jurisdiction standards. Whether it’s Texas cities, Colorado municipalities, or California counties, we know what plan reviewers expect and structure applications to move through review cleanly. You maintain the client relationship and project management while we handle the technical submittal preparation and respond to reviewer comments.

Construction Drawings

Your team has the design locked in but needs complete plan sets produced for bidding and construction. We generate full civil drawing packages in AutoCAD Civil 3D including site grading, drainage, utilities, paving, erosion control, and all associated details. Every sheet includes plans, profiles, sections, specifications, and construction notes that contractors can bid and build from. All work is PE-reviewed before delivery to your firm, giving you biddable documents without tying up your engineers in CAD production.

Grading and Drainage Design

Your project needs detailed grading plans and stormwater management but your team is focused on other project components. We design grading that handles site-specific soil conditions, meets detention requirements, and satisfies local drainage standards. This includes building pad elevations, drainage swales and inlets, detention pond sizing, outlet structures, and pipe networks. We run hydraulic calculations using AutoCAD SSA and HydroFlow Express to verify every system component is sized correctly for design storms and regulatory requirements.

Utility Coordination

Your site plan needs water, sewer, and utility routing but coordinating with multiple providers is eating up project time. We handle utility layouts, service verification, load calculations, and coordination with utility companies. This includes sizing water and sewer mains, routing utilities to avoid conflicts, preparing plans that meet utility company standards, and managing submittal/approval processes. We coordinate directly with providers through design reviews, respond to their comments, and deliver approved utility plans ready for construction.

Paving and Site Layout

Your project requires parking lot design, access drives, and ADA-compliant circulation but your engineers are managing other priorities. We design complete paving plans including pavement sections for local conditions and traffic loads, base preparation specifications, drainage integration, striping and signage layouts, and curb/sidewalk details. Our designs balance upfront construction cost with long-term performance, and we provide complete details contractors need for accurate bidding and proper construction.

Kiosk Site Planning

Your client needs drive-through facilities, ATM kiosks, or similar structures with specific circulation and stacking requirements. We design kiosk sites that handle vehicle flow, prevent backups onto public streets, provide adequate stacking for peak periods, route utilities without pavement conflicts, and meet ADA access requirements. We coordinate with your client’s architects and equipment suppliers to ensure everything fits and functions correctly, delivering site layouts that work operationally from day one.

Case Studies

Colorado Design-Build-Operate Firm: From $300K to $2.5M and Successful Exit

Challenge: When MES began working with this Colorado design-build-operate (DBO) firm, it was generating approximately $300,000 annually with limited engineering capacity. The founder had strong client relationships and business development skills but faced a classic bottleneck: technical production capacity couldn’t keep pace with opportunity pipeline.

Client Profile: The firm (acquired by a national firm in December 2025) specialized in small-scale water and wastewater treatment systems serving municipalities, developers, and facilities treating less than 500,000 gallons per day. Founded in 2004 and based in Denver, Colorado, the firm focused on design/build/operate solutions for rural and remote communities.

Partnership Approach: MES became the firm’s primary engineering capacity partner over an 8-year relationship, handling treatment plant design and CAD production for modular wastewater systems, CDPHE permit applications, funding support documentation, hydraulic calculations, and construction document preparation. MES handled roughly 50 to 60% of the firm’s technical engineering work during peak growth years.

Results: 733% revenue growth from $300K to $2.5M annually over 8 years; successful acquisition by a national firm in December 2025; award-winning projects including AAEES Grand Prize; geographic expansion from Colorado-only to serving clients across multiple western states; proven DBO model that attracted national acquirer.

Key Success Factor: The partnership allowed the firm to scale revenue without proportionally scaling engineering overhead. Instead of hiring 3 to 4 full-time engineers to support growth, they maintained lean operations and used MES as flexible, scalable engineering capacity.

Wastewater Engineering Partner: Supporting Large-Scale Projects and Credential Leverage

Challenge: The firm faced two recurring capacity constraints: (1) CAD production bottlenecks during permitting and construction document phases that prevented senior PEs from focusing on process engineering, and (2) multi-state credential requirements for projects in Arizona and Texas.

Client Profile: Headquartered in Tacoma, Washington, with operations in Arizona, this 30+ year firm specializes in decentralized onsite wastewater treatment, reclamation, and reuse solutions. Led by its president and its founder, a P.E. with 40+ years of experience, the firm serves residential, commercial, government, and municipal clients across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, and Texas.

Partnership Approach: MES provides flexible overflow support, including Civil 3D production for site development and utility plans, hydraulic modeling and calculations, multi-state PE stamp access for Arizona and Texas projects, permit application support, and as-built and record drawing preparation.

Results: Completed large-scale municipal projects, including the Town of Ash Fork preliminary engineering report; won projects requiring out-of-state credentials without expensive PE application costs; protected PE capacity by keeping senior engineers focused on process design and client relationships; maintained an on-time, on-budget delivery reputation.

Colorado Engineering Firm: Winning Municipal Work Through Partnership

Client Profile: Founded in July 2022 by a P.E., this civil engineering consulting firm serves the Yampa Valley area (Steamboat Springs, Hayden, and surrounding Routt County communities in Colorado). The founder previously served as Engineering Division Manager for the City of Steamboat Springs and brings deep municipal engineering experience but operates as a solo practitioner with limited water/wastewater-specific capacity.

Challenge: The Town of Hayden, Colorado (population ~2,000) needed engineering support for critical water infrastructure issues, specifically tracking water losses and reducing inflow & infiltration (I&I) in their aging collection system. The firm had the local relationships and municipal engineering credibility but lacked in-house water/wastewater modeling capacity and I&I analysis expertise.

Partnership Approach: MES partnered with the firm to provide I&I analysis and hydraulic modeling, water loss tracking methodology, capital improvement recommendations, and CDPHE coordination support. The firm maintained the client relationship and project management, while MES provided specialized technical analysis.

Results: Won a competitive municipal engineering position that would have been declined without additional capacity; delivered practical, implementable recommendations; established an ongoing engineering relationship with the Town of Hayden.

Key Success Factor: The partnership allowed a solo practitioner to compete for and win municipal water/wastewater work typically dominated by larger regional firms.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the workflow integration actually work?

File sharing is straightforward and adapts to your existing systems. Most firms use Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive for active project files. We access your shared folders, work within your file structure, and deliver updated drawings/documents back to the same location. We can also integrate with project management systems like Deltek or other platforms you’re already using.

For CAD work, we maintain the same pathing, templates, and standards you use internally. If you need to make updates after we deliver files, everything will work seamlessly in your environment, no broken references, no frustrating repathing, no surprises.

Turnaround time depends on scope and complexity. Typical production work (CAD drawings, calculations, routine permit applications) delivers in 2 to 5 business days. Rush projects with clear scope can turn around faster. We’ll give you honest timeline estimates upfront and flag any potential delays before they become problems.

What level of oversight and communication should we expect?

As much or as little as you need. Some firms want daily progress updates and iterative review cycles. Others prefer to hand off a clear scope, receive periodic status checks, and review completed deliverables at the end. We adapt to your management style and project requirements.

How do you ensure quality control and PE oversight?

All technical work receives PE review before delivery to you. We’re not a CAD mill churning out unreviewed production drawings. Licensed Professional Engineers review calculations, design decisions, and permit applications before they leave our shop.

That said, you maintain final engineering responsibility for your projects. Our PE review ensures the work we deliver meets professional standards and is technically sound. Your team performs final QA/QC and makes the ultimate engineering judgments for your clients.

Can you work under our brand and standards?

Yes, that’s the entire point. We operate as an invisible extension of your firm. Client-facing documents, drawings, and correspondence carry your branding and follow your standards. Your clients see seamless delivery from “your team.” They don’t need to know you’re using overflow capacity unless you choose to tell them.

How does pricing work?

We offer two pricing models: (1) lump sum bidding for complete projects or deliverables, or (2) time and materials pricing that fits your budget. We’ll discuss both options and recommend what makes the most sense for your specific project scope and timeline.

Why Engineering Firms Choose Modern Engineering Solutions

Modern Engineering Solutions helps engineering firms expand capacity so projects stay on track. Whether you’re managing overflow CAD work, adding water/wastewater expertise to your service offering, or preparing for RFP opportunities, we provide reliable engineering support that works under your direction.

We handle CAD Production, Water/Wastewater Design, Site Planning, Utility Coordination, and Construction Drawings, delivered white-label under your brand. These services work together to help you take on more projects, win larger contracts, and keep your team focused on high-value client work instead of production tasks.

Contact us today to discuss your overflow needs. We’ll help you evaluate how engineering support can expand your firm’s capacity, protect project timelines, and enable growth without hiring risk. Let’s work together as your back-pocket engineering resource.

Ready to Stop Turning Away Good Work?

If your firm is turning down water and wastewater opportunities, overworking your PEs on CAD production, or struggling to scale without adding expensive overhead, engineering overflow support could solve multiple problems at once.