About

I’m Samuel Ford. I’m a Professional Engineer (Oregon PE #84683, Washington PE in progress) with a Master of Engineering and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Portland State. Most of my decade-plus of structural consulting has been on Pacific Northwest projects — podium multifamily, hospitality, mass and heavy timber, light-industrial facilities, equipment supports, mezzanines — alongside a few outside the region when the work pulled me there.

Why “Consensus”

A building is an argument that gets resolved: the owner who pays for it, the architect who shaped it, the designer who detailed it, and the engineer who has to make it stand up — each pulling toward something. Good projects reach consensus early, in the model, before anything is built. I run that conversation in Revit and Navisworks — federated, clash-checked, everyone looking at the same building — so the structure serves the design instead of fighting it. That’s the name, and it’s how I work.

How I work

• Direct. Owners, architects, designers, contractors, equipment vendors — you talk to the engineer, not an intake coordinator.
• BIM-native. Revit and Navisworks daily. Federated models, clash detection, and a real BIM execution plan aren’t an upsell — they’re how I work.
• Workflow-aware. I write production software (Python, Rust, React, MCP servers) and run local LLMs for private AI workflows. When a recurring task wants an automation, I can build it — not as a separate product, just better tooling for the work.
• Fixed-fee and fast where the scope allows it. Residential drawings 5–10 business days, BDS corrections in scope. Larger commercial/industrial: schedule in the proposal.

Materials I design in

Heavy and mass timber (lateral and gravity) — fitting for the Pacific Northwest and for the podium and custom-wood work I’ve done a lot of. Structural steel and light-gauge (CFS), CMU and masonry, concrete foundations, tilt panel for warehouse and industrial buildings. Equipment supports and 3D model-scan coordination for clash-checking new framing against existing facilities. Pick the right system for the building; I’ll walk you through the trade-offs.

Selected work

• Saltwood North & South Apartments — podium multifamily, Slabtown / NW Portland, for Prometheus
• Raleigh 22 — podium multifamily, NW Portland
• CedarTree Hotel — hospitality, Hillsboro, OR
• Pelican Brewing — custom wood structure, Lincoln City, OR
• Grand Central Recycling LA Expansion — light-industrial / facility expansion, Los Angeles, CA
• SCRTS King County Transfer Station — large transfer facility, King County, WA
• Multi-tiered steel mezzanines, equipment foundations, tilt-panel warehouses, private airport hangars (FBO), large elevated drive-aisle slabs designed to AASHTO/WSDOT alongside IBC, ASCE 41 seismic roof upgrades, complex wood with irregular lateral systems

Full project list and references on request. See Projects for the build-out.

Credentials

• Licensed Professional Engineer — Oregon PE #84683 (OSBEELS)
• Washington PE registration in progress
• Errors & Omissions insured
• Contracted plan examiner — City of Denver, CO (prior)

Background

M.Eng., Structural — Portland State University (2012). B.S., Civil Engineering — Portland State University (2011). Ten-plus years of structural consulting since 2013 across Miller Consulting Engineers, Froelich Engineers, JR Miller & Associates, and Evergreen Engineering — moving from EIT and Engineer of Record on 10+ concurrent projects, to project engineer on podium multifamily (Saltwood, Raleigh 22) and the CedarTree Hotel, to lead engineer on tilt panel, hangars, and large light-industrial facilities. Strong design + construction-administration mix — RFI responses, plan-examiner work, and on-site structural observations included.

Software

RamElements, RamSteel, Risa3D (lateral and gravity), Risa Floor / Foundation, EnerCalc, RetainPro, Forte, Redbuilt Red-Spec, ETABS, MathCAD, Revit, AutoCAD. Plus Python, React, SQL, MCP servers, and local LLM-driven workflows for the parts of practice that want better tooling.

How a project usually goes

1. You send what you have — an architect’s plan, a contractor’s sketch, equipment specs, a photo, or just a description.
2. I review scope and send a fixed-fee quote, usually the same business day.
3. You approve; I design. Residential: 5–10 business days. Larger commercial / industrial: a schedule in the proposal.
4. Stamped drawings (and calcs, where the jurisdiction wants them) delivered for permit.
5. I respond to permit corrections and contractor RFIs — included in scope.

Service area

Portland metro and Clackamas County for site visits and inspections; the broader Pacific Northwest for design work; statewide and out-of-region for drawing, BIM coordination, plan-examiner, and remote scope.

Contact

4004 SE 51st Avenue, Portland, OR 97206 · (971) 302-1095 · [email protected]