Bohannan Huston is a regionally focused firm cemented in New Mexico. But the firm, which performs civil, structural, construction, mechanical and electrical engineering services, has recently extended its reach throughout the Southwest. The firm puts an emphasis on advanced technologies and the ability to perform a variety of engineering and design services, ranging from surveying and mapping to preconstruction and on through to the end of the job.

Serving in a variety of capacities on a variety of project types, Bohannan Huston's most high-profile start in 2013 was the $450-million El Cabo wind farm in Torrance County, N.M., for Iberdrola Renewables. Some of the specific civil engineering and surveying services they are supplying to the project include nine miles of roadway, about 30 arroyo crossings, a minimum of four access points to a regional highway and an electrical substation.

Mike Strickler, senior project manager for Iberdrola Renewables, says Bohannan Huston's ability to make a strong first impression and follow up with a performance that breaks no promises is worthy of praise.

"Bohannan had approached us several years back at a county meeting. We did some research and went out and visited with them and they talked to us the right way—as a team," Strickler says.

Growth Flows In Many Directions

Bohannan Huston ranked seventh in the ENR Southwest 2014 Design Firm Survey, up five spots from 2013. They are in the top 10 of several categories including civil engineering, surveying and mapping, water supply, sewerage/solid waste and entertainment.

Their work is heavily focused in New Mexico, where they are the No. 1 design firm. While the firm's Arizona and Nevada rankings are in the bottom half of the lists for those states, they are looking to move up in the future. Outside of Albuquerque, they have an office in Englewood, Colo., that stems from an eight-year contract with CDOT.

Founded in 1959 by Jerry Bohannan and Bob Stevenson, Bohannan Huston began the transformation into its present identity when Stevenson left the firm and Larry Huston joined in the early 1960s. Huston was a well-known photogramacist, and the new firm benefited from his surveying and mapping clients.

"That combo is not that common" for a firm with mapping and civil engineering specialties, says Brian Burnett, president of Bohannan Huston, "Our integrated model has been very effective."

In the survey of design firms, Bohannan Huston ranked second in the surveying and mapping category, which also includes spatial data and photogrammetry.

The firm also ranks seventh in water project revenue. Recent projects in this sector include the Pueblo of Laguna Water System and Lagoon Replacement; Phase 1 of the Alamogordo Wastewater Reclamation Facility; and the city of Moriarty Wastewater Treatment Improvements Project.