Engineers Week Q&A with Frederick H. “Rick” Radford, III, PE

We are celebrating Engineers Week and are featuring some of our engineers here at the Binkley & Barfield Family of Companies! 

Q&A with Frederick H. “Rick” Radford, III, PE


There are many different routes to take in engineering. Why did you choose Land Development?

In my case, I believe I felt most comfortable and competent doing land development projects, especially commercial site development, which moves at a much faster pace than single family subdivision projects. I enjoy the faster pace of site development as well as working with the developers and various disciplines involved in site work (architects, landscape architects, MEP engineers, and structural engineers).

How has the industry changed since the start of your career?

Wow, my career started in 1980, have you got a minute?  Just kidding.  Three things come to mind: The emphasis on protecting the environment with storm water protection devices during construction and permanent storm water quality features after construction is complete.  Storm water detention, which was in its infancy when I was a young engineer and now has burgeoned into its own industry.   And the advent of computer aided drafting.  I remember drawing plans and plats with pen and ink on mylar and vellum using Leroy pen and ink drafting tools.  And now CAD and/or microstation have made it much easier to draft and check plans and are integral to preparing construction plans.

How do you think technology will change engineering in the future?

Technology has already greatly affected land development with the implementation of civil 3D for autocad.  It allows us to easily check for underground pipe conflicts and prepare very accurate earthwork quantities along with costs for our clients.  The Site-Op program is another great program for site engineering.  It allows an engineer to layout a parking lot on a site (given the proposed building location) in minutes rather than hours which gives the client more latitude when choosing a site to develop. As far as the future, I believe technology will help the engineer see obstacles to property development ahead of time and provide a way to hurdle those obstacles in a cost efficient manner.

What are you most looking forward to in 2017?

I am most looking forward to completing my first year at Landev and am looking forward to what the year will bring as far as new projects with their individual challenges that our clients depend on us to assist them meet and overcome.

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