
#113 - Case History - Challenge Yourself...Be a Consultant...Serve your Client...The GBA Story
From GBA Podcast by Geoprofessional Business Association
March 31, 2026 · 19 min
About this episode
The episode discusses a GBA Member Firm's successful engineering project that resulted in significant cost savings for a new hospital.
GBA Case History Series – Case History #113 - Challenge Yourself...Be a Consultant...Serve your Client...The GBA Story Summary A GBA Member Firm performed construction materials engineering and testing (CoMET) services for a new nine-story hospital. Another firm’s geotechnical report recognized the pavement subgrade would include poorly graded soil-rock fill and recommended a bearing ratio that the GBA Member Firm recognized as a “worst case” for design purposes. It became apparent early in the grading process that the fill should produce a higher bearing ratio. This conclusion, based on field observations made during construction, proved to be correct. Despite a lack of precedent, the GBA-Member Firm recognized an opportunity to save the owner a significant amount on asphalt paving costs by reducing pavement section thickness. This resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars of savings. The result fostered a great relationship with a new client. Unfortunately, the Member Firm overlooked an opportunity to be fairly compensated for the additional risk and value derived. Our Hosts: Elizabeth Brown, PE - Principal Geotechnical Engineer/ JLT Consultants Elizabeth is the Principal…
People in this episode
Host: Elizabeth Brown
Topics covered
- construction materials engineering
- geotechnical engineering
- cost savings
- client relationships
- pavement design
Keywords
- construction
- engineering
- geotechnical
- cost savings
- hospital
- pavement
- GBA
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: GBA Member Firm, JLT Consultants
Places: Boise, Idaho, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming
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