Advantage Engineers specializes in solutions for telecommunications, environmental and geotechnical engineering and consulting challenges. According to the company’s website, the firm is comprised of technical professionals, including engineers, project and program managers, site acquisition specialists, geologists, scientists and dedicated support staff.
Advantage has expanded, with new offices in Pittsburgh, PA; North Jersey; Atlanta, GA; Denver, CO; and Raleigh, NC.
Vice President of Telecommunications, Marshall Knight, said that location selection is often dictated by work, but sometimes the company has a strategy of growing organically in locations where it has very active wireless customers.
“I think Raleigh is a great example of that. Strategically we thought that going South made the most sense because of the population centers and how much activity is going on in the Southeast region,” Knight said.
One project awarded at Las Vegas’ University of Nevada entails engineering on a large DAS system for three new buildings at the campus. Additionally, the company is very active in the small cell/C-RAM space, doing work throughout its entire footprint with a variety of customers. It also is wrapping up a large fiber optic project in Tennessee, according to Knight.
Looking ahead, Knight sees plenty of challenges, the greatest being facing the commoditization of services and the downward pressure on fees.
“In some arenas we’ve actually had to make some difficult decisions to turn down work that doesn’t achieve our profitability objectives,” he said. “In others we have purchased new software and equipment particularly in the area of survey and fiber optic engineering that has allowed us to become more efficient in the work that we do and reduce the costs to our customers.”
Advantage is committed to doing everything electronically to cut costs and be good stewards of the environment, like digitally stamping and signing all of its drawings. Printing costs have been reduced by about 30 percent year over year due to those changes.
Advantage is proud to have moved up to No. 18 on the Engineering News-Record’s list of top telecom design firms in the country, and it’s the first year that the company has made it to the top 500 design firm list. Knight attributes part of its success to letting customers know that Advantage is a self-performing one-stop shop, providing turnkey services from site acquisition all the way through construction management.
For more information, visit http://advantageengineers.com/.
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