Pulse

When Senior Civil Project Engineer Tim Griffing finds a bit of spare time to watch TV during the week, he’s often pulling up YouTube videos of concrete guys, paving crews, or pipefitters.

“I make an effort to learn whatever I can,” Tim says. “That was one of my personal goals this year—to learn more about construction. I’ll even occasionally visit a site after hours or on a Saturday if I happen to see something of interest while driving by. Contractors are usually happy to answer my questions and let me learn from them. It helps me, and it helps Loureiro.”

Tim joined Loureiro in May of 2021, bringing with him both a strong design background and a natural curiosity about how things actually get built. As an engineer, he spends much of his time developing plans, preparing permit drawings, and navigating approvals at zoning boards and public hearings. But he’s equally at home in the field, where his knowledge of construction and willingness to collaborate with contractors make him a key problem-solver.

“My main role is design,” Tim explains. “But one of my strengths comes through bridging the gap between paper and the field—making sure what’s drawn can actually be built.”

That strength has been put to the test on a number of projects. In East Hartford, for example, Loureiro was brought in to fix a failing retaining wall at a transit district bus yard. The original wall, designed and built by another firm, was falling apart. “We had to start from scratch — new wall, new parking lot, new utilities, new drainage,” Tim recalls. “We were digging 30 feet deep, taking everything out, and rebuilding the way it should have been from the start.”

On another project in Windsor Locks, Loureiro permitted and designed a new warehouse building. But when construction hit snags, Tim rolled up his sleeves. For the past several months, he’s been working with the contractor and utility company on design and coordination while keeping the site development and the installation of 1,400 feet of sewer main and 1,700 feet of water main on track. “We’d prepared permit drawings a couple years back, but now the contractor needed detail — sidewalks, handicap ramps, curbing, etc. I designed every elevation, down to the 1/8th of an inch in a way that met all applicable design standards while still integrating with other features that had already been installed. It’s rewarding to take the framework and expand on it until it’s buildable, and to see the finished product in the field.”

That blend of design precision and construction know-how makes Tim a trusted resource. “Sometimes a project has been active for years, and often I’m one of the guys who comes in and sees it through at the end,” he says. Recently, when contractors on a project in New Hampshire ran into some questions and challenges in the field, Loureiro sent Tim to spend time on-site and develop a path forward.

“I think it’s a common problem that a lot of engineers don’t get the opportunity to get out in the field often enough to fully understand how things are built. As a result, they may unknowingly design things on paper that cause challenges for the contractor, which in turn causes negative preconceived opinions of engineers when they walk onto the site. I have a personal interest in making an effort to close that gap however possible, and take pride in my ability to be reasonable, knowledgeable, and effective on a job site.”

That mindset goes back to Tim’s early career. After earning his degree in Civil Engineering from the University of New Haven in 2014, he spent time in land surveying, staking curbing and elevations for contractors. “I was physically setting the marks they’d use to build. That was my first exposure, and it stuck with me. How something gets built became a natural interest,” he says.

Even outside of work, Tim looks for hands-on learning. When a neighbor asked him to design a walkway with leftover bluestones, he treated it like a real project — from design to layout to finished product. Along the way, he learned valuable lessons about prep work, translating drawings into curves on the ground, and the sheer labor involved in digging a 6-inch base by hand. “The best way to learn is by doing,” Tim says.

Since 2017, Tim has also given back to the next generation of engineers as a mentor with the Bridgeport/Stratford chapter of ACE, a program that connects high school students with industry professionals through real-world projects and site visits. In 2019, he was honored with the ACE Distinguished Mentor Award.

When he’s not on a job site or volunteering, Tim can usually be found outdoors — landscaping, biking, fishing, hiking, camping, skiing, or squeezing in a round of golf.

Reflecting on his career so far, Tim sees continued learning as the common thread. “There can be a disconnect in this industry — contractors versus engineers,” he says. “I can’t change the whole industry, but I can make sure that when I go to a job, I show contractors I’m interested in what they do and know what I’m talking about. That way, we quickly can establish mutual respect and work together as a team to get the job done.”