James Edwards Engineering acquired by Wood Rogers Inc.

Wood Rodgers Inc. last week announced its third Reno-area acquisition since 2003, gaining the staff and resources of James Edwards Engineering, a geotechnical engineering firm headquartered in Reno.

Wood Rodgers, a multi-disciplinary design and engineering company that employs more than 180 in six offices in Nevada, California and Idaho, folds in another 12 people from James Edwards Engineering. James Edwards principals Jim and Mickey Smith will join Wood Rodgers as partners, says Wood Rodgers Vice President Steve Strickland.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

"We have worked together with Jim and Mickey Smith for years, and we have contemplated the idea in past," Strickland says. "It was the right time for it to happen.

"To have the depth of knowledge in terms of people who have been working in the geotechnical field for more than 20 years, bringing them together with the field experience we have, they are both very complementary to one another in the skills we provide," Strickland adds.

In addition to combining staff, the two companies also will merge the services of their certified labs to provide more depth for their clients.

Wood Rodgers' also has acquired former Reno firms Mountain West Engineering and Matrix Engineering in the past five years. Strickland says each merger strengthened Wood Rodgers position.

"It is partnering up with other good people that do things the way we do and trying to expand on what they have already done," he says. "They all have been a very good fit."