McElhaney Structural Engineers of Reno is still growing

Brett McElhaney took a circuitous route to founding McElhaney Structural Engineers of Reno. But it’s a route that’s served him well in the building industry.

McElhaney, principal of the 10-year-old firm that bears his name, originally studied psychology. After earning a bachelor’s degree in the field, he took a job with the State of Texas at a mental health hospital. It wasn’t his dream job, to say the least.

“After a while, I got tired and disenchanted with it,” McElhaney says. “I wanted something different. I had grandparents in Fallon, and that’s how I ended up here.

“I always liked school, so I got UNR’s catalogue, looked at every degree they offered, and thought civil engineering sounded interesting. So I went back to school.”

Although engineering wasn’t his first choice, McElhaney had found his niche. After completing his masters he landed his first engineering job, worked there for five years, and earned his PE license from the National Society of Professional Engineers as a certified professional engineer. After earning his structural engineering license a year later, McElhaney decided it was time to strike out on his own.

McElhaney founded the firm working out of the basement of his home for the first two years. Once he started adding staff he leased office space on Brinkby Avenue. The firm currently employs 12 — and that’s a big source of pride for McElhaney.

“When I think back to the days of working out of my basement, and now guys are raising families on this business, that is pretty satisfying,” he says.

As so often is the case in Reno, new work came in via word of mouth in those early years. “It’s word of mouth in this town,” McElhaney says. “I had built a reputation working with certain people.”

McElhaney Structural Engineers is still growing, so it hasn’t focused on any particular specialty, as many firms do. “We do concrete, steel, masonry and wood,” McElhaney says. “We will design any of those in residential, commercial, office, industrial — we do a little bit of everything.”

Whereas architects design buildings to interact with people and be visually pleasing, structural engineers design buildings to withstand the forces of the earth. McElhaney Structural Engineers is licensed in Nevada, California, Oregon, Arizona and Texas.

“Our profession is not that old,” McElhaney. “We look at the physics of what we are building — we turn what is proposed to be built into a mathematical model. We look at gravity, snow, wind, earthquakes, water, and how the forces of the earth flow through the building from the roof to the foundation.”

McElhaney recently completed his MBA, and he also teaches structural steel design at the University of Nevada, Reno. Teaching has proven to be fruitful when it comes to finding good talent for his firm.

“I’ve hired two people out of my classes so far,” he says. “I know who all the good students are.”

And his background in psychology has proven to be an unexpected boon as well, especially when it comes to dealing with the various white collar/blue collar personalities throughout the construction industry.

“In our field, we have people in the office, like architects and designers,” McElhaney says. “Then we have the guys out in the field and the contractors, and they all have different personalities that have to work well together to get a good project.

“I love that kind of stuff,” he adds. “Business school is like 60 percent psychology, personalities, people — the human component. That is the most fascinating and frustrating part. Everything comes down to the human component. We get our jobs because of our relationships, and things get built right because of the human component.”

Although he grew up in Wichita Falls, Texas, near the Oklahoma border, McElhaney, 46, says Nevada is now his home — Texas is just too flat, he says. But he maintains strong ties to the north Texas/Oklahoma region.

McElhaney is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and provides engineering services to the tribe.

“I try to help the tribe because they get contractors who try and cut corners,” he says. “I come in and give them good designs and make sure (contractors) are using the right materials and are building right. I am trying to make a difference.”

Making a difference is what drives McElhaney to continue working.

“I like what I do,” he says. “I get to make a difference in the world. I get to play a role in making safe places for people to live and work, and when the earthquake hits, if we worked on it people will be safe.”