A Land Engineering, Inc. employee monitors the roof at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Mitch Paulk, President and Owner, and Julie Paulk, Human Resources, started the business with a singular focus: change the way surveying treats its clients.

Mitch Paulk, PE, never thought he was going to be a land surveyor, let alone be the proprietor of Land Engineering, Inc., a land surveying firm based in McDonough, Georgia. For as long as Mitch can remember, he wanted to be a civil engineer. He attended Southern Polytechnic State University and earned a degree in civil engineering then completed the rigorous steps to become a certified professional engineer. So, does Mitch consider himself a civil engineer? “Not really,” says Mitch. “I consider myself a surveyor.”

Mitch seems to embody the old saying: “How do you make God laugh? You tell him your plans.” “I think land surveying found me, not the other way around,” he says, “and I’m happy it did.”

Land Engineering, Inc. provides land surveying and civil engineering solutions for residential, commercial and public works projects throughout metropolitan Atlanta and surrounding regions. Its surveying team consists of licensed civil engineers and surveying specialists who provide “a unique combination of skill sets that enable the company to understand its clients’ needs better,” he says. “We meet deadlines and budgets because we have a holistic understanding of our projects and provide solution-driven results.”

Mitch’s unique surveying-cum-engineering perspective started when he was an undergrad. “I was getting my degree in civil engineering and had to take an elective for my major,” Mitch says. “I like being outside, so I took a land surveying class. It turns out that I enjoyed it—almost more than engineering.” That summer, Mitch got a job with a local land surveyor. “It was baptism by fire. My boss put me on a construction site and basically said ‘figure it out in the field,’ ” he says. “But I am happy I did, because construction surveying is a specific subfield that is fairly technical and intricate. I think that’s why I liked it so much.”

Over time, Mitch carefully honed his surveying skills.

“I worked at some of the largest engineering firms in the region,” says Mitch. “I cut my teeth on boundary surveys, topographic surveys, construction stakeouts, American Land Title Association (ALTA) surveys and site engineering,” he says.

But as Mitch rose through the ranks, he became quietly disillusioned. “When I was working at a large firm, I saw ways to make a project more efficient or save the client money,” says Mitch, “but, I couldn’t get support from upper management to make the changes. Sometimes, it seemed like they only cared about the bottom line, and sometimes didn’t seem to care about the client or quality of work.

I didn’t think that was right. It rubbed me the wrong way.”

In late 2006, he made the leap from corporate life and opened up shop in the basement of his home. “I started the company to provide exceptional customer service and high-quality work at a reasonable price,” Mitch says. “I was very intentional at building a culture where the quality of service is consistently placed at a higher priority than profits.”

In the beginning, business was good and the young company was growing strong. Then in 2008, things got tough. But Mitch, who grew up on a large farm in southern Georgia, knew how to survive. “I purchased a Robotic Total Station and started surveying anything I could to keep the bills paid,” he says. “Talk about work. It was the work ethic that I learned growing up on the farm that motivated me to keep pushing ahead and doing what it takes to succeed. But it was a hard time, for sure.”

Quality and Quantity

Mitch’s client and quality-focused work ethic helped him not only survive the economy’s ups and downs but to thrive. Since then, Land Engineering, Inc. has grown to have what Mitch calls a “highly diversified structure,” with 75% of its business volume being land surveying services. The other 25% involves engineering site design services.

“We have 20 professionals working for us. Some of them have both engineering and surveying backgrounds. And about a fifth specialize in machine control models,” he says. “Coupling field surveying knowledge with engineering design knowledge is a key component to the successful execution of GPS machine- guided construction.”

Simply put, machine guided construction uses GPS technology and AutoCAD to generate surfaces in conjunction with earth-moving machinery. It improves accuracy and efficiency. “Having the location of specific features across the construction site for operators and supervisors is vital,” he explains. “So, instead of looking out of the cab for information on a stake, hub or grade checker, the operator has the data at his fingertips anywhere on the site.”

Mitch is proud of his firm’s emphasis on machine modeling expertise, explaining that the surveyors in the field complete the machine modeling and finesse the site data so they can generate the best renderings for the clients. “They literally know the site inside and out,” he says.

Mitch is equally proud of how Land Engineering, Inc. collaborates with clients on machine modeling projects. “We stand out from the competition because we generate models by using both PDF stamped plans and CAD files,” Mitch says. “We want to see both because that will give us a holistic view of the site and reveals any conflicts, like how the drainage works. It saves our clients a lot of time. And surprisingly, not many of our competitors ask for CAD files be compared to the PDF plans.”

Client Stewardship

Providing high quality and working in the best interest of the client has proven to help the company stay strong through economically challenging times. He relays an experience with a high-end auto manufacturer. “There was a retention pond, which we incorrectly sloped out to build a wall. So, when the engineer checked the volume of the pond, it was inadequate.” Mitch immediately took responsibility. “I knew it was our mistake, and we jumped on a conference call with the client and engineering firm to discuss how to fix it. But before we called our insurance company, I asked if I could review the hydrology report.”

Mitch spent the entire night reviewing the data and drawings. “At about three in the morning, I found a small error in the hydrology report. So, the next morning, we talked to the engineering firm and realized that they didn’t have to rebuild the retention pond or wall. We worked together and remedied the solution for the client. I felt really good about that. Because we were honest, owned up to our mistakes, and found a way to fix the problem, we built a fantastic rapport with the auto company and the engineering firm,” Mitch says. “In fact, we have worked with the engineering firm multiple times since. Honesty, integrity and collaboration are always the right things to do.”

Maybe that’s why its client roster includes the Georgia Department of Natural Resources; Georgia Institute of Technology; Verizon Wireless; the cities of Atlanta, Griffin, McDonough, and Woodstock; and the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), amongst others.

“I am proud to say that we provide the quality work, communication and expertise that will make our projects, and clients, successful,” says Mitch. “I think the future looks great.”