The firm has doubled in size in the past 10 years.

CEO and President Matt Garber grew up in the business, joining the firm in 1997 and becoming its head in 2015. His dad Dwayne Garber was an early partner in the firm.

“My dad Dwayne worked (for the business) as he was going through college and a little bit after — in the ’60s — and became a licensed engineer, and then was offered partnership in the firm,” Garber said.

In 1967, the business’ name changed from Clapsaddle Engineering Company to Clapsaddle-Garber.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO - Before computer technology, sketching had to be done by hand. Pictured are employees Terry Dennison, left, and Alan Morrow, circa 1976.

After Jack Clapsaddle’s retirement, the firm moved to Marshalltown and expanded. In 1971, it relocated to North Third Avenue. In 1984, the firm’s principal owners purchased space in the City Centre Building, 16 E. Main Street, its current location, remodeled it and moved its headquarters there.

“Some of my first recollections (of the business) was of mowing the grass up on North Third Avenue on a site, then helping with the remodeling of the building,” Garber said. “When I was 16, I was driving to projects and shuttling concrete samples back to Marshalltown.”

CGA merged with Thompson, Willis & Company (Marshalltown) in 1981, Carpenter & Associates (Ames) in 1985 and later Stewart Surveying (Marshalltown) was acquired. In 2006, CGA acquired Engineering Plus, which expanded the company to Ames. Shoff Engineering in Cedar Falls was obtained in 2016, which added more employees and another location. A merger came in 2017 with Ryken Engineering in Ackley.

Garber said the firm handles tens of millions of dollars of construction worked in Iowa each year. It has 64 employees among its offices in Marshalltown, Ames, Webster City, Cedar Falls and Ackley.

“Our uniqueness is having a lot of little jobs instead of a few big jobs,” Garber said. “We like to say we work in the communities we live in, and shop locally for supplies. We have a vested interest in the projects.”

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO - Mike Bearden working on a construction site on S. Sixth Street in Marshalltown.

CGA provides the following services:

• Civil engineering and land surveying services for both public and private entities

• Municipal infrastructure engineering

• Public, commercial and private site designs, including airports

• Residential, commercial and industrial subdivisions/land development

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO - A group of surveyors, circa 1973.

• Construction administration, observation and testing for public and private clients

• Land surveying and construction staking

• Storm water studies and management plans

• Planning and design of traffic, transportation and recreation facilities, planning and design of water distribution systems

•Agricultural drainage engineering and planning and design of waste water collection systems

“Civil engineers do a lot of things that people take for granted,” Garber said. “Nothing glamorous, but stuff people use every single day.”

Technological advances have propelled this ever-changing field. Now, the majority of projects are done using three-dimensional models and GPS.

“It’s amazing, even in my career, how it’s evolved,” Garber said. “A lot was hand drafting of the plans. Now they’re actually moving from not even doing paper plans to 3D digital model of a product. And anymore, that’s what contractors are wanting. By Iowa Code we technically have to generate paper plans, however. (Employees) will have a 3D digital model of the site and put that into their bulldozers which are controlled by satellites.”

Garber said the firm bought its first computer in the mid-1980s, but computer technology didn’t come into its own until a decade later. Computers can create an exact model of an existing building or site, which maximizes efficiency and better helps a client visual the project.

“It used to be three people out surveying: a guy behind the instrument, a guy taking notes and then another carrying the rod to take the shots. Now we generally send out one person and they have a robotic total station that follows them remotely or there are 3D scanners to create a 3D model exactly where things are on a building.”

CGA will host an open house during the Chamber’s Business After Hours celebration from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. on March 7 at its headquarters, 16 E. Main St., Ste. 400. For more information, CGA may be reached at 641-752-6701.