​​​​Hinds Engineering

Past Projects​

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• Site Development, OWTS, Fire Safe Driveway, & R3S (Sustainability) Consulting, Plumas and Sierra Counties, CA

Provided various combinations of site development consulting and permitting services, including assistance with selecting location/configuration of structures, onsite wastewater treatment system (OWTS), water well, and driveway, and development of plot plan diagrams for use with OWTS and water well permit applications, Fire Safe Driveway approval applications, and miscellaneous building permit applications for numerous new construction projects. 

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• Site Plan Development, Plumas and Sierra Counties, CA

Provided site planning services, including coordinating site plan elements with owner, builder, and County Building and Environmental Health Departments, and developed Site Plans for use in acquiring well permits, OWTS permits, and building permits for numerous new custom and manufactured home projects.

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• Base Flood Elevation Determination and Elevation Certificate Preparation, Plumas and Sierra Counties, CA

Conducted Base Flood Elevation (BFE) determination studies and prepared and submitted FEMA Elevation Certificates for new construction and remodels within Zone A floodplain.

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• Percolation, Mantle, and Piezometric Testing and OWTS Designs, Plumas and Sierra Counties, CA

Performed site assessments and soil investigations to identify leachfield and replacement leachfield areas; performed percolation, mantle, and piezometric testing as required to inform OWTS design, and developed OWTS designs for numerous new and existing residences. ​

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• Drainage Assessment and Improvements, Portola, CA

Performed an assessment of causation of local flooding at a private residence, provided recommendations for improvements to reduce flood risk, and provided construction oversight during installation of recommended improvements. 

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• Industrial General Permit Services, Quincy and Crescent Mills, CA

Provided Stormwater Pollution Prevention (SWPPP) services to industrial clients  to assist in their compliance with the California Industrial General Permit (IGP).

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• Engineering Support on Various Projects with Wildscape Engineering, Inc.

Provided engineering support to Wildscape Engineering, Inc. on various projects including pedestrian bridge design, upland and wetland restoration, bank stabilization, drainage assessment/design, forest road maintenance/improvements and decommissioning, and more, primarily in the Truckee/Tahoe area.

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• R3S Research Farm Project

Working together with my wife, we have been designing and building out the "R3S Research Farm", also referred to as our High Sierra Homestead, since purchasing the 2.5 acres of raw land in 2019. We began with site evaluation and conceptual site plan development, then began fire fuel reduction removing saplings from overgrown stands and heaps of buck brush and other dead and struggling vegetation, then built our driveway in compliance with Calfire Fire Safe Driveway standards, then selected our well site and had our well drilled by the local driller, then installed our first solar pump system for initial water supply, then designed and installed our underground utilities include conduits for future power supply and septic system for our cabin project. At that point, we found an affordable used trailer to stay in during the cabin build, and moved onto the property full time.

 

Except for the money for the property and the well, which I had saved up for over the course of 5 years or so, we payed for everything out of pocket as we went and did all the work ourselves per applicable code and permitted everything, which meant we had to be patient and work as much as we could at that time in our lives, and work hard on the property when not at regular work, and research and learn things we had never done before during any down time to prepare for upcoming projects. We then purchased a bandsaw mill and a very old skid steer tractor, began logging on nearby private lands with overgrown forests, and got to milling, beginning with milling of cedar garden beds and lumber for a storage shed, and completed initial earthworks and plantings on the property with the intent to slow and reverse the ongoing erosion and depletion of onsite biodiversity. Then, we designed and built the cabin from almost all local material (except hardware, plywood, and metal roof) including tens of thousands of board feet of douglas fir, lodgepole and geoffrey pine, and cedar lumber which we milled onsite.

 

We moved into the cabin in fall of 2021 and officially completed it in spring of 2022. We then designed and built a utility shed and off-grid solar system with automatic backup generator, and prepared for our wedding which we held on the property in June 2022 surrounded by loved ones, the first true test of our self-built off-grid infrastructure, and all went amazingly. We took some time to breath and enjoy ourselves until summer 2023 when we designed and began to build our barn, which has three stalls for animal husbandry (chickens and goats initially), a shop/tack room, and center aisle for parking vehicles/equipment with storage spaces above. The barn was also built from almost 100% local material (except the foundation hardware and metal roofing) including geoffrey pine log posts and rafters, reused douglas fir round power pole beams, and round beams and onsite milled dimensional lumber from fir trees salvaged from the Dixie Fire. We also terraced a sloped portion of the property, assembled a small greenhouse, and continued to seed and plant to further increase the productivity of our landscape.

 

We have a great deal of pride in what we've created here, and much more that we are envisioning for the years to come. Our quality of life has increased continually along the way. It has been excellent exercise. Our land produces more and more edible and otherwise usable resources each year. And, my ability to provide well-rounded quality engineering and consulting services to my clientele has also steadily been increasing as I gain hands-on first-hand experience designing, permitting, building, operating, and maintaining infrastructure, structures, and R3S systems. Below are some select photos taken through the years.