May 1, 2017

Meet Jay Eastland of Engineered Solutions of GA in Marietta

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay Eastland.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My business partner, Luis Cuevas, and I have worked together in this industry for over 20 years. We worked at several different companies prior to starting Engineering Solutions of Georgia. We both grew up in this business and worked during school breaks as installers. My father bought a small waterproofing company after his retirement from the fluid power industry and Luis was the first employee he hired.

We often tell the story of how Luis was going through the phone book calling companies looking for a new company to work for, as his current company thought he was too young to be in charge of a crew. At the time, we were a very small company and typically did not have a person answering the phone. For some reason, my father happened to be in the office, answered his call and subsequently hired him. If that call had gone, unanswered mine and Luis’ lives might be very different than they are today.

My father sold his company to a local competitor and Luis and I went to work for that company. After several years, we realized that we wanted to do things differently. We wanted to be a true construction company that focused on solving complex problems rather than providing “cookie cutter repairs.” We felt like there was a void in the marketplace for a company that offered a solutions-oriented approach–one that customized the repairs to the specific needs of the project and the customer. We also felt it was important to provide custom engineering rather than operate solely on industry standards.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story: Has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We started our company in 2006 just before the crash. We were a small company scraping for every job when the crash happened, so we really did not notice it. When you start a business that is as capital intensive as the early years, you are in crisis mode regardless of the conditions of the economy. We quickly gained a reputation as a hungry company that did not have enough sense to walk away from really tough projects. We were and still are very committed to providing the best possible solution to a given problem. We are innovative in means and methods, and that has led to a lot of cross-purposed and custom-manufactured equipment. Research and development is a challenge in and of itself.

Please tell us about Engineered Solutions of Georgia.
We are a foundation restoration and below grades waterproofing contractor. We serve both the residential, commercial and industrial markets in metro Atlanta and throughout the Southeast. But when it comes down to it, we are really in the business of satisfying customers. We strive to not only provide customer service, but a customer experience as well. We want every customer to be an advocate for engineered solutions. We are the only true design build contractor in our market. What that means is we have an Engineering Department that allows us to provide specific designs for our customers. Our industry often operates on industry standards, but we go above and beyond by providing value through true in-house engineering. We never want to over or under prescribe a repair and our Engineering Department allows us to provide the correct repair for our customers. We have two professional engineers on staff, as well as auto cad specialists. This allows us to not only function in a design capacity, but also interact with other design professionals on projects to streamline the facilitation of cost-effective mathematically sound repairs.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
That is a difficult question! I have so many great memories. I am fortunate enough to still have a group of friends that I have known since a very young age, so when we get together I am reminded of lots of childhood memories. If I am pressed, I would have to say Thanksgiving at my grandmother’s house in south Georgia are the fondest. My mother is the only girl of a family of seven and everyone would come back to my grandmother’s for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun!

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