Environmental and Geotechnical Engineering at its Finest

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The ProTeX engineering staff has over 100 years of project experience involving residential, commercial, government, institutional, and industrial projects.

  • Residential Projects – Recommendations for subdivision home foundations (individual custom lots up to 10,000+ lots), apartments, and condominiums from 1 to 25 stories with and without basements (slabs-on-grade); local, collector, and arterial pavement sections, percolation testing, and evaluation for waste and stormwater collection systems mitigation of expansive/collapsible soil conditions; corrective action for undocumented fill, dairy silage pits, and similar unexpected site conditions; soil/bedrock lateral retention; site drainage; and earthwork specifications. Also includes forensic investigations to assess the possible causes of building distress and define corrective action options.
  • Commercial Projects – Foundation/pavement/utility recommendations for single and clustered (shopping centers) retail, restaurants, office buildings, banks, lodging, telecommunications (monopole and guyed cell towers), multi-level parking garages, solar fields, office/warehouses, and multi-use projects.
  • Government Projects – Foundation/pavement/utility recommendations for office buildings; courthouses; libraries; roads; bridges; multi-building clusters; wastewater treatment facilities; pump stations; conveyance lines; potable water treatment facilities; service, storage, and maintenance buildings; and parks/recreational facilities.
  • Institutional Projects – Foundation/pavement/utility recommendations for schools (elementary, middle, junior high, high school, community college, and university), hospitals/clinics, airports, churches, bus garages, and gaming facilities.
  • Industrial Projects – Foundation/pavement/utility recommendations for mining operations, paper mills, power generation and transmission facilities, dams, docks and harbors, quarries, forest products, waste disposal sites, and manufacturing facilities.

Specific shallow foundation experience includes spread footings and mats/pads, including partial to full compensation. Deep foundation support experience includes compressive, uplift, lateral, and torque capacities for driven concrete-filled steel pipe, precast/pre-stressed concrete, H-section, drilled shafts (straight and belled), micro-piles, pressure-injected, timber, and helical piers. Ground improvement techniques that ProTeX is experienced with include excavation/replacement, intermediate-depth impact piers, stone columns, dynamic impact plates, and surcharge/preload.

Other geotechnical experience includes recommendations for retaining walls (rigid and flexible), temporary and permanent site dewatering, machine foundations, soil and rock slope stability, frost and freezing impacts on roads and foundations, erosion, control, building/structure settlement, underground utility construction, chemical attack on foundation and utility elements, wall supported excavations, and the use of geo-synthetic materials.

ProTeX has a well-trained staff and experienced field technicians in Tempe and in Tucson supplemented by engineering staff as needed to meet client field testing, inspection/documentation needs.

For residential construction, this typically includes a post-tension survey of tendon placement for conformance with project plans; fresh concrete sampling and testing for slump, temperature, and air content; 24-hour field curing and laboratory compressive strength testing for comparison with project specifications; full-time observation of pour placement on those projects requiring it and verification of post-pour tendon elongation.

Other services often include pre and post-landscape drainage inspections to verify satisfactory surface water flow around and away from the home and inspection/documentation of post-pour epoxy-bonded anchor bolts and the occasional tendon repair/modification.

Other common field services include concrete rebound hammer evaluation of out-of-spec concrete as tested in the lab and building pad certification of moisture-density specifications (including utility lines encroaching on the pad footprint) as provided in the geotechnical report-of-record for the project. Moisture-density and concrete testing are also commonly provided for infrastructures such as pavements (asphalt/Portland cement concrete surface, base, subbase (if any) and subgrade), curb/gutter, off-lot underground utilities, pump stations, and water storage facilities.

Test results are reported, reviewed, and approved into a computerized database and then made available to clients via remote login as soon as possible. Earlier requests for specific approved test results can usually be obtained the same day via phone call or email.

ProTeX engineers and technicians maintain a wide range of special inspection certifications required for structural steel, welding, masonry, concrete pile installation, and more.


Our environmental services are focused on meeting the regulatory needs of clients with respect to land sales/purchase and development/redevelopment so as to avoid/minimize the potential negative impacts to a project from unforeseen past environmental issues both on and off-site. To accomplish this, the ProTeX personnel is experienced in providing corrective action project management, Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments (ESA’s), and Phase III Remedial Action Plans.

ProTeX maintains full-service testing laboratories in both Tempe and Tucson in order to meet client needs for test results on soil, aggregates, Portland cement concrete, grout, masonry, and asphalt in the most timely manner and cost-efficient manner. Soils and aggregates are most commonly tested in the laboratory for Proctor optimum moisture/maximum dry density, grain-size distribution, Atterberg Limits (Liquid (LL), Plastic (PL), Plasticity Index (PI)), Expansion Index, and swell-collapse potential.

Chemical testing (both ProTeX labs subcontract these services) for pH, sulfate, and chloride content can also be required. Portland cement concrete and grout are lab cured for a project-specified number of days then tested for compressive strength with the results compared against project specifications.

Asphaltic concrete is most often tested in the laboratory to determine asphalt (oil) content and aggregate gradation as these test results relate to conformance with project specifications.

ProTeX laboratory accreditations include AMRL (AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) Materials Reference Laboratory), CCRL (Cement and Concrete Reference Laboratory), and ADOT (Arizona Department of Transportation).

Engineering and design services can be provided for asphalt and Portland cement concrete (Pcc)-based pavement sections, including specific mix designs, asphalt/Pcc pavement rehabilitation, soil-cement lining and/or subgrade stabilization, and various geosynthetic material applications.


Our environmental services are focused on meeting the regulatory needs of clients with respect to land sales/purchase and development/redevelopment so as to avoid/minimize the potential negative impacts to a project from unforeseen past environmental issues both on and off-site. To accomplish this, the ProTeX personnel is experienced in providing corrective action project management, Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments (ESA’s), and Phase III Remedial Action Plans.

geotechnical-engineering-banner

The ProTeX engineering staff has over 100 years of project experience involving residential, commercial, government, institutional, and industrial projects.

  • Residential Projects – Recommendations for subdivision home foundations (individual custom lots up to 10,000+ lots), apartments, and condominiums from 1 to 25 stories with and without basements (slabs-on-grade); local, collector, and arterial pavement sections, percolation testing, and evaluation for waste and stormwater collection systems mitigation of expansive/collapsible soil conditions; corrective action for undocumented fill, dairy silage pits, and similar unexpected site conditions; soil/bedrock lateral retention; site drainage; and earthwork specifications. Also includes forensic investigations to assess the possible causes of building distress and define corrective action options.
  • Commercial Projects – Foundation/pavement/utility recommendations for single and clustered (shopping centers) retail, restaurants, office buildings, banks, lodging, telecommunications (monopole and guyed cell towers), multi-level parking garages, solar fields, office/warehouses, and multi-use projects.
  • Government Projects – Foundation/pavement/utility recommendations for office buildings; courthouses; libraries; roads; bridges; multi-building clusters; wastewater treatment facilities; pump stations; conveyance lines; potable water treatment facilities; service, storage, and maintenance buildings; and parks/recreational facilities.
  • Institutional Projects – Foundation/pavement/utility recommendations for schools (elementary, middle, junior high, high school, community college, and university), hospitals/clinics, airports, churches, bus garages, and gaming facilities.
  • Industrial Projects – Foundation/pavement/utility recommendations for mining operations, paper mills, power generation and transmission facilities, dams, docks and harbors, quarries, forest products, waste disposal sites, and manufacturing facilities.

Specific shallow foundation experience includes spread footings and mats/pads, including partial to full compensation. Deep foundation support experience includes compressive, uplift, lateral, and torque capacities for driven concrete-filled steel pipe, precast/pre-stressed concrete, H-section, drilled shafts (straight and belled), micro-piles, pressure-injected, timber, and helical piers. Ground improvement techniques that ProTeX is experienced with include excavation/replacement, intermediate-depth impact piers, stone columns, dynamic impact plates, and surcharge/preload.

Other geotechnical experience includes recommendations for retaining walls (rigid and flexible), temporary and permanent site dewatering, machine foundations, soil and rock slope stability, frost and freezing impacts on roads and foundations, erosion, control, building/structure settlement, underground utility construction, chemical attack on foundation and utility elements, wall supported excavations, and the use of geo-synthetic materials.

ProTeX has a well-trained staff and experienced field technicians in Tempe and in Tucson supplemented by engineering staff as needed to meet client field testing, inspection/documentation needs.

For residential construction, this typically includes a post-tension survey of tendon placement for conformance with project plans; fresh concrete sampling and testing for slump, temperature, and air content; 24-hour field curing and laboratory compressive strength testing for comparison with project specifications; full-time observation of pour placement on those projects requiring it and verification of post-pour tendon elongation.

Other services often include pre and post-landscape drainage inspections to verify satisfactory surface water flow around and away from the home and inspection/documentation of post-pour epoxy-bonded anchor bolts and the occasional tendon repair/modification.

Other common field services include concrete rebound hammer evaluation of out-of-spec concrete as tested in the lab and building pad certification of moisture-density specifications (including utility lines encroaching on the pad footprint) as provided in the geotechnical report-of-record for the project. Moisture-density and concrete testing are also commonly provided for infrastructures such as pavements (asphalt/Portland cement concrete surface, base, subbase (if any) and subgrade), curb/gutter, off-lot underground utilities, pump stations, and water storage facilities.

Test results are reported, reviewed, and approved into a computerized database and then made available to clients via remote login as soon as possible. Earlier requests for specific approved test results can usually be obtained the same day via phone call or email.

ProTeX engineers and technicians maintain a wide range of special inspection certifications required for structural steel, welding, masonry, concrete pile installation, and more.

ProTeX maintains full-service testing laboratories in both Tempe and Tucson in order to meet client needs for test results on soil, aggregates, Portland cement concrete, grout, masonry, and asphalt in the most timely manner and cost-efficient manner. Soils and aggregates are most commonly tested in the laboratory for Proctor optimum moisture/maximum dry density, grain-size distribution, Atterberg Limits (Liquid (LL), Plastic (PL), Plasticity Index (PI)), Expansion Index, and swell-collapse potential.

Chemical testing (both ProTeX labs subcontract these services) for pH, sulfate, and chloride content can also be required. Portland cement concrete and grout are lab cured for a project-specified number of days then tested for compressive strength with the results compared against project specifications.

Asphaltic concrete is most often tested in the laboratory to determine asphalt (oil) content and aggregate gradation as these test results relate to conformance with project specifications.

ProTeX laboratory accreditations include AMRL (AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) Materials Reference Laboratory), CCRL (Cement and Concrete Reference Laboratory), and ADOT (Arizona Department of Transportation).

Engineering and design services can be provided for asphalt and Portland cement concrete (Pcc)-based pavement sections, including specific mix designs, asphalt/Pcc pavement rehabilitation, soil-cement lining and/or subgrade stabilization, and various geosynthetic material applications.