Sand Creek Grows, Trades Preschool for Prominence

Four years ago, the principals of Sand Creek Engineering & Landscape Architecture Inc. got more chances to play “Duck, Duck, Goose” than to go duck hunting.

The Bentonville firm got started in a 228-SF room connected to Guys and Dolls Preschool, a daycare owned by Jennifer Sorey, the wife of Sand Creek co-founder Tim Sorey.

The firm had five employees in 1999, the same year it doubled in size by acquiring the local assets of McKeehan Engineering Inc. of Bentonville and Carlson Consulting Engineers of Memphis. Sand Creek was initially a branch of Carlson.

“There were quite a few preschool jokes from our friends at the city,” said Lee Myane, Sand Creek’s other co-founder.

“They called us Guys and Dolls Engineering. All of the kids at the preschool called us Mr. Tim and Mr. Lee. It was pretty humorous.”

Sand Creek has since graduated to a 2,500-SF office with 11 employees on N.W. 12th Street. The firm had gross sales of more than $700,000 last year and expects to break $1 million in 2003.

Tim Sorey said the company, which primarily provides civil engineering and landscape architectural services, has seen 20 percent to 30 percent revenue increases each year. The firm has worked on more than 300 projects and averages more than 50 clients annually.

“We have just tried to focus on quality designs, quality clients and personnel,” Sorey said. “We didn’t want to grow too rapidly and lose control of the projects we have coming out. We’re still expanding, but we’re focused on quality.”

Some of the firm’s work can be seen at Pinnacle Point in Rogers and in Bentonville at Commerce Centre; Rubbermaid’s Wal-Mart Stores Inc. support office; A.Q. Chicken House and College Place, Eagle Creek and Chardonnay subdivisions.

Collins Haynes, an architect and one of the developers of Pinnacle Point, has been Sand Creek’s biggest client.

“They’re thorough,” Haynes said. “They know the procedures and the parties involved with the cities around here, and it’s usually very seamless between our design, their large scale [plan] and our permits.”

Both Sand Creek principals are graduates of the University of Arkansas and former employees at CEI Engineering Associates Inc. in Springdale.

Sorey, an Oklahoma City native and civil engineer, moved to Bentonville in 1979. His father, Jim Sorey, was head of engineering at Wal-Mart for 13 years. Myane, a landscape architect, is a native of Lockesburg — a southwest Arkansas town near Lake Millwood where he and Sorey duck hunt.

That setting became the inspiration for the company’s name, Myane said, when they found themselves killing more time than mallards.

Sorey said Sand Creek, which employs one other engineer in Ken Booth, works to use the topography of a site “to maximize the yield for developers and the livability of the community.”

“We’re seeing a lot more subdivisions with ponds, lakes and walking trails because the large number of people moving into this area want those amenities,” Myane said.

The firm’s work at the Eagle Creek subdivision on Shell Road in Bentonville includes a seven-acre city park. About 10 percent of the firm’s business is doing feasibility studies for developers, and it also offers construction staking, wetlands determination, surveying and various consulting engineering services.

Myane, who also spent three years working for Bob Callans & Associates in Little Rock, said the firm’s strong relationships with local developers and city officials make a big difference. Sorey added that the firm loves its work because each site presents a unique set of constraints that enable it to be creative.