Chad Epple on Engineering Serenbe

Chad Epple says he's been a civil engineer since he started building tree houses as a kid. As the VP of Southeastern Engineering, he brought a creativity and willingness to join Steve in changing the rules to design Serenbe the way neighborhoods were built 75 years ago. In this episode, Chad and Steve look back at a time when Serenbe was only woods and remember what it was like to work with the land to maintain Serenbe's natural beauty while adding in modern infrastructure.

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3:30 - Sharing A Vision
Chad Epple went to UNC Charlotte where he met his wife. She started Traffic Engineering Solutions as soon as she got her PE license. he watched her and learned about running a business, then started his own business Southeastern Engineering. They operated separately for 5 years, then decided to merge the two companies. They now have 110+ employees and work on a wide variety of projects.

The first time Chad and Steve met, Steve walked in with bare feet. Other engineers preceded SEI in Serenbe's design, but they weren't seeing Steve's vision and though Chad was surprised by the relaxed atmosphere in planning, he could. There are many rules and practices that are involved in engineering a community, and Steve felt a lot of them were illogical so he wanted someone who could see that and was willing to role their sleeves up and figure out how to change what was allowed. Steve saw that in Chad's team.

10:35 - Going With The Flow
The top of Selborne's omega goes through several streams, despite the typical practice being to avoid them. If they'd followed the rules, Steve Nygren would've had to put in hard pipes to get rid of the stream and divert it somewhere else. This is why larger cities have begun to have severe watershed problems.

14:17 - Keeping The Hill
Chad's first instinct was to flatten the entire top of Selborne Way, but Steve said that he wanted to keep the hill and build a 13-foot wall. They had to change some regulation laws, but now The Hill Restaurant sits right on the corner with outside dining at the top of the wall and overlooking those streams they were also able to save.

16:27 - Building Bridges
The Grange neighborhood had an existing lake, giving SEI a lot of opportunities. They used it for stormwater management, it provides an irrigation source for the community, and the neighborhood also embraces the natural ecology that surrounds the lake. Chad was also the one to suggest a Gabion bridge because Steve wanted to curve the road and challenged Chad's team to find a natural solution. Chad had never designed one before, but he said it's actually a more cost-effective solution that the traditional options that had been available and they were able to save several of the trees that surround that stretch of road. Now when Steve gives tours, if an engineer is in the group they notice it and get excited.

20:04 - Mado's Triple Threat: The Pond
Mado is also changing the engineering game. He worked closely with Steve and Dr. Phill Tabb to work in what he needed with the design they envisioned. Chad need a stormwater facility in the middle of the Mado omega, and remembers Steve saying that it was going to be so beautiful when they were done that people would get married there. Chad couldn't see how a stormwater pond would be that, but it's now coming together and will eventually have a path and homes surrounding it with a water feature in the middle. The geothermal wells for the One Mado building are also at the bottom of the 32-foot pond, so it's a multi-purpose feature.

Steve explains how putting in hard pipes for stormwater can damage our entire water ecosystem. Cities are now becoming aware, and it's costing them millions to clean them up. Steve's vision of the future is a green network so you can see how one drop of water makes its way through naturally to the ocean. He hopes that city parks and water departments eventually come together because he sees it as an opportunity for both and for the environment.

28:55 - Dynamic and Environmental Development
Chad has an environmental group that works in two parts: Permitting and infrastructure. He says the two biggest things they work on are grading land and stormwater, which is not something clients usually ask for. Steve mentions that most developments work to have a flat surface, but Steve doesn't want to do this at Serenbe so SEI has to be creative in bringing in equipment to put in utilities.

33:46 - Engineering His Own Serenbe Story
Chad and Theresa were so taken with Serenbe and Steve that they built a satellite office with a flat above it for them to stay. Their Serenbe office has been so successful that they've actually purchased the lot next door to expand the business.

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