OUR STORY

Our Story

The first 45 Years:

Incorporated in April, 1962 (and in business for some years before that), it is widely known that for the first 45 years of our existence, we were primarily a Public Works firm. In fact, our office served as a City Engineering or Public Works faction for the majority of Cities, CSD's and other local agencies during this formative period of time for California's Central Coast. The story of this region could never be told without mentioning Bob Garing, Sam Taylor Jim Garing and our firm.

Below is a list of the various jurisdictions for which our firm has been at the helm since incorporation. This is not a comprehensive list, but it does give one the idea that GTA has always been deeply involved in the planning and building of the communities in which we live and work.

THE CENTRAL COAST’S PUBLIC WORKS DEPT.
  • City Engineer – Grover beach (1960 – 2012)
  • Utilities Engineer – Grover beach (2012 – 2018)
  • District Engineer – San Miguelito MWC (1992 – Present)
  • City Engineer – Lompoc (1962 - 1965)
  • City Engineer – Arroyo Grande (1962-1977)
  • Interim City Engineer – Arroyo Grande (2014, 2015, 2017)
  • City Engineer – Morro Bay (1963 – 1975)
  • District Engineer – Oceano CSD (1962 – 1971)
  • City Engineer – Guadalupe (1964 – 1985)
  • District Engineer – Avila Beach CSD (1976 – 1994)
  • City Engineer – Pismo Beach (1985 – 1987)
  • District Engineer – Nipomo CSD (1992 – 2006) 

MORE RECENTLY….

When Jeff Emrick purchased the company in 2006, the firm's identity was still that of a Public Works shop. Some residential subdivision work and commercial development projects were active, but in those first few years, Mr. Emrick recalls being repeatedly asked, "So, does your company do private development projects now?" In fact, the company had always down some private development and, as that is Mr. Emrick's background and forte, it's no surprise that in order to survive the Great Recession of 2008-2012 and then thrive thereafter, private development became the bread and butter of the firm.

When Ron Reilly was brought on as a Vice President in 2015, the firm had roughly 7 employees and was almost exclusively involved in private residential development. Mr. Reilly was given the task to help raise a team of professionals that could be profitable and carry the company into another generation of leadership. By 2017, the company was not only hopping along with roughly 18 full time employees, but Mr. Reilly's desire to chase Public Works projects, making great use of some of the individuals who were with the company pre-recession, had brought in some very large public works projects - thus beginning to diversify the firm's portfolio of recent work.

By the time Mr. Reilly, James Cooper and Perry McBeth came into ownership (on October 3, 2019), the firm was still heavily involved in private development, but approximately 25% - 33% involved in public projects.

Mission

Garing, Taylor & Associates, INC.

GTA's mission is to remain a trusted partner, by both private and public interests, in the development of the communities in which we operate and are deeply involved. While we seek and have a great appetite for meaningful, landmark projects which have great potential to have a positive impact in the community. there will seldom be a project too small for our interests. We at GTA shall always remain humble and grateful, while remembering that the communities we serve have evolved and grown by stitching thousands of small projects together over time - and that our growth and evolution has been, and will be, much the same.

We are compelled to be active, caring, generous leaders in our communities by our integrity and the weight of the trust these same communities have in us as individuals, and as a team. This team will continue to succeed, quite simply, because of our consultant-first attitude, which means we genuinely value helping clients and providing the very best customer care more so than any drawing or calculation we may produce in the course of our duties.

Finally, the GTA way is to treat each other with compassion, to care for and help one-another, and to elevate each other towards the goals and milestones we identify in our lives and careers. While our roots are unmistakably simple and conservative in nature, we will always nurture and reward innovation and be unrelenting in our quest to inject our own brand of remarkable into all that we do.

Principles:

When it comes to Guiding Principles, we at GTA have a list of more than 50 that we have generated during brainstorm sessions over the last several years. Below are Principles we believe to be the most important:

1. We are generous:
a. With each other
b. With employees
c. With clients
d. With the community
e. With our time

2. We are continuously seeking ways to increase efficiency and productivity, while learning more from our mistakes than our competition.

3. We are always actively encouraging progress and innovation.

4. We are always teaching employees the business-side of operating a land surveying and civil engineering firm.

Core Beliefs and Ideology:

These are the guiding principles we believe our founders may have identified, if they'd elected to do so. As we rummaged through our 50 or more Guiding Principles, GTA's leadership team asked itself these two questions:

1. Would our founders have identified this as a core belief and/or ideology?

2. Will this principle every change - regardless of who is in charge?

If a guiding principle was found to be one that our founders would likely have identified, and decided the same principle was unlikely to ever change or waiver for the life of our firm, the principle graduated to the "Core Beliefs and Ideology" category.

Those beliefs are as follows:

· Help everyone we work for and with. We consult. We do not simply draw plans.

· Work with and for people, companies and agencies with visions that align with our own.

· Be Trustworthy.

· Be Involved.

· Be Remarkable.
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