UC Riverside

Tri Lake Consultants is a 24-year-old Civil Engineering company of 14 employees which specializes in municipal engineering - acting as the City Engineering Department for several cities in Riverside County, California. The company earns revenue at hourly billing rates for its engineers, inspectors, and principal/City Engineer/owner. This study sought to identify means for increasing profitability for Tri Lake via written surveys completed by the company's clients and its own employees. The primary avenues of increasing profitability for the company are determined to be increasing billing rates and adding to its repertoire of services it offers to its clients. Clients were polled on their current level of satisfaction with Tri Lake's performance and quality of service via 13 difference metrics. Simultaneously, Tri Lake employees were polled on 15 different metrics designed to analyze their opinions of Tri Lake's

performance and their own engagement and satisfaction as employees. Over 30 surveys were gathered from Tri Lake's two largest clients, the Cities of Perris and San Jacinto, and from Tri Lake's own employees. Analysis helped identify that while the two largest clients are generally more than satisfied with Tri Lake's performance and quality of service, there are specific areas where Tri Lake can improve. While these improvements are not necessary for company survival, they could help the company justify future rate increases. The primary area of improvement identified by clients was communication with the client staff and residents. The employee survey responses helped identify solutions to this issue. Several recommendations were offered including emphasizing the need for communication, a weekly company newsletter sent to clients, and enabling employees to better communicate with clients primarily via internet access and company- supplied computers.

The impact of these recommendations is neither immediate nor readily identifiable without further action on Tri Lake's part. It is inferred that Tri Lake must seek raises in billing rates at a time the company owner deems appropriate, and it is recommended that further study be undertaken including in-depth interviews with client management as well as completion of a second round of the surveys generated in this study in a few years to assess the effects of enacting the study's recommendations.