- Licensed Structural · MEP · Civil Engineering — Irvine, Orange County, CA
- 2102 Business Center Drive, Suite 130, Irvine, CA 92612
- Mon–Fri 8am–6pm
- yamer@yacreativedesignpartners.com
- (949) 482-7835
Home / Services / Civil Engineering
Licensed civil engineers serving architects, contractors, and developers throughout Orange County and Southern California. Site planning, grading, drainage, utility coordination, and stormwater management — integrated from the start with our structural and MEP teams so site constraints are resolved during design, not on the job site.
Civil engineering is the discipline that determines how a building interacts with the land it sits on — how water drains away from it, how utilities reach it, how vehicles and pedestrians access it, and how the site was graded to make all of that work. When civil engineering is handled well, it is invisible. When it is handled poorly, it generates plan check corrections, field conflicts, and expensive construction surprises.
At YA Creative Design Partners, civil engineering is one of the founding disciplines of our firm. Our civil engineers work alongside structural and MEP teams on every project — so foundation pad elevations are coordinated with grading design, utility connections are aligned with MEP point-of-connection requirements, and site drainage is resolved before it becomes a field problem. This coordination happens internally and does not require the architect or contractor to manage it.
We provide civil engineering for residential and commercial projects throughout California, with particular depth of experience across Orange County, Los Angeles County, Riverside County, Ventura County, and San Diego County. Every civil engagement produces a complete set of construction documents coordinated with your architectural and structural drawings and ready for building department and public agency submission.
Share the property address and project type. We can typically scope civil work from the address alone and respond within 24 hours.
Select a discipline to see what is included in our scope, the systems we work with, and the deliverables you receive.
Site planning is the first civil engineering task on any project — establishing where the building sits on the lot, how it relates to property lines and setbacks, how vehicles and pedestrians move through the site, and where all site improvements are located. We develop site plans that satisfy local zoning requirements, building department standards, and the practical needs of your project — coordinated with architectural footprint and structural foundation design from the start.
Grading and drainage design determines the finished elevations across the entire site — where the building pad sits, how slopes are configured to move water away from structures, and how stormwater is collected and conveyed. In California, where hillside lots, clay soils, and high-intensity rainfall events create complex drainage conditions, a grading plan that is poorly conceived generates problems that show up during construction and persist through the life of the building.
Every building project requires coordination of water, sewer, gas, electrical, and storm drain service connections. In California, this involves identifying the correct point of connection to public facilities, sizing the service laterals, coordinating with the serving utility agencies, and designing the on-site distribution in alignment with the MEP layout. We handle this coordination directly — so the utility information on the civil drawings matches what the MEP drawings show, eliminating the mismatch that frequently causes field problems when civil and MEP are handled by separate firms.
California stormwater regulations are among the most stringent in the United States. Projects that disturb one acre or more of soil require a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) under the Construction General Permit. Most commercial projects and many residential developments also require post-construction Water Quality Management Plans (WQMP) that specify long-term stormwater treatment and management measures. We prepare both — coordinated with the grading and drainage design so the stormwater management approach is integrated into the site design from the start.
California accessibility requirements under Title 24 Part 2 (California Building Code) and the federal ADA Standards for Accessible Design apply to all commercial construction and most multi-family residential projects. Site accessibility — the accessible path of travel from the public right-of-way to the building entrance — is a civil engineering responsibility that frequently generates plan check corrections when it is not designed correctly from the start. We design accessible site features to the current 2025 CBC standards and coordinate them with the architectural accessible route design.
From single-lot residential to large commercial site development — our civil team is experienced across every project type and scale throughout California.
Grading, drainage, and utility connection plans for new single-family construction — including custom lots, hillside sites, and properties with complex drainage challenges requiring detailed hydrology analysis.
Civil site plans for detached ADUs — grading, drainage, utility connections, and access design coordinated with structural foundation and architectural documents for a complete submittal-ready package.
Civil site design for post-fire residential rebuilds — grading restoration, drainage re-establishment, utility reconnection, and erosion control for wildfire-damaged sites throughout Southern California.
Full civil packages for commercial developments — site layout, grading, drainage, utilities, parking, ADA accessibility, and stormwater management for office, retail, industrial, and mixed-use projects.
Civil engineering for apartment complexes, condominiums, and multi-family developments — shared access, parking design, drainage systems, utility master planning, and WQMP for larger projects.
Civil design for industrial facilities — heavy vehicle circulation, truck access courts, large-footprint grading, stormwater management, utility infrastructure, and industrial waste coordination.
California civil engineering is governed by both statewide standards and local jurisdiction requirements that vary significantly by county and municipality. We design to the specific standards of the jurisdiction your project is in — not a generic statewide approach that generates corrections from local agencies.
2025 CBC Appendix J — Grading
California CGP — SWPPP Requirements
California Phase II MS4 — WQMP Standards
2025 CBC Chapter 11B · 2010 ADA Standards
OC, LA, Riverside, Ventura, San Diego County Standards
County Hydrology Manuals · LACFCD · OCFCD
Our civil engineers work alongside structural and MEP on every project. Foundation pad elevations are aligned with grading design. Utility connections are coordinated with MEP point-of-connection requirements. These conflicts are resolved internally — before the drawing set reaches the building department or the job site.
Orange County, Los Angeles County, Riverside County, Ventura County, and San Diego County each have their own hydrology manuals, grading ordinances, and stormwater standards. We design to the specific requirements of the jurisdiction your project is in — which means fewer corrections from local public works agencies and faster approvals.
We engage on civil at the earliest stage of design — not after the architectural footprint is locked and the structural foundation is designed. Catching grading conflicts, drainage constraints, and utility coordination issues before construction documents are finished is far less costly than resolving them after the fact.
Civil engineering is one of the founding disciplines of YA Creative Design Partners. Our civil engineers have practiced in this field their entire careers — with deep experience in California's complex regulatory environment for grading, stormwater, and utility coordination.
Foundation grades and structural pad elevations coordinated directly with civil grading design — so structural and civil work from the same finished grade information.
Site utility design coordinated with MEP point-of-connection requirements — water, sewer, and gas service sized and routed consistently across both the civil and MEP drawing sets.
Civil site documentation for existing properties — useful before renovation or redevelopment when accurate existing site conditions need to be captured before new civil design begins.
On a residential project, the civil engineer designs the site grading, drainage, and utility connections. This typically includes a grading plan showing the finished pad elevation and drainage patterns, a utility plan showing water and sewer service connections, and any required erosion control or stormwater management measures. For ADUs and additions on existing lots, the civil scope may be limited to a simplified site plan showing the new structure relative to property lines and existing improvements — we advise on the appropriate scope for your specific project and jurisdiction.
It depends on the jurisdiction and site conditions. Many California building departments require a grading and drainage plan for detached ADUs, particularly on sloped lots or sites with drainage challenges. Some jurisdictions also require utility connection information and a site plan showing the ADU's relationship to property lines, setbacks, and existing improvements. We can advise on the civil scope required for your specific site and jurisdiction before committing to a fee proposal.
A Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) is required by California's Construction General Permit for projects that disturb one acre or more of soil during construction. It documents the erosion control measures and best management practices that will be implemented to prevent stormwater pollution. We prepare SWPPPs as part of our civil scope on projects that meet this threshold — and we coordinate the SWPPP with the grading plan so the two documents are consistent and the plan checker does not find conflicts between them.
A Water Quality Management Plan (WQMP) documents the post-construction stormwater treatment and management measures that will be permanently installed on a site. In most Southern California counties, a WQMP is required for commercial projects that create or replace more than a specified threshold of impervious surface — typically 2,500 to 10,000 square feet depending on the jurisdiction. We prepare WQMPs in compliance with the specific standards of the county or municipality your project is in.
We provide civil engineering throughout California with particular depth of experience in Orange County, Los Angeles County, Riverside County, Ventura County, and San Diego County. We are familiar with the grading ordinances, hydrology manuals, stormwater standards, and plan check processes of the major municipalities within these counties — including the City of Irvine, City of Los Angeles, City of Anaheim, City of Santa Ana, City of Long Beach, and dozens of other jurisdictions across Southern California.
Civil and structural design are closely linked — the finished pad elevation and drainage patterns must align with the foundation design, and utility locations must accommodate the building footprint. Because our structural, MEP, and civil engineers are on the same team at YA, these coordination points are resolved internally. When working with an external architect, we coordinate directly with their team to ensure the civil documents integrate with the architectural site plan, and we align our utility design with the MEP team's point-of-connection requirements.
Share the property address and project type. We will assess the civil scope and respond with a fee proposal within 24 hours.
Based in Irvine, CA · Licensed in California · Orange County & Southern California
Structural · MEP · Civil Engineering
