Conceptual Design Engineering, a full-service civil engineering consulting firm, is the newest member of the Jonesboro-based Tim Jones group of companies.

Founded last year by Tim Jones of Tim Jones Communities, CDE specializes in real estate development engineering and design and in land surveying.

“Clayton and Henry counties on the booming south side of Atlanta have had extraordinary growth over the past decade,” said Jones. “With Henry County in particular showing up on national lists of the fastest growing counties in the entire country, this area represents a huge opportunity for real estate developers and home building. Those enterprises require many areas of expertise, and particularly with the current regulatory climate, it takes real experts with years of experience to produce a real estate development which will meet all county, state and federal regulations, and still produce saleable lots and homes at a reasonable price.”

After being in the business for many years and building literally hundreds of homes, Jones, who is the current president of the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association, said he is well aware of the need for a full-service engineering and surveying firm in the area, and he decided to look for the right people to fill the needs of Tim Jones Communities as well as the requirements of other land development firms in the on the south side.

Conceptual Design Engineering Inc. was started in April of 1998.

Jones chose George T. (Terry) Chapman, a civil engineer and land surveyor with many years of experience in land development, to head up CDE.

Chapman is registered as a professional engineer and a land surveyor in Georgia, and he has a master of business administration degree with a real estate specialty from Georgia State University.

Starting with the work for Tim Jones Communities, Chapman has been able to build the firm to a total of 12 professionals, including three fully equipped field survey crews and an office staff with equipment to provide a full range of land development services.

Surveying and engineering design have both gone electronic, as one might expect in this age of computers and lasers. Some people might expect to see the old style “chain” which surveyors have used since George Washington surveyed land in Virginia. No more — it's all done with light beams and mirrors these days.

A modern surveying instrument can measure an angle to within a few seconds of arc a distance of 3,000 - 4,000 feet within hundredths of a foot, and do it all within about 30 seconds.

There are very few of the old style drafting tables in the office either. All the design and engineering calculations, as well as the drafting work, are done on the computer.

The closest equivalent of the drafting process now is probably word processing.

Drawings are built up on the screen in layers which can be turned off or on as needed for final plotting on the automated plotter.

Any piece of the drawing can be moved, changed, rotated, erased, copied, stretched, clipped or scaled.

And it's all done on the screen until the last moment when it is plotted to a hard copy in order to make blueprints.

Chapman said CDE prides itself on its commitment to the community as well. The Henry County Chamber of Commerce is planning a new building, and CDE will assist with the site design.

Habitat for Humanity is a favorite group that finds itself in need of the firm's services, and Jones said there is great satisfaction in seeing a deserving family living in a new Habitat home.

“Conceptual Design is committed to the metro south area and plans on offering consulting and surveying services to this area for many years to come,” said Jones. “The Tim Jones organization is proud to offer this service to Clayton and Henry counties and to add to this growing group of companies offering land development services and home building.”

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