Engineering firm sold

An Ontario engineering firm that inspects construction sites and building materials for developers and contractors has been bought by a company in Northern California.

Heider Engineering Services Inc., which performs geotechnical engineering and material testing for more than 100 clients, has been purchased by Engineering and Testing Services in San Ramon, according to officials with both companies.

Cost of the transaction was not disclosed.

The local company is doing business as Heider Inspection Group, said Dennis Heider, the firms principal engineer.

Heider and his wife Nikki started the business in 1996. Heider Inspection Group employs 23 people, and it plans to add more workers as a result of the acquisition, Dennis Heider said.

The purchase was official last month, but an announcement was delayed so that Heider Inspection’s clients – which include the city of Ontario, developers Hillwood and Piemonte and multiple school districts in the Inland Empire – could be notified.

Heider Inspection provides multiple services, including soil tests to make certain a site is strong enough to support a building, advice on how to set up a proper foundation and inspections of building materials.

Typically, Heider Inspection’s engineers are on-site during the entire construction process, Dennis Heider said.

Besides being able to hire more people, Heider Inspection will now be able to attract more clients, sign larger projects and offer new services, both Heiders said.

“They do about $60 million in sales a year, and we topped out at $3.5 million,” Dennis Heider said of Engineering and Testing. “We’re part of a much larger operation.”

Unlike Heider Inspection, which has only one location, Engineering and Testing Services has 14 offices and nearly 500 employees in six states.

“A lot of national clients, and even some in California, want you to have multiple offices,” said Nikki Heider, who oversees Heider Inspection’s day-to-day operations at 800 S. Rochester Ave. “Now, we’ll be able to service the whole state, and we’ll have a lot more resources to work with.”

Engineering and Testing joined with Heider Inspection on several projects and were immediately impressed with their work, said Gary Cappa, Engineering and Testing’s chief executive officer.

“I liked their overall approach and their commitment to quality,” Cappa said. “Their values are the same as our values.”