After 20 years experience in the Department of Works, Mike was approached by friends to design their residential project as a “one off”. One job grew to be many and M.A. Lalli and Associates was started. Mike was carrying out both the structural design and drafting on his drawing board at home with tracing paper and pens.

Mike moved into a small, shared office on Scarborough Beach Road and employed one draftsperson to help him out with the growing workload. With a penetrometer in the boot, Mike carried out all the compaction testing and field work inspections himself.

Mike and his team of 5 then moved into a larger office in Osborne Park with two other engineers and three draftspersons working together. The drawing boards were sold as the digital age moved in. A full time field work operator was brought on-board to carry out the growing number of site work requirements and the first commercial tilt projects start to roll in.

Building his new office and moving into the current location in Howe Street, Mike’s team had grown to 11 with two full time field operators, five draftspersons, three engineers and admin staff. Advances in design and analysis software lead to greater efficiency in design and well as the capacity to take on more challenging projects.

2015 saw the purchase of a soil retrieval probe and field rig allowing an expansion in soil classifications and at greater depths.

The team was restructured with leadership roles offered to long-standing staff. Investments in technologies have continued to increase, improving efficiencies of internal processes and design capabilities. 2020 sees Lalli Consulting Engineers celebrate 30 years of operation as a small engineering business driven by client relationship and customer satisfaction.