Founded in 1977 by Vonne (pronounced "Vawn") Nicklaus, P.E., NEI began as a sole proprietorship civil engineering firm. Tom Wilson, P.E., and Timothy Eisenmann, P.E., joined the team thereby adding water system design, waste water system design, road and bridge design, surveying and construction staking services to the firm's capabilities.

By 1984 NEI had added an architectural division, Architecture West, and had designed and built a two-story office building on a then virtually vacant 24th Street in Yuma.

In 1996, NEI purchased Hess Geotechnical of El Centro, California, adding soils investigations and construction materials testing services to the corporation's growing list of in-house services. The geotechnical division was renamed NEI Geotechnical and relocated to Palo Verde Street in Yuma.

That same year NEI Enviromental began, allowing NEI to offer asbestos testing, lead paint testing, underground storage tank removal, environmental assessments and many other environmental engineering and biological services.

Today, NEI continues to look for new services we can offer our clients. A new geotechnical lab has been constructed and both our architectural and environmental divisions are growing strong. New reproduction equipment has been brought into the store to replace old, environmentally un-friendly ammonia blueprint machines, and our IT personnel keep our staff up-to-date with the most current software and hardware available.

WHO IS NEI?

NEI is Yuma's oldest A&E firm. Nicklaus Engineering, Inc. began in 1977 as a three person engineering and surveying firm. Over the past three decades we have grown into a multi-disciplinary, multi-million dollar corporation employing more than 40 professional and technical personnel in the divisions of architecture, civil and environmental engineering, surveying and construction staking, geotechnical soils and construction materials testing, construction special inspections and reprographics.

We are professionals committed to practicing our chosen fields with the highest standard of ethics and professionalism. All of our engineers, architects, surveyors and testing professionals belong to national professional organizations including the Society of American Military Engineers, Arizona Society of Civil Engineers, American Institute of Architects, and National Society of Professional Engineers. We encourage all of our employees to continue and complete their college education, with the final goal of professional registration as an engineer, architect or surveyor.

We are community volunteers and leaders, providing our leadership to several service organizations including Rotary International, the Salvation Army, and Optimists. Our staff volunteers with local high school mentoring programs and academic competitions such as Math Counts. We are board members and charter members of many of these organizations. NEI places great emphasis on this type of activity as it serves as a means by which we can offer our gratitude and assistance to our community in return for all it has given us.