Jason Barker is a bit of an entrepreneur-engineer, so when clients approached FOCUS requesting help with production home design a few years back, Jason took the lead due to his longstanding work on house plans. His expertise on fully-graded site work has helped FOCUS expand into a new field and help push residential construction forward across the Wasatch Front.

As the Vertical Engineering Department Manager, Jason and the seven-person vertical engineering team have a lot going on at once. According to him, “[There are] typically 10–20 home design projects, 30–50 home site grading plans, and 3–5 CAD-services projects in progress” at any given time. All of these tasks and projects go toward helping clients submit their plans to their respective cities for building permits.

Always up for a challenge, Jason’s favorite projects are typically also the most formidable—with a certain Salt Lake City project as a prime example. “It was a remodel of an old home where we basically tore down the existing home and built the new home on the original foundation,” he details. “We had several constraints to work around because of the city ordinances, but we were able to create a beautiful home when all was said and done.”

Beyond understanding home construction and site grading, Jason knows that building relationships with clients and the community is another crucial tool for the FOCUS vertical engineering team. “We have a good working relationship with most cities and know what their requirements are. This allows for quick review and approval on our plans,” he says, mentioning how that helps his department deliver on promises. “We also have the ability to provide our clients quick turn-around time on most of our projects.”

That client-first mentality is evident in all of his work. “If their projects aren’t successful then we are not successful,” he concludes. “Everything we do is for the success of our clients.”