Highland Group was formed in 1986 between owners Tim Furner and Tim Wyatt. Around 4,000 one-of-a-kind homes have been created by the team, fondly known as Tim and Tim by clients and colleagues, between then and 2019, at Tim Wyatt’s passing. The firm perfectly curates each home to the unique visions and particular wishes of each client.

Since then, Highland Group has continued the ideal as a unique home design firm that provides reliability and creativity, designing according to the wants each client communicates while achieving the best function and comfort. “We coordinate everything from surveys and schematic design to full construction documents including all structural engineering,” said Tim Furner.

This is where FOCUS comes in. “They do about 80% of my projects,” Tim continued. Since Craig Lym, PE, SE, joined the FOCUS team as a structural engineer some 7–8 years ago, we have enjoyed working with Highland Group, tackling some 120–140 projects together. And we are proud to engineer every single one. While he can’t pick a favorite project, Tim finds the our current collaboration on Heber Valley’s Wood Residence in Red Ledges especially fun. “They are terrific clients,” he said. “The home design encompasses long-span, open areas and a lot of creative engineering.”

FOCUS structural engineers worked closely with Highland Group on the Woods Residence.

It’s been a fun challenge indeed. We work well together, perhaps because we value many of the same philosophies. “Customer service is very, very important,” he said when identifying which mentalities Highland Group and FOCUS share. He then explained, “They are great engineers. On the business model, they are always on time.  When we say we’ll meet a deadline, they are right there with me on that.” He also expressed appreciation for our creative engineering, which is a great compliment from such an innovative architectural firm as Highland Group. We both thrive in creativity and strive always to meet our deadlines.

“Our communication … is very efficient because we understand each other,” Tim said. This understanding is helped all the more by how long we’ve teamed up. Over many, many years and projects, we have worked together to streamline our collaborative processes, which is something we truly appreciate at FOCUS. Every project is smooth, and we never take our partnership for granted.

“Big fans of them—they’re perfect,” Tim added—a glowing sentiment we can return in equal confidence. “I’m very appreciative of my relationship with them [and] hoping for many more great years together.” We hope the same. Highland Group always makes their clients’ hopes and wishes come true, so here’s to this one coming true as well.