Real P.E., real reports
Every stamped deliverable carries a Florida Professional Engineer's seal — and that engineer reviewed the data. No outsourced sealing, no rubber-stamp reviews of work somebody else did.
Florida-based · Founded January 2023 · Statewide
Founded by Ryan Townsend and engineered by Florida P.E. David Cappa, FGS is focused, accountable, and Florida-specific — you deal with the same small team from first call to final seal, and the lab that tests your samples is ours.
Every stamped deliverable carries a Florida Professional Engineer's seal — and that engineer reviewed the data. No outsourced sealing, no rubber-stamp reviews of work somebody else did.
Most projects mobilize within a week of authorization. Most reports come back inside two weeks. We built FGS around the schedules clients actually have, not the queue we'd like to maintain.
Our rigs. Our lab. Our P.E. One chain of custody from boring log through stamped report. No coordination problems between three different firms producing three different documents.
Why FGS exists
Florida Geotechnical Services was founded in January 2023 because Florida's geotechnical landscape was full of large firms with long wait times and short attention spans for projects that didn't fit their queue. Smaller developers, builders, and homeowners would wait six weeks for a Phase I they needed in two. Sinkhole calls would go to voicemail. Reports would come back from teams the original engineer had never met.
We started FGS to do it differently — a Florida-based firm where you deal with the same small team start to finish, where the lab is in-house and CMEC-accredited, where the drilling rigs we send out are the same rigs every time. Where someone actually picks up. Where projects mobilize when the calendar demands it, not when the schedule allows it.
The work is the same engineering — there's no shortcut on a soil boring or a stamped report. What's different is the firm doing it: focused, accountable, fast, and Florida-specific by design.
What we stand for
Just four principles we actually run the firm by.
Geotechnical work that gets stamped under a Florida P.E. carries real liability. We turn down projects that don't fit our scope or our timeline rather than overpromise.
No bait-and-switch where a principal sells the job and a contract technician runs it. You deal with the same people from first conversation through final seal.
GPR has limits. Phase I has limits. SPT borings have limits. Every method we use has things it can't tell you, and we say so up front instead of after the report's been delivered.
The geology, the regulations, the contaminants, the contractors, the soils — Florida is its own thing. We're not a national firm with a Florida disclaimer. We're a Florida firm.
Meet the team
Ryan runs the firm and fields most of the calls. Dave seals the engineering. The field crew runs the rigs, and the lab does the testing — one small team, start to finish.
Founder · Head of Operations
30 years in Florida geotech and materials testing. Started FGS in January 2023 with a focus on building a firm that turns reports around when clients actually need them. Specializes in construction materials testing.
Senior Project Engineer
The licensed Florida P.E. behind every FGS report. 45+ years of geotechnical investigation work concentrated in Central Florida — including the karst counties where most of his peers learned to be careful. Florida P.E. #58334. FDOT Work Groups 9.1–9.4.1.
Behind the principals: a field crew running our own drilling rigs and licensed technicians working in our in-house CMEC-accredited laboratory.
Credentials & accreditations
The ones that matter to lenders, building officials, FDOT, and anyone reviewing a stamped report.
David Cappa, P.E. — the signing engineer on every stamped FGS deliverable.
Geotechnical investigations, classification testing, specialized testing, and roadway geotechnical engineering — the qualifications FDOT requires on state-funded roadway and bridge work.
Construction Materials Engineering Council accreditation of our soil and materials testing laboratory.
Concrete Field Testing Technician Grade I and Concrete Strength Testing Technician — the minimum a building official expects on a structural pour.
Lab procedures conform to ASTM and AASHTO standard test methods; field procedures follow ASTM and FDOT standards.
Our CMT and special-inspection programs are written and executed to Florida Building Code Chapter 17 requirements.
Where we work
Ocala-based, with our office and lab in Central Florida. The counties we run jobs in most:
…plus the rest of Florida on a project-by-project basis. Mobilization beyond Central Florida is built into the proposal, so you see it before you authorize — and for anything with a hard deadline, timing is the first part of the conversation, not the last.
FAQ
To do Florida geotechnical work differently. The state's existing landscape was dominated by larger firms with long backlogs, hand-offs between engineers, and slow turnaround for the kinds of projects (smaller commercial, residential sinkhole, sub-acre Phase I) that didn't fit their queue. FGS was started in January 2023 to be the Florida-based alternative — same engineering standards, smaller queue, faster turnaround, and the same small team from first call to final seal.
For most project types: mobilization within a week of authorization, draft reports back inside two weeks of completing fieldwork, final stamped reports inside three. Same-day mobilization on urgent CMT and special-inspection calls. Phase I ESAs typically two to three weeks; rushed when the closing schedule demands. We give project-specific timelines in every proposal — and we hit them.
Both in-house. Our drilling crew runs our rigs; our laboratory technicians work in our CMEC-accredited lab; our engineers stamp the resulting reports. Single chain of custody from boring log through final document. Most of the coordination problems clients have with multi-firm geotech projects come from data hand-offs between unaffiliated companies — we built FGS to eliminate that friction.
Small enough to be fast, large enough to handle full-scope geotechnical and materials testing programs. A senior P.E., a co-founder with 30 years of Florida geotech experience, an in-house lab, and a dedicated field crew. That's a focused team built for the kind of work we do — not a national firm with a Florida outpost, and not a one-person shop scaling up.
Both. Most of our work is commercial — general contractors, developers, structural and civil engineers, municipal projects. But we also take residential sinkhole evaluations, foundation assessments, and pre-purchase geotechnical investigations on individual properties. Homeowners get the same Florida P.E. seal and the same lab. The investigations are scoped smaller and priced accordingly.
Whether you've got a defined project or you're still scoping what you need, tell us about it — we'll point you at the right service, the right scope, and the right price. A Florida P.E. on every quote.