The Full Circle Journey
On January 28th, 2024, Craig Spiess began his role as a Senior Associate at Wood Rodgers. Craig is no stranger to the company. In fact, Craig worked for Wood Rodgers for over 14 years.
For Craig working for an engineering company is in his blood. He started out working for his dad as a civil engineer, but something wasn’t right. He ended up finding his calling in land surveying.
In 1999, after his dad retired and his mentor came to work for Wood Rodgers, Craig followed and found his way here for the first time.
He credits this mentor as being the person who taught him everything he knows and helped him achieve one of his greatest accomplishments – becoming a licensed surveyor.
Craig felt the call to go back to his roots. In 2013 he left Wood Rodgers to head the survey department of the company that he had always associated with his dad and where he started his career. After, a few years he realized it was time to move on.
“They just weren’t running it the way my dad used to run it. The way it historically used to be run. I wanted to take the survey department in a certain direction. They didn’t want that. So, I just thought life is too short and I’ll move on…. And then the position opened up here in Roseville. So, Mike Motroni and a couple of others contacted me and asked me to come back… So, I am back at Wood Rodgers where I basically had my best working experience.”
“Take Your Time to Learn the Basics” – Craig Spiess, PLS
Surveyors see things most people don’t get to. The job is essential to engineering as it allows us to know the specific measurements of the shape and contours of the earth's surface before we begin a project.
This means they get to see the full construction process take place - seeing the blank slate before any blueprints are even drawn up to seeing the completion of a project.
This is Craig's favorite part of the job – seeing houses get built on his projects.
More than anything else, Craig is a mentor to others. He says his biggest accomplishment other than getting his own license is helping other surveyors get theirs.
“Just seeing how people have grown and become better people personally outside of work, inside of work, professionally, and everything like that, that’s probably been the most rewarding.
More About Craig
Craig Spiess is a California licensed Professional Land Surveyor with 31 years of experience in public and private sectors, commercial, and residential projects. His private sector work includes boundary retracement and subdivision work as it relates to land development. His work experience includes preparation, processing, and reviewing Records of Surveys, Parcel Maps, Subdivision Maps, Boundary Line Adjustments, Certificates of Compliance, Condominium Plans, and ALTA Surveys throughout Northern California. He performs and provides project management and coordination with local agencies for entitlement, mapping, planning, and surveying issues. Craig has regularly supervised field crews and provided support with survey calculations, solving field problems, and scheduling field crews with clients and construction contractors.
