Lumos & Associates
Lumos & Associates manages 100+ structural projects annually with a team of eight, using Calcs.com to automate load tracking, set project defaults, and generate building department reports.
“The software has made us a minimum of 30% more productive. It's eliminated at least 30% of the workload.”
About Lumos & Associates
Lumos & Associates, a Reno, Nevada-based engineering and consulting firm, manages over 100 structural projects annually. These projects range from seismic retrofits and industrial foundations to residential builds and commercial developments.
With a structural engineering team of just eight members within a larger company of 120 employees, Lumos delivers high-quality results across a wide range of work.
We sat down with Donovan Rae, then Senior Project Manager in Lumos' Structural Engineering Division. With a career spanning decades in structural design, Donovan tackled everything from residential remodels to high-rise buildings. At Lumos, he was the team leader, overseeing quality control, mentoring junior engineers, and driving business development efforts.
The challenge
Before adopting Calcs.com, Lumos relied on a mix of legacy tools like Enercalc and spreadsheets. These solutions required manual re-entry of data, making workflows time-consuming and error-prone.
As Donovan described:
"In the past, a project would mean, 'Okay, here's a beam.' Then I'd have to write down what my loads were, plug those into the column, and then go back and adjust again for the next floor. It was time-consuming and inefficient, especially if something changed."
Donovan Rae, Senior Project Manager
With a growing number of projects, the team needed a solution that could automate calculations, integrate seamlessly, and adapt to a wide range of project scopes.
How Lumos uses Calcs.com
Setting up project defaults
Lumos uses Calcs.com's project defaults feature to configure new projects quickly and accurately. Engineers can set baseline assumptions like snow loads, material properties, and regional codes, which Calcs.com automatically applies across the project.
By tailoring defaults to match regional conditions - such as Nevada's variable snow loads ranging from 30 to 500 pounds per square foot - the team ensures compliance with local codes without manual recalculations.
"First thing I do is copy in my typical sections to save time. Then I go through and adjust any project defaults for that given project - like snow loads, which vary a lot in our area."
Organizing projects by scope
For larger projects, Lumos uses Calcs.com's member schedule and project organization tools to structure their calculations. The team creates separate folders for key sections like roof, foundation, and floors.
"I'll make folders like roof, second floor, deck, first floor, foundation. For really small projects, I might not even make folders - I just use a general one if it's only six or eight calculations. But for large homes, it's more detailed, like 100-plus beams and columns."
Load tracking
Calcs.com's load linking feature is one of the most transformative tools for Lumos. It automates load tracking across beams, columns, and other components, ensuring accuracy and updating results in real time when changes occur.
"Being able to link all of that seems to save time and is much more efficient, especially if something changes. It tracks everything all the way down and also flags issues - like, 'Oh, guess what? That beam no longer works.' It's been great."
Donovan Rae
Lumos is also replacing manual spreadsheets for lateral designs with Calcs.com, consolidating workflows into one tool:
"We're now getting into using it for our lateral designs where that was always spreadsheets and stuff before. Now we're trying to get into utilizing it so that everything can be in the same software - one-stop shop."
Exporting final designs
Once designs are finalized, Lumos uses Calcs.com's structural report export feature to generate professional-grade reports for submission to building departments.
"Once we get close to the end, we export everything for the building department review. Sometimes I make a schematic directory for internal use, but only the final designs go out."
The results
Calcs.com has significantly improved Lumos' workflow, delivering measurable results:
"The software has made us a minimum of 30% more productive. It's eliminated at least 30% of the work from what we did previously."
Donovan Rae
By reducing time spent on calculations, Calcs.com increases profitability, especially on fixed-fee projects where efficiency directly impacts margins:
"If this software saves us 30% of the time, it allows us to have a little bit more profit. That's huge for fixed-fee projects."
Conclusion
Calcs.com has transformed Lumos & Associates' workflow, becoming a cornerstone for efficiency and accuracy in tackling complex projects.
With features like automated load tracking, customizable project defaults, and seamless report exports, Calcs.com saves time, reduces errors, and empowers engineers to focus on delivering exceptional designs.
For Donovan, Calcs.com is the tool he trusts to support his team's success:
"You really want to check this software out because it seems to have everything an engineer needs. The way it's constructed will save you time and therefore make you more money."
"Every time I use it, it's been a successful day. It just works."
Give your team one environment for calculations that holds up under review
Engineering teams use Calcs.com to eliminate rework, speed up peer review, and carry verified work forward across projects.