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Joe Higgins’ “OK” is scrawled in chalk on steel beams and next to bolts throughout the rapidly rising Park Avenue West tower in downtown Portland.

Higgins, a senior field supervisor with KPFF Consulting Engineers‘ Special Inspection Group, has left his mark from top to bottom of the TMT Development project. As a certified special inspector, he provides an added layer of oversight to ensure that Hoffman Construction is building the 30-story tower to meet city code and specifications of designer TVA Architects and structural engineer KPFF.

“Everything has to go through a fine-tooth comb,” Higgins said.

This involves use of specialized equipment to check for cracks in welds, confirm proper installation of rebar and test the strength of bolts and poured concrete. The job also calls for careful note-taking on details like expiration dates for tubes of epoxy and the voltage of welding torches to ensure safe parameters are being observed.

Once Higgins is confident that work is up to snuff, he writes “OK” and the inspection date. If he finds an issue, such as a missing bolt or a poor weld, he follows through with the contractor and the structural engineer until it is resolved.

“… You see an ‘OK’ there and an ‘OK’ there, which keeps these guys on their toes to make sure they’re not doing garbage welds,” Higgins said while pointing out his chalk notes at Park Avenue West.

The mixed-use tower is the first large Portland project to employ KPFF’s Special Inspection Group since it was formed two years ago. Higgins is one of about a half dozen KPFF employees certified through the Oregon Building Officials Association to inspect both new construction and renovations.

Special inspections required to meet building code are typically performed by a third-party contractor; several geotechnical engineering firms in the Portland-metro area take on such work. KPFF officials decided to offer the service in-house for projects where the firm serves as a structural engineer as a way to streamline the process, managing principal Blake Patsy said. Advantages include faster communication between the special inspector and engineer concerning modifications that need to be made to the project during construction, he said.

“I think it really bolsters the engineers and I think in the end it gets the client a better product built,” he said. “We get that information to our engineers faster and that’s less time the contractor is stalled out. If you can save them a week or two weeks, that can be huge.”

TMT Development President and CEO Vanessa Sturgeon said hiring KPFF as both structural engineer and special inspector has been an asset to the Park Avenue West project.

“They take a particularly deep level of ownership in their projects,” she said. “It’s really been a convenience to us to have a branch of KPFF working on the inspections piece of the project.”

Close work between the structural engineer, special inspector and contractor has been essential for the fast-tracked project, Hoffman Construction superintendent Mark Parsons said.

“It’s a three-way team to make sure we’re doing it right out there,” he said.

Ensuring the project comes together properly in time for a scheduled December 2015 completion is a detailed job for Higgins. He and other special inspection team members pay close attention to the consistency of concrete that arrives at the job site and test the strength of cylinder samples from every concrete pour.

“As they’re pouring concrete, we’re monitoring each concrete truck,” he said. “Everything that comes out here needs to be inspected.”

Careful scrutiny is given to the welds holding together the tower’s steel frame. An ultrasound machine is used to inspect the full thickness of the weld for flaws. Magnetic particle testing finds surface cracks: The red-dyed iron powder is attracted to them.

Other times, the inspection involves much more low-tech methods, such as banging each newly installed floor stud with a hammer to see if it makes a strange noise or the head falls off.

“We do that to thousands and thousands of those things,” Higgins said.

In the underground parking garage, he measured the distance between rebar pieces that will support the concrete walls.

“There’s supposed to be two inches of space between them,” he explained. “Before they ever spray (concrete), they’ll have to get an OK from me.”