Oakland-Based Civil Engineering Since 2009

Calichi Design Group is an Oakland civil engineering firm. Our headquarters has been on Hannah Street in West Oakland since 2010, and the bulk of our work is for Bay Area developers, architects, school districts, and public agencies that build here. We handle the full civil scope of a project — site planning, grading, stormwater (C.3, BMP, MRP), water and sewer, ADA, fire access, dry utility coordination, and permitting — from feasibility through close-out.

Oakland is where Calichi started, and it's still where most of our project file lives. We know what the City of Oakland Bureau of Building wants to see in a plan check submittal. We know which Public Works engineers move quickly and which conditions of approval take three rounds. We've coordinated EBMUD water and sanitary connections in every part of the city, run encroachment permits with Oakland DOT, and managed Caltrans approach permits along International Boulevard, San Pablo Avenue, and Hegenberger Road. That accumulated familiarity is what shortens plan check cycles.

Oakland · Alameda County · OUSD · Port of Oakland — Certified

Small Local Business Enterprise (SLBE)

NAICS 541330 · See our certifications →

Civil Engineering Services in Oakland

From a single-parcel infill duplex to a 12-acre OUSD campus modernization, our Oakland office covers the full civil scope:

• Site Planning & Feasibility — due diligence, site analysis, entitlement-ready site plans
• Grading & Drainage — cut/fill optimization, retaining wall layout, drainage design for steep East Bay sites
• Stormwater Management — C.3 compliance, bioretention, hydromodification (HMP), Provision E.12 self-treating credits, MRP 3.0 reporting
• Water & Sanitary Sewer — EBMUD will-serve, water system modeling, sanitary connections, sewer lateral compliance with City of Oakland CIPP requirements
• Dry Utility Coordination — PG&E electric and gas, AT&T, Comcast, joint trench design, transformer siting
• ADA & Path of Travel — CBC Chapter 11B compliance, accessible route design, DSA review for school sites
• Fire Access — CFC Appendix D apparatus turning, hydrant flow analysis, fire department connection design
• Permitting & Plan Check Coordination — Bureau of Building, Public Works, Planning, EBMUD, BAAQMD, RWQCB

Oakland Jurisdictions & Agencies We Work With

Our Oakland team submits and manages entitlements, grading permits, encroachment permits, and utility plans across the Bay Area and Northern California:

• City of Oakland
• City of Berkeley
• City of Alameda
• City of Albany
• City of Emeryville
• City of San Leandro
• City of Hayward
• City of Fremont
• City of Richmond
• City of Pinole
• City of Walnut Creek
• City of Concord
• City of Pleasant Hill
• City of Lafayette
• City of Moraga
• City of Dublin
• City of Pleasanton
• City of San Francisco
• Alameda County
• Contra Costa County
• Marin County

We coordinate directly with EBMUD (water and sanitary), PG&E (electric and gas), Caltrans, Alameda County Flood Control District (ACFCD), Contra Costa County Flood Control District (CCCFCD), San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), and the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) depending on project scope.

City of Oakland Bureau of Building & Public Works

Plan check at the City of Oakland Bureau of Building is rigorous, and submittals that don't follow the local checklists get returned. We prepare grading and drainage plans, ADA path-of-travel exhibits, and stormwater submittals that match the City's actual review expectations — not the generic state-level minimums. For any project disturbing the right of way, our Oakland Public Works encroachment permit packages cover sidewalk, curb cut, sewer lateral, and utility coordination as a single submittal so the project doesn't bounce between counters.

C.3 Stormwater & Bioretention for Bay Area Projects

The Bay Area MRP 3.0 (Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit) sets specific requirements for any project creating or replacing 10,000 sq ft of impervious surface. C.3 sizing isn't a checkbox — it's a calculated facility design with verified contributing areas, plant lists, sub-base specifications, and operation and maintenance agreements. We've sized hundreds of bioretention facilities across Oakland and the East Bay, and we know which approaches the Alameda Countywide Clean Water Program will accept on the first review and which need a pre-submittal meeting.

OUSD & DSA-Reviewed K-12 Projects

Oakland Unified School District projects go through Division of the State Architect (DSA) review in addition to local agency review. Our Oakland office has delivered the civil scope for OUSD modernizations and net-zero campuses including the Fremont High School Net-Zero Campus (ENR Best Project Award 2022). We design to DSA's stricter ADA and structural requirements, coordinate with the project's structural and architectural teams on grading interfaces, and prepare the agency-specific deliverables OUSD construction management requires.

SLBE Certification — Public Works Subcontracting

Calichi Design Group is SLBE (Small Local Business Enterprise) certified with the City of Oakland, Alameda County, Oakland Unified School District, and the Port of Oakland. For prime contractors on public works projects with SLBE participation goals, that means our subcontract counts toward the goal as you bid the work — not after the award. Our certifications page has the active certificate numbers and renewal dates if you need them for a bid submission.

Project Types We Deliver in Oakland & the East Bay

• Affordable and market-rate multifamily housing
• Mixed-use infill development
• K-12 modernizations and new construction (OUSD, San Leandro USD, Mt. Diablo USD)
• Higher education (Peralta Colleges, UC Berkeley, Cal State East Bay)
• Senior and assisted living
• Retail program rollouts (Chase, Starbucks, Planet Fitness)
• Industrial and warehouse repositioning
• Civic and public works (Port of Oakland, City of Oakland Capital Improvements)
• ADUs and small-lot residential subdivisions

Why a Local Oakland Civil Engineer Matters

You can hire a civil engineer from anywhere — we do work all over California, Oregon, and Hawaii. But for an Oakland project, hiring an Oakland-based civil engineer changes the workflow. Site visits happen the same week. Pre-submittal meetings with Oakland Public Works are scheduled in person. Plan check pickups don't depend on FedEx. When a Bureau of Building plan checker flags something at 3 PM, we're at the counter the next morning, not in a Zoom three days later. Most of our long-term East Bay clients hired us because they wanted that responsiveness, not in spite of our location.

Our Oakland Team

The Oakland office is led by Dave Conner, who manages project financials, delivery schedules, and client coordination across the firm's California portfolio. Reco Prianto, P.E. (the firm's Principal in Charge) is also based in Oakland and stays personally involved in the technical decisions on every project. Our project engineers and CAD staff in Oakland are the same people who pick up the phone when you call — not a remote production team you'll never speak to.