Services
Land development engineering for residential and commercial developers across Alabama and Georgia. Every project starts the same way — with the Predevelopment Playbook, a fixed-fee first step that tells you what you can build, what stands in your way, and how to get to a land disturbance permit.
The Development Roadmap
Every Samford Group Civil project follows the same proven path. It starts with the Predevelopment Playbook — a fast, low-cost first step that defines the plan and de-risks the deal — then carries your project through entitlement, design, and construction with one firm.
Define the plan. De-risk the deal.
Delivered in two phases and wrapped up in the Playbook Review Call, where we walk the full plan, the milestone timeline to a land disturbance permit, and pricing for Steps 2—4. $5,000 flat.
See everything in the Playbook →Secure the approvals your plan needs.
Engineer the site. Permit the work.
Every set is sealed by a licensed PE, and we commit to 8 weeks from notice to proceed to submittal — not 4 to 6 months. If we miss our deadline, we discount our fee 25%.
From permit through built reality.
Priced at the Review Call
Steps 2—4 are scoped and priced for your specific project at the Playbook Review Call.
Core Offer — Start Here
Know exactly what you can build, what stands in your way, and how to get to a land disturbance permit — before you spend serious money. The Playbook quickly defines the development plan for any residential or commercial project.
Does your vision work under current zoning?
We answer it definitively — and if the answer is no, we tell you exactly what to rezone to so the project pencils.
What does the project actually look like?
Your vision for the property, visualized on the site — a concept plan you can react to, share with partners, and take to lenders.
What could stand in the way?
We identify site constraints cheaply and quickly, establishing early assumptions that get verified once the project is deemed viable.
We sit down with the local municipality and put your concept in front of staff early.
The plan is revised against staff comments and concerns — no surprises later.
A milestone-by-milestone timeline of every task between today and a land disturbance permit.
The Playbook Review Call
It all comes together in the Playbook Review Call — a working session where we walk the full plan, the timeline, and our pricing to usher you through predevelopment quickly and efficiently.
Your contractor needs plans that are clear, coordinated, and buildable the first time. We deliver grading, utility, drainage, and roadway layouts designed together from the start — so conflicts get caught in our office, not in the field. Fewer redesigns. Fewer RFIs. Fewer change orders that eat into your margin.
An experienced engineer with the right tools can add immense value in stormwater design. Optimizing pond sizes, refining conveyance routes, and right-sizing detention systems means more buildable area on your site — and more profit in your pro forma. We model detention, retention, and conveyance to meet local, state, and federal requirements while maximizing every square foot of usable ground.
This is what separates us from most firms. We don't just design what works — we optimize. Retaining walls, detention alternatives, pavement sections, pipe sizing — we challenge every assumption that adds cost without adding value to your project. The savings show up in your bid numbers, not just on paper.
Great land planning is where real value gets created. We take creative approaches that embrace engineering constraints like grade breaks and topography — turning limitations into opportunities instead of liabilities. When a compelling site vision is presented to a community, it opens doors that a generic layout never will. Density, product mix, access, open space — planned correctly, these decisions don't just check boxes, they add measurable value to the development.
Our Approach
What we hear from developers who've worked with other firms: slow, uncommunicative, over-engineered. We built Samford Group to be the opposite — smaller project load, parallel design across all disciplines, and plans engineered around your pro forma from day one. A set of plans that technically works but blows your budget isn't a set of plans that works.
Meet the Team → Also need land surveying? We do that too →The Predevelopment Playbook is Samford Group Civil's fixed-fee first step for any residential or commercial land development project. Phase 1 delivers a zoning analysis, a concept plan, and desktop due diligence. Phase 2 adds a pre-application meeting with the municipality, an engineered site plan revised against staff comments, and a milestone-by-milestone permit timeline. It closes with the Playbook Review Call, where we walk the full plan, the timeline to a land disturbance permit, and pricing for the rest of the project.
The Playbook is a flat $5,000. That covers both phases and the Playbook Review Call. Entitlement Services, Core Design, and Construction Phase Services are scoped and priced for your specific project at the Review Call.
A civil engineer designs the site infrastructure — grading, roads, stormwater drainage, water and sewer utilities, and erosion control — and prepares the construction drawings and permit applications your contractor needs to build. At Samford Group, we also handle value engineering, agency coordination, and the full entitlement process so developers don't have to manage multiple firms.
For a typical residential subdivision, construction documents take 8–12 weeks from notice to proceed. Samford Group commits to an 8-week turnaround from NTP to submittal. Permitting timelines depend on the jurisdiction — Auburn and Lee County typically take 4–8 weeks for plan review after submittal.
It depends on project complexity and the jurisdiction's review cycle. In Auburn, the DRT (Development Review Team) permit process typically takes 6–12 weeks from submittal to approval. In Opelika, the LDP (Land Disturbance Permit) process is generally faster at 4–8 weeks. The entitlement process — rezoning, planning commission, city council — can add 60–120 days depending on the hearing schedule. Samford Group manages the full submittal and review process on your behalf.
Yes. Any commercial development requires civil site design including grading, stormwater management, utility connections, parking, and ADA compliance. You'll also need agency permits and, in most cases, a rezoning or site plan approval from the local jurisdiction. Samford Group handles all of it — from concept through construction documents and permitting.
Contact
Have a development project in Auburn, Opelika, Lee County, or anywhere in Alabama and Georgia? Tell us the site and the product type — we'll lock in the 10-business-day Phase 1 clock and get you on the schedule.