Know the Ground Before You Build — Geotechnical Engineering in Denver
Terrafirm drills, tests, and reports on Front Range soils — expansive clays, shallow bedrock, and everything between — so your foundation is designed for the ground it actually sits on.
From Boring to Bearing Capacity
Investigation, analysis, and testing under one roof — our rigs, our lab, our engineers, your schedule.
Geotechnical Investigations
Borings, sampling, and subsurface characterization scoped to the structure — not a template.
Foundation Recommendations
Bearing capacities, foundation types, and slab guidance engineered for Front Range soils.
Slope Stability & Retaining Walls
Stability analysis and wall design parameters for the lots everyone else passed on.
Pavement Design & Evaluation
Sections designed for real traffic and real subgrade — parking lots to arterials.
Construction Materials Testing
Soils, concrete, and asphalt testing with techs who show up when the pour does.
Environmental Drilling Support
Monitoring wells and environmental borings drilled clean, logged right, delivered fast.
The Report Every Project Stands On
Everything above grade trusts what's below it. Front Range ground is famously moody — expansive clays that heave, bedrock that shows up early, groundwater that doesn't read the plans. Sixteen years and twenty-three hundred borings taught us where the surprises live, and our reports say so in language your structural engineer can design from directly.
- ✓Recommendations engineers can use without a phone call
- ✓Expansive soil fluency — the Front Range specialty
- ✓Our own rigs and lab, so schedules hold
- ✓A licensed PE signs every report
Drill. Test. Analyze. Report.
Drill
Rigs mobilize in days, not weeks — borings placed where the structure needs answers.
Test
Samples run through our in-house lab — moisture, density, swell, strength, gradation.
Analyze
A licensed PE turns data into bearing capacities, settlement estimates, and honest risk calls.
Report
Design-ready recommendations averaging nine days door to door — with the engineer a call away.
Where the Answers Come From
Rigs in the field, samples in the lab, and the built results that stand on both.
CMT That Keeps Pace With the Pour
Construction materials testing only works if the tech is there when the concrete is. Our CMT crews schedule around your pours — nights, Saturdays, the 5 AM slab — and reports land in your inbox before the next lift. Density, breaks, asphalt cores: documented, on time, every time.
- ✓Techs scheduled to the pour, not the office
- ✓Break reports delivered before the next lift
- ✓Soils, concrete, and asphalt under one contract
- ✓Certified technicians, calibrated equipment
Why Terrafirm Turns Around Faster
Our Own Rigs
No subcontracted drillers, no waiting on someone else's calendar — we mobilize when you need holes.
Our Own Lab
Samples go straight from the field to our bench — days saved on every single project.
Licensed PEs on Staff
Reports engineered and sealed in-house, with the author available when questions come.
Nine-Day Average
Drill to delivered report in nine days on average — because loans and schedules don't pause.
What 2,300 Borings Teach
The Ground Doesn't Average
Two borings fifty feet apart can tell different stories. We drill where the structure is, not where it's easy.
Cheap Reports Are Expensive
A templated study that misses expansive clay costs a hundred times its fee in foundation repairs.
Speed Is an Engineering Feature
A report that arrives after the design deadline is a paperweight. Turnaround is built into how we work.
Before the Rig Rolls
How many borings does my project need?
It depends on the structure and the site's history — a custom home might need two or three, a commercial building more. We scope honestly; drilling more holes than the risk justifies is your money wasted.
How fast can you mobilize?
Usually within a week, often faster — our rigs are ours, so there's no subcontractor queue. Tell us your deadline on the quote form and we'll be straight about what's possible.
What does a geotechnical investigation cost?
Small residential studies start in the low thousands; commercial investigations scale with borings and depth. Quotes are itemized — drilling, lab, engineering — so you see exactly what you're buying.
What's special about Front Range soils?
Expansive clays that swell when wet and shrink when dry — the region's quiet foundation-killer — plus shallow bedrock and variable groundwater. Local drilling history matters; we have sixteen years of it.
Do you do single-family residential work?
Yes — custom homes, additions, and repairs get the same rigs and the same PE review as commercial work. Homeowners get their report explained in plain English, too.
Can you work with our structural engineer directly?
Please — that's the best workflow. We coordinate recommendations with your structural before the report finalizes, so the foundation design starts from agreement instead of interpretation.
The Ground Has Answers. Let's Go Get Them.
Send the site details and an engineer replies within a business day with scope, cost, and the next rig window.
Tell Us About the Site
One business day to a scoped reply. Address and project type is enough to start — we'll pull the geology from there.