Looking Back as Palmer Engineering Prepares to Celebrate 57 Years

As Palmer Engineering prepares to celebrate 57 years in business, we’re looking back at a milestone moment from our history. This article, originally published in 1994 in The Winchester Sun, highlights the firm’s 25th anniversary and the foundation that helped shape where we are today.

The original newspaper article is shared below for easy reading.

Palmer Engineering celebrates 25 years

Firm witnesses technological revolution while building reputation

By JARED PECK | Sun Staff Writer

When Ralph Palmer and Richard Nunan formed Palmer Engineering 25 years ago, they knew they would be successful.

Palmer and Nunan, both Clark Countians and University of Kentucky graduates, were working for the now defunct Taylor Engineering when they decided to open their own firm.

“We saw an opportunity to find a niche in the marketplace so we decided to get out and go on our own,” Palmer said. “A lot of hard work, long hours and a little luck is what it (our success) boils down to,” he said.

Palmer and Nunan, vice president in charge of surveys, will celebrate Palmer Engineering’s 25 years in business with an open house at its office at 273 Shoppers Drive from 2 to 4 p.m. Friday.

Palmer attributes his 50-employee firm’s success to quality service and good in-house communication.

“It took a long time for our clients to build up confidence in us,” he said. “You work on your reputation to establish confidence in clients, so you can get repeat business. You win that confidence by doing an excellent job.”

Palmer Engineering began in of a second floor office at 37 S. Main St. as Palmer and Nunan got their first “big” project from the U. S. Forest Service in Manchester, Palmer said.

Palmer has seen many technological changes since those early days.

“From drawings to engineering equations to surveying, everything has completely changed with the advent of computers,” he said. “To do the same volume of work we are doing today, like we did 25 years ago, instead of needing just 50 people, we would probably have 80 to 90 people.”

Palmer recalled that the firm once spent $600 for a portable calculator that now could be purchased for $16 and “have more functions.”

Palmer Engineering serves clients within a 400-mile radius of Winchester, Palmer said.

The firm opened a branch office in Nashville in 1987, one in Louisville in 1989, and plans to open another branch in Cincinnati this year.

“Our markets are in the big metropolitan areas,” Palmer said. “You have to have a local presence. You can’t strictly be an outsider.”

Palmer and Nunan considered moving to Lexington before planning their 1991 move to their current offices at 273 Shoppers Drive.

“But we decided to stay here,” he said. “We have too many grass roots here (to leave).”

State agencies, local governments and private business in Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky seek Palmer Engineering for their design services for roads, bridges, and water and sewer lines, Palmer said.

“Sometimes what I think is overlooked is that we bring dollars into this community,” he said. “We import work from other states and those dollars stay here in Clark County.”

Palmer Engineering takes part in the development of the Winchester Industrial Park, and helped develop Winchester’s sanitary-sewer line expansion in the late 1970s and early ‘80s.

But Palmer is most proud of…”our staff, the key people that we turned into quality engineers and computer assistants,” he said.

The anniversary celebration Friday marks a special tribute to the firm’s success, Palmer said.

“It has been enjoyable,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”

This article was originally published in The Winchester Sun and is shared here for historical reference.