Rove Engineering carves road to success
Rove Engineering, founded in El Centro by Steven and Yessenia Eugenio in 2018, has quickly made a name for themselves in the engineering and construction field.
The contracted work is primarily in the Imperial Valley, with the occasional projects in San Diego and Riverside Counties. Steven and his wife Yessenia, affectionately called “Jay,” are El Centro natives. Steven first worked with his family pipeline company in 2002. There he progressed from operating heavy equipment to the foreman. He also worked for other local and national construction firms overseeing the field operations and estimating duties on high profile jobs.
Rove has between 40 to 45 full-time employees and hires any additional construction staff on a project-by-project basis. Currently, the business mix is 50 percent for the private sector and 50 percent for public works. A recent example of the private sector work was a mass grading job for an apartment complex in Imperial, as well as a 55-unit track housing job that involved moving 70,000 cubic yards of dirt. A third private sector job was for a much-needed new storage unit in El Centro.
Rove’s most recent public works project is one that we have all watched from afar.
The natural geyser, or mud pot, in Niland, near the Union Pacific Railroad and California State Route 111, has been in existence since 1953. In recent years, this geyser’s movement has increased, endangering both the state road and the railroad tracks.
Caltrans contracted with Rove on an emergency basis to
construct a detour road to reroute traffic from SR-111 to the west of the current alignment. Work began in late August 2019 with the construction of the sheet piles wall designed
to divert the current flow of water. Subsequently, Rove installed a sub-surface drainage system to divert the water flow beneath the roadway to the west side into a gravel wash.
The final piece was a detour road to redirect traffic while plans for a new structural highway and bike pathway are completed.
“Our job was to remove the existing highway once the asphalt pavement was milled off and exported from the site,” said Steven Eugenio. This involved moving 20,000 cubic yards of dirt.
“I am proud of my staff. Our superintendent, Ted Vogel, manages all of the underground utility work, and he is also really good at his trade,” Eugenio continued. “Jay handles all of the books and billing, and she knows her way around the state and federal work. Her father is a government contractor, and she is accustomed and proficient with that specialized work. We were fortunate to add our office manager, Carolyn Maness, and an engineer, James Clark, based on our working relationship from another local construction firm.”
This recognition of skilled and talented staff forms the basis for a solid and experienced team for the ongoing growth and success of a business.
Eugenio is also a second generation off-road racer. He started on bicycles, then to motorcross and supercross before moving on to off-road trucks. He eventually became one of the top Trophy Truck drivers in the sport, winning a long list of races, including the SCORE Overall and SCORE Trophy Truck Point Championship in 2014. This competitive spirit has transited well into the business world. Rove is committed to providing the best equipment and the best team for each project.
Rove Engineering currently offers mass grading, fine grading, grub and clearing, as well as wet and dry utility service. As Imperial Valley grows, Eugenio has positioned his company to be on the forefront of this growth.