After 40 years of serving Boise and clients across the US, AHJ Engineers continues its legacy with a new generation of leadership.
Our mission remains the same:
Preserving the past
Protecting the future
Providing “life-saving” solutions every day.
Category: Uncategorized
Idaho State Veterans Home, Ground Breaking
“Today is a great day to be a Veteran!”
That was the theme for the Groundbreaking Event for the new Idaho State Veterans Home and how true it is. This is an epic project to be a part of and a big Thank You to our veterans!
AHJ Engineers Welcomes Two New Owners and Leaders
We are excited to announce that two employees, Aaron Bonney, P.E. and Brian Garner have joined Dave Haugland as owners and leaders of AHJ Engineers PC. With their decades of structural engineering experience in the Treasure Valley, we’re confident our mission to provide timely, innovative and constructible design solutions will be greatly enhanced.
We invite you to connect with them today to discuss your next building project. Call us at (208) 323-0199.
🎶“Should it Stay or Should it Go?”
Some buildings still have plenty of life left in them. Building rehabilitation and adaptive reuse in Boise are at the heart of AHJ Engineers’ work, helping owners and architects give existing structures a new purpose while meeting today’s standards. With the right engineering, they can meet today’s standards and take on a whole new purpose. We’ve watched an old school become a home, a roundhouse come alive again as a brewery and event space, and downtown buildings strengthened so new tenants could keep them in use.
According to the National Park Service Preservation Briefs, rehabilitation can give historic buildings a new life while retaining their character and integrity.
It’s not always about starting over. Sometimes it’s about keeping what matters and making it work for the future. In many Boise projects, AHJ Engineers has provided the structural insight that makes adaptive reuse possible. From assessing foundations and framing to designing seismic retrofits, our team helps ensure that each building can safely serve a new purpose. Building rehabilitation in Boise is about more than preservation; it’s about giving communities spaces that connect history with modern function. AHJ Engineers has been helping owners and architects do just that for more than 40 years.
Learn more about AHJ Engineers’ 40-year commitment to structural innovation on our About page.
Orchid Awards (2025)
U.S Assay office building – Boise
Excellence in Historic Preservation
The U.S. Assay Office in downtown Boise, one of only three National Historic Landmark buildings in Idaho, has been carefully and comprehensively restored, earning it a 2025 Orchid Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation. Originally built in 1871 to serve Idaho’s booming gold and silver mining industry, the Assay Office played a vital role in connecting the Idaho Territory to the federal treasury. Designed by renowned architect Alfred B. Mullett and constructed from locally quarried sandstone, the building is a rare and significant example of Italian Villa–style architecture in the region.
The recent restoration, led by CSHQA and the Idaho State Historical Society, prioritized preserving original materials, repairing damaged sandstone, restoring historic plaster, refinishing wood floors, and updating mechanical systems with sensitivity to the building’s legacy. Funded through a combination of state and federal grants, including Save America’s Treasures, the project also included landscape enhancements funded by St. Luke’s, interpretive signage, and archaeological discoveries from the building’s mining past.
Now home to the Idaho State Historic Preservation Office, the Assay Office continues to educate and inspire, standing as a lasting symbol of Idaho’s early mining economy and its enduring architectural heritage.
Project Acknowledgements:
● CSHQA
● Megumi Haus, John Maulin, Tyler Schram, Danielle Weaver, CSHQA
● Joe Perkins, JP2 Construction
● Chris Dyke and Thad Mason, Musgrove Engineering
● Dave Haugland, AHJ Engineers
● Janet Gallimore, ISHS
● Tricia Canaday, Idaho SHPO
● Staff from the Idaho SHPO and ISHS
● Bruce Berry and Nicole Cecil, State of Idaho DPW
Photos: CSHQA and after images by © Tobin Rogers Photography
Built for Extremes …The Kendall Ford AK is going vertical.
Did the extreme winter weather in Anchorage, Alaska shut down progress at the Kendall Ford construction site? Not a chance! The winter work of deep over-excavation, structural fill and foundation pouring allowed the steel to be erected this summer and keep the project on schedule. It should be closed-in soon, ready to take the brunt of cold, wind, snow and earthquakes.
University of Idaho, Parma Plant and Social Lab
The University of Idaho, Parma Plant and Soil Health Lab is complete. In this modern, state-of-the-art facility, Agriculture students can accurately test and study the soil used for farming in Idaho. The 12,500 square-foot laboratory includes an open web steel joist roof system supported by a series of steel moment frames. The stepped roof conceals a large mechanical well. AHJ Engineers provided structural engineering for Anderson Mason Dale Architects with Castellaw Kom Architects. It was a great project constructed by Layton Construction!
2023 Groundhog Event
At our annual Groundhog Day event, the staff started the day by getting breakfast at Moe Joe’s Breakfast Eatery in Meridian. After breakfast, we visited a few of our larger projects under construction. We first visited the University of Idaho Soil Research Center in Parma, Idaho, where we looked at the steel framing and the finished concrete slab mechanical well. We then visited Grace Assisted Living in Fruitland, Idaho, where we looked at the framing of the first of four wings of the building. To end out the day, we played a game at the new Top Golf facility in Meridian. Brandon Elizondo, our resident golfer, won the round with our Principal Dave Haugland at a close second.
Groundhog Day 2019
AHJ Goes Curling
At our annual Groundhog Day event, the staff was treated to a day away from computers, phones and brain-straining engineering work. Instead we started the day with a breakfast burrito and headed out to see how our details get implemented in the field and visiting a few of our larger projects under construction. Next we headed to Rule Steel for tours of their various design and fabrication shops. They provided lunch and a good discussion on ways to improve our interworking relationships. To end out the day we enrolled in curling lessons hosted by the Boise Curling Club. Our culminating competition resulted in Tiffany (office manager) taking home the “Queen of the Ice” title. We are all looking forward to curling again soon and next year’s Groundhog Day.
