In September 1986 Carl Howe ("C. W.") left the Architectural Engineering program at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo California and began work at a Santa Monica structural engineering firm as a Project Engineer. At Vincent Kevin Kelly and Associates, Carl immediately began designing a very wide range of projects including residential structural design, commercial buildings, multi-family structures, amusement park buildings and rides - including roller coasters.

Carl continued on at Kevin Kelly's until about 1991 when he worked as a contractor with a custom home builder in Malibu. After some valuable experience (including deciding that contracting was more trouble than even engineering) he returned to Kevin Kelly's to continue at what he was best at: Structural Engineering Design.

In January 1995 Carl left his safe job to found C. W. Howe Associates. Starting in a small office in Santa Monica, C. W. Howe's first projects were mostly related to the big Northridge earthquake of January 1994.

Joining the team in 1999, Katie Baad has pioneered in the design practices and efficiency of the office. In 2007 she became a full partner, forming C. W. Howe Partners Inc.

Since 1995 C. W. Howe Partners has steadily grown to its present comfortable size and location in West L.A. We still handle the structural design of an extremely wide range of projects including residential new custom homes and remodeling, commercial buildings in masonry, mid-rise commercial buildings in steel, tenant improvement, bridges, multi-family buildings with subterranean parking, and we still have a hand in amusement park work at the Santa Monica Pier.

Our clients come from all over the construction industry - usually they are architects in Los Angeles, but we also work for contractors, developers, realtors, and homeowners. See our Portfolio section to get some names, telephone numbers and website references.

Our design philosophy is to work closely with the client to provide multiple structural solutions to design challenges so that the architectural design intent is fulfilled in a practical, cost-effective manner. We like to get involved early on in the process, if possible, to give input on the structural aspects of your design. It is important that the architect has good information about the structural system to be able to meet his/her architectural design goals. After we lay out the multiple structural options in a particular situation, the architect can always find one option that also meets his/her criteria for a cost-effective solution. If not, we can do it the expensive way too and make most any design work.