About the firm

Specialty structural engineering since 1994.

We design shoring and foundation support for construction beside existing buildings, below grade, and on difficult terrain.

Meet our engineers

**David Cefali, S.E.**Founder and President

Our firm

Specialists in shoring and foundations for difficult sites.

Cefali & Associates designs shoring, earth retention, and specialty foundations for new construction and work around existing buildings. Our clients include developers, owners, architects, and contractors.

A deep basement, a hillside cut, or a foundation upgrade can leave little room for equipment and temporary support. We design around the ground conditions, nearby structures, and space the contractor has to build.

Our work includes temporary and permanent tieback shoring, rock and soil anchors, soil nail walls, cantilever soldier piles, underpinning, and specialty foundations. Projects range from basement excavations and slope repairs to pipeline and tunnel construction.

We use CAD, building information modeling (BIM), and structural analysis software to design the shoring and foundations. Models help us work through tight clearances, conflicts with utilities, and the space needed for excavation and permanent construction.

Assignments range from preliminary bid designs to detailed construction drawings and calculations. Support during construction, including responses to field questions and design changes, is available as part of an agreed engagement.

Our people

Meet the team.

Learn about the engineers leading the work and the contributors to our project-planning guides.

President and Structural Engineer

David Cefali, S.E.

David founded Cefali & Associates in 1994 and specializes in the design of temporary and permanent earth shoring systems.

A licensed engineer since 1989, he has designed and analyzed bridges, buildings, industrial racks, seismic retrofits, falsework, and earth retention systems.
Alongside his structural engineering work, David directs projects and works with clients on their engineering needs.
California licenses: Civil Engineer C44666 and Structural Engineer S3658.
He earned a B.A. in Geological Sciences from UC Santa Barbara in 1984 and an M.S. in Civil Engineering from USC in 1987.

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Structural Engineer

Scott Watterson, S.E.

Scott focuses on earth retention structures, particularly soldier pile retaining walls and temporary shoring.

Since joining Cefali & Associates in 2012, he has worked on hundreds of shoring projects in and around Los Angeles.
His daily work includes structural plans and calculations, permit coordination, and construction administration.
California licenses: Civil Engineer C82061 and Structural Engineer S6974.
He earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from CSU Northridge in 2010 and an M.S. in Civil Engineering from Brigham Young University in 2011.

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Resource Editor

Stephen Cefali

Stephen manages the firm’s resource library and AI-supported research workflows, organizing documented project information into practical guides for owners, developers, architects, and contractors.