While area residents and visitors may never have visited the company's offices at 1301 W. Fifth St., odds are they all have seen the firm's work.

WEA, run by President Gary Terschluse, P.E., S.E., and Vice President Ron Unnerstall, P.E., offers services in the manufacturing, financial, automotive, commercial, emergency facilities, municipal and governmental, educational and religious, industrial, transportation, health care, civic, land development and design build fields.

"We're very modest. We like to do good work and get it done," Unnerstall said.

Equally as impressive are the civic involvements of the company's leadership.

Together, Terschluse and Unnerstall have served on county boards, the East Central College Foundation Board, the Washington Town and Country Fair Board, the Washington Area Chamber of Commerce Board, and several committees with St. Francis Borgia Parish and schools.

When the business started, the market for engineering services in Washington was slim, Terschluse said, but the two area natives wanted to be here.

"It always has been a great place to raise a family," Unnerstall said.

"We came out here hoping we could make a living and ultimately began talking to people about how we could save them money in the long run," Terschluse said.

Twenty years later the two men estimate their company has completed about 2,000 projects for 1,500 different clients.

It seems less surprising when considering that WEA is the only firm in the state outside of St. Louis or Kansas City that offers customers a full range of in-house services and is one of the most versatile firms in the county with a staff of 30 or less.

Adding to its versatility, Washington Engineering has a LEED certified professional on staff.

"It all gives us a lot of advantages on the quality of our work that goes out," Terschluse said.

"Usually firms our size, they specialize in two or three types of buildings," he said. "In a metropolitan area, you can afford that level of specialization, but in a rural setting you have to be able to do just about everything."

Washington Engineering has done that for two decades.

"We've worked on projects from fire alarm systems in a 22-story luxury high-rise to a hospital in Iowa and everywhere in between," Unnerstall said.

Here in Washington people can see the company's handiwork at various buildings for companies ranging from the Bank of Washington, Pauwels Transformers, Rawling Sporting Goods, Spartan Showcase, The Chest, the Missourian Publishing Company, Cinema 1 Plus, Lucy Gallery, Stone Hill Winery, Hillermann Nursery & Florist, Aldo's Restaurant, St. John's Mercy Hospital, St. Francis Borgia Regional High School and many more.

Washington Engineering also has worked for cities including Washington, St. Clair, Hermann and Sullivan and for Franklin County.