Thirty years later, that idea has grown into one of the nation’s leading construction engineering firms, serving builders across the country with coordinated structural, MEP, component design, and virtual construction engineering services.
The company’s story begins with two lifelong friends, Barry Dixon and Casey Carrigan, who first met in eighth grade.
“Barry moved from Kentucky to Jacksonville, and I was his first friend in Florida,” Casey recalled. “We rode the bus together. We played sports together, rode motorcycles together. We did everything together.”
After college and the early stages of their careers took them in different directions, the two reconnected at their ten-year high school reunion in 1995. Casey had recently passed the Professional Engineering exam and was considering a move back Jacksonville to start his own engineering firm. After a long conversation and some quality time on the golf course, Barry shared an opportunity he had identified following a pivotal event in Florida’s construction history.
“After Hurricane Andrew tore through South Florida, it exposed a gap the homebuilding industry hadn’t reckoned with: high-volume production homes weren’t being engineered,” he explained. “I had witnessed the consequences of that gap firsthand.”
In the years following Hurricane Andrew, builders faced increasing demands for engineered residential construction. Barry recognized that structural engineering services could help builders reduce costs while improving quality and consistency. Casey was intrigued.
“We were serious, and we didn’t have all those guardrails up that you have when you’re older,” said Casey. “Barry said, ‘Trust me, we can get the customers,’ and I thought, okay, let’s do it.”
Along with Barry’s brother, Oliver Dixon, they secured startup funds from Barry’s father, known in the Jacksonville homebuilding industry simply as “The Colonel.” Casey moved back to Jacksonville and spent months developing engineering systems and processes from scratch. A respected local engineer, Dole Kelley, became an important mentor, helping Casey establish the technical foundation that would support the young company’s growth.
“Looking back, I can’t help laughing at the ambition of those early days. We were going to start a structural engineering firm and we didn’t really know how to do structural engineering,” recalled Casey said. “It was fearless and maybe a little stupid, but from the beginning, Apex was always about more than engineering calculations.”
From Barry’s perspective, while the initial value proposition was simple – save builders money – the real vision was about so much more than that: “It was really about building community in the residential construction market.”
At the time, engineers, builders, and building officials often approached projects from different perspectives. Apex worked to bring those groups together through collaboration, communication, and shared standards.
“Our focus was on getting builders, engineers, and building officials looking at the same houses and working through the same engineering, so that instead of fighting over interpretations, we could debate the math together until it held up,” explained Barry. “That meant creating real continuity with building officials and working alongside other engineering firms to hammer out standards the whole industry could build on.”
“For me, the most important thing we were creating in those early years was company culture, so we prioritized finding the right people more than the right skillsets,” Casey said. “I knew that we had to have the best culture, to have respect for everybody that walked through the door.”
Three decades later, the company continues to emphasize passion, integrity, collaboration, and ownership while investing heavily in professional growth, employee well-being, and mentorship. The impact extends beyond Apex itself.
According to Barry, the collaborative approach helped raise standards throughout the region. “Jacksonville is regarded as one of the best markets in the nation for engineered high-volume homebuilding,” he said. “Apex helped write that playbook.”
While Casey ultimately chose to leave Apex to pursue a new calling in medicine, his departure also marked the beginning of the company’s next chapter. Recognizing the importance of strong technical leadership and continuity, Barry reached out to Apex’s first employee, Jeff Arneson, who had left Apex to join RS&H, and asked him to return. Jeff came back with a clear purpose: to mentor a promising young engineer, Mike Kozlowski, until he earned his Professional Engineer (P.E.) license and was prepared to lead the engineering organization.
“Jeff’s technical expertise, steady leadership, and commitment to developing others helped create a seamless transition,” Barry recalled. “He reinforced the collaborative, people-first culture that had defined Apex from the beginning.”
As Mike’s leadership grew under Jeff’s mentorship, a talented leadership team emerged, including Dan Morris, Melanie Flowers, Melanie Milentz, and many others whose dedication and expertise helped expand Apex’s capabilities and shape the company’s future. Together, they built upon the strong foundation established by Barry, Casey, and Jeff, as they strengthened client relationships, embraced new technologies, and fostered a culture of innovation, collaboration, and exceptional customer service.
Apex has grown tremendously in 30 years, from a small local engineering firm into a trusted national engineering partner for builders across the country. As we celebrate this milestone, the Apex team remains committed to the same values that inspired its founders in 1996: doing the right thing, investing in exceptional people, embracing innovation, and building lasting partnerships with customers. The foundation established 30 years ago continues to guide the next generation of growth.
Happy Anniversary, Apex Technology! Here’s to the people, partnerships, and culture that built an extraordinary company and to those who will be part of our next chapter.