Career Biography

After graduating with an Associate of Applied Science from the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, Ben began his drafting career in Kansas City Missouri in the field of civil engineering designing large-scale commercial real estate developments throughout the upper Midwest.

Relocating to Texas in 2009, Ben compounded his drafting career by accepting the challenge to transition from civil design to metal fabrication.  Being on the shop floor and learning from experienced craftsmen, Ben began to realize how to better fuse virtual reality design and ideas with modern fabrication and machining processes.    

  In 2013, Ben was chosen to start-up an in-house structural detailing department to maximize cost and efficiency in the rapidly growing construction division for one of Dallas-Fort Worth’s leading AISC certified custom metal fabricators.  Diving in, Ben was driven to provide accurate and complete designs that aided both shop and field personnel. 

 After creating a system of company detailing standards and best processes, Ben continued learning more and more about steel construction by spending time in the field with project managers and site superintendents.  This practical experience and ability to communicate helped refine the thought process of how to approach each project not from a detailer's point of view, but from that of the erector.  Combining this gained knowledge along with the ability to think outside of the box, Ben was able to successfully increase profitability and reduce those small, inconvenient errors that tend to derail progress.    

 Personal life changes led to relocation once again, this time to Colorado settling into the beautiful Roaring Fork Valley.  In establishing Shockley Detailing and Design, Ben is now able to put a decade’s worth of experience to work for you.  Ranging from decorative architectural railings to multi-level steel buildings, Shockley Detailing and Design is ready and capable to turn your idea or standard contract drawings into a 3D model and/or shop-ready drawings and material lists.