Architects or engineers typically ask for a soils report to design foundations and retaining walls. The "soils report" typically provides relevant information about the properties of the soil beneath a building site such as allowable bearing capacity, expansion potential, drainage characteristics of the soil etc.  A problem with  traditional soils investigations is that the investigator can dwell on the details of the soil and not be aware of a much larger issues such as the fact that the building site maybe located on a large landslide or be at risk of being impacted by a slope failure.  This is a common problem of investigations done by "geotechnical engineers" or "soils engineers" who have specific training in soil mechanics, slope stability analysis and foundation design but lack the ability to "read the ground" and interpret the process responsible for shaping the landscape that the building site is located on. This is particularly relevant on many of the moderately sloping areas in Coos and Curry Counties that are underlain by mudstone or serpentine. Because of this problem it is important for an approppriately trained engineering geologist to either conduct the soils investigation or actively participate in it.