MBN Engineering

MBN Engineering, Inc. is a Fargo, N.D., consulting engineering firm with offices on Main Avenue in Fargo, in Bismarck and in Sioux Falls, S.D. It designs mechanical, electrical and civil systems for buildings, and it also runs a transmission practice for utility clients. Its project gallery covers housing and residential developments, mixed-use and office buildings, schools, medical facilities, churches, government buildings and recreation centers across the Dakotas. President Michael A. Berger, a professional engineer and LEED AP, also manages the electrical department. MBN is one of the partners named on Central at the Horizon, The Annex Group’s affordable housing project in downtown Fargo, working with BVH Architecture and Braun Intertec.

Four departments, four owner-principals, one each. That is the structure, and it is unusual enough to be the firm’s defining feature.

Michael A. Berger leads electrical as president. Tony Eukel leads civil as vice president. Josh Magelky leads transmission as vice president. Jeremy Magelky leads mechanical as secretary and treasurer. Berger and Eukel hold PE licensure plus LEED AP BD+C accreditation; both Magelkys are licensed PEs. For a client, that means the person responsible for a discipline has an ownership stake in the outcome rather than a department budget.

The transmission department is what sets the firm apart from a typical building MEP shop. Utility power transmission work is a different client base, a different review process and a different design standard from a school’s electrical system, and running both out of one office is uncommon at this scale.

Civil scope is detailed where it counts for a developer. NPDES permitting and SWPPP preparation. Erosion control design. Site grading with earthwork balance — the calculation that decides whether a site needs trucks hauling dirt in or out, which is usually the first real number in a sitework budget. Drainage analysis and stormwater management, water and sanitary sewer design, and final construction plans and permitting.

Two services sit slightly outside the usual engineering list. LEED scoping is offered as a discrete civil-side item, so a project can find out what certification would actually require before committing to it. And final development cost analysis is offered as its own deliverable.

Bid documents are published through a QuestCDN online plan room rather than a paper plan house, which for contractors means plans are available without a trip or a deposit.

The firm supplements its in-house disciplines with partnerships with specialized sub-consultants rather than claiming to cover everything, and it credits a high rate of repeat clients to cost-effective delivery.

Its own account of its founding is worth noting: starting in 2007 was framed as a bet on the Fargo community’s future growth — which, given what the decade after 2007 did to Fargo, turned out to be well timed. Work spans new construction and renovation of existing facilities, from residential master plans through to neighborhood parks.

The firm states it is licensed in multiple states beyond its three office locations.