Return to Back Issues main page

Return to Current Issue's Home Page

At first glance, you might think the Becker Morgan Group offers an assortment of somewhat unrelated services. Besides engineering, they deal in architecture, surveying, and even interior design. But then you soon learn that all these fit into the scope of a well-defined mission: handling all aspects of building design.

Gregg Moore, a managing partner, states, "We can actually start from doing the property boundary survey to buy the property and end with the final as-built of the construction project when it's finished and do all architecture and engineering in between. Our philosophy is that we can do everything on the entire project, from start to finish, all in-house." Becker Morgan Group designs all types of structures, including schools, shopping centers, communication facilities, office buildings, manufacturing plants, hotels, medical facilities, and college dormitories.

The firm began in Salisbury, Maryland in 1983 as Becker Morgan Architects, strictly an architecture firm. Then in 1993, they opened an office in Dover, Delaware and named the new branch Becker Morgan Moore Olds & Richter in an effort to expand into Delaware and add civil engineering and site planning services. They later combined the two entities into BM2OR and then changed that to Becker Morgan Group when they opened a third office in Wilmington, Delaware two years ago. Now with 80 employees, the firm covers the mid-Atlantic area, including Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and and they serve businesses, industry, institutions, private individuals, and federal and state agencies.

On the engineering side, Becker Morgan Group offers civil, mechanical, and electrical disciplines. Civil work includes activities such as site planning, wastewater system design, stormwater management, roadway and parking lot design, subdivision design, flood plain studies, and drainage systems design. Electrical engineering involves power distribution, motor control, energy conservation, lighting design and control, emergency power systems, fire detection alarms, cabling systems, communication equipment rooms, and security systems. Mechanical engineering services cover plumbing, HVAC, fire protection, and energy conservation.

To differentiate its work, Becker Morgan Group has set up market sector groups, including Commercial and Retail, Educational, Civil Engineering & Land Development, Healthcare, Hospitality and Leisure, Industrial, and Residential. According to Moore, engineers serve all groups and get experience with all types of buildings.

Having comprehensive building design services in-house gives Becker Morgan Group several advantages. It allows the firm to more effectively manage quality control on a project from start to finish, and it speeds up getting approvals for permits.

Moore sees another advantage from his perspective as manager of the Dover office and head of the engineering division of the entire company. With a B.S. in civil engineering from Bucknell University, he has worked in the consulting business since graduating in 1984, and he's been with Becker Morgan Group since 1993. He started his career in a pure civil engineering company. "That's why I know that in the site planning and land planning arenas, engineers are much more effective when they're working directly with architects," he says. "They actually know what the buildings are for, which helps them create better plans."

Not surprisingly, designing buildings in such a relationship has its rewards for engineers. "In doing the type of work we do, you know what's being built years in advance of anybody appreciating what it is. So you're involved in the grassroots creation of those things. I find that exciting," Moore says.

"The bigger projects tend to be more fun. They tend to be more focused on by the community," Moore continues. As an example, Becker Morgan Group has done all the civil engineering for Dover Downs, the horse and car racing facility in Dover, Delaware and home of Dover International Speedway, a NASCAR track. This has included facilities and improvements for water distribution, sanitary sewer, storm drainage, stormwater management, parking access, traffic flow, grandstand expansion, signage, and car and horse barns. They handled civil and electrical engineering for the Dover Downs hotel, one of the largest hotels in central Delaware. "You're always in the public arena with that project. That's fun."

Another high profile project has Becker Morgan Group doing extensive work for the Dover Air Force Base in Dover. This involves both architecture and engineering, and they recently started a master planning project involving land and utility planning. Moore points out that the mortuary at the base receives broad media attention, as the U.S. military returns fallen soldiers there from overseas conflicts. Moore says, "It's a very personal kind of thing because you see that in national and international arenas all the time."

In carrying out projects like this, Moore says that in particular, "The engineering component -- site planning and approval process -- puts you in the public forum." He and other engineers at Becker Morgan Group often makes presentations describing projects to citizen and government groups. He finds that exciting. "Sometimes you're well received, and other times you're defending. That's the consensus building that's necessary."

Citing the fact that engineers increasingly have to speak in public, Moore sees a change that has taken place in the business over the years. "The approval process and permitting and maneuvering through government reviews is probably having more impact on civil engineering than anything, and it's changing the way the engineer handles the project. Whereas ten years ago, the engineer could sit in his office and be an engineer, now the engineer's got to be an excellent communicator and negotiator and consensus builder with both the client and the government agency he's working through."

Jessica Bozman, human resource manager at Becker Morgan Group, reports that the firm is currently staffed adequately in most areas, but they are looking for a structural engineer. The need for engineers "is all based on work load." The state of the economy may play a part in their demand for engineers, but only indirectly. Bozman says the company manages to maintain an even keel. "Since I've been at the firm, the work load has always been pretty steady."

When Becker Morgan Group does hire engineers, Bozman says they hire recent graduates with EIT licensing for entry level positions as well as experienced engineers for senior level positions such as project managers. They attend college career fairs and also advertise in local papers. And Bozman adds, "We do receive e-mails via our website. That's been very successful so far." In fact, the firm encourages engineers to submit unsolicited resumes. "We accept them all the time. We always peruse them."

Snapshot

Company: Becker Morgan Group

Type: Architecture and consulting engineering firm

Location: Offices in Salisbury, Maryland; Dover, Delaware; and Wilmington, Delaware

Services: Architecture, surveying, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, landscape architecture, interior design

Specialty: Building design

Contact for submitting resumes: Jessica Bozman, jbozman@beckermorgan.com

Website: www.beckermorgan.com

Progressive Engineer
Editor: Tom Gibson
2049 Crossroads Drive, Lewisburg, PA 17837
570-568-8444 * progress@jdweb.com
©2004 Progressive Engineer