About Us
We Are A Natural Gas Safety Company
President and Founder, Brian James, one of six, started his first business at the age of ten. As a child, Brian lived in an area where he could get scrap pieces of metal, which he turned into pot holders. Because welding was involved - a potential danger - Brian had to make sure his work area was safe. It was at this young age that safety became important to him.
Jump forward 35 years and Brian saw an opportunity to save lives with an early version of an automatic gas safety valve. This valve was called an 'excess flow valve'. It was a simple device that shuts the gas off when a gas line breaks, like in an earthquake. After spending a year trying to figure out what to do with this valve, he met someone that said, “Stop working on the business side of it, try to save as many lives as you can”.
Eventually, that advice became the driving point for MBS. Within a few years MBS had installed over 100,000 automatic gas shut-off valves on homes, commercial buildings, hospitals, schools, and colleges. And with every installation we know that when we have the next big one, those properties will be safe.
The focus for MBS is safety, prevention, and the protection of human life. At MBS Engineering, we consider every service we provide, or technology we deploy, to be a life we have protected.
With experience in the areas of innovative gas line technology, gas infrastructure upgrades, emergency gas leak repair, temporary bypass solutions, state-of-the-art gas leak detection, natural gas safety programs, and first-hand experience of the dangers and risks specific to natural gas systems - MBS Engineering has emerged as authorities on the topic of gas line safety, system maintenance, disaster prevention, and gas system design and construction.
In the last decade, MBS Engineering has installed more gas seismic shutoff valves than anybody in the state of California, completed thousands of gas leak repairs, surveyed 100’s of schools, hospitals, hotels and commercial properties to find and mitigate dangerous gas leaks, replaced and installed over 80,000 LF of new, underground gas piping, and assisted 1000’s of clients in feeling safe about putting their natural gas system safety in the hands of MBS.
MBS Engineering is dedicated to keeping the best people, top of the line tools and equipment, and an immaculate fleet; our proposals and project reports illustrate expertise in what we do and an attention to detail.
Jump forward 35 years and Brian saw an opportunity to save lives with an early version of an automatic gas safety valve. This valve was called an 'excess flow valve'. It was a simple device that shuts the gas off when a gas line breaks, like in an earthquake. After spending a year trying to figure out what to do with this valve, he met someone that said, “Stop working on the business side of it, try to save as many lives as you can”.
Eventually, that advice became the driving point for MBS. Within a few years MBS had installed over 100,000 automatic gas shut-off valves on homes, commercial buildings, hospitals, schools, and colleges. And with every installation we know that when we have the next big one, those properties will be safe.
The focus for MBS is safety, prevention, and the protection of human life. At MBS Engineering, we consider every service we provide, or technology we deploy, to be a life we have protected.
With experience in the areas of innovative gas line technology, gas infrastructure upgrades, emergency gas leak repair, temporary bypass solutions, state-of-the-art gas leak detection, natural gas safety programs, and first-hand experience of the dangers and risks specific to natural gas systems - MBS Engineering has emerged as authorities on the topic of gas line safety, system maintenance, disaster prevention, and gas system design and construction.
In the last decade, MBS Engineering has installed more gas seismic shutoff valves than anybody in the state of California, completed thousands of gas leak repairs, surveyed 100’s of schools, hospitals, hotels and commercial properties to find and mitigate dangerous gas leaks, replaced and installed over 80,000 LF of new, underground gas piping, and assisted 1000’s of clients in feeling safe about putting their natural gas system safety in the hands of MBS.
MBS Engineering is dedicated to keeping the best people, top of the line tools and equipment, and an immaculate fleet; our proposals and project reports illustrate expertise in what we do and an attention to detail.
Our Licensing And Certifications
State Contractor Licensing
PG&E Certifications
Operator Qualifications
Miscellaneous Certifications And Registrations
Certified Gas Regulator and Gas Meter Mechanics
- Class A & C-36 Contractor License Holder; License #990872 in the state of California.
PG&E Certifications
- PG&E Gold Shovel Standard Certified: MBS Engineering is a member of PG&E’s Gold Shovel Standard which ensures safety standards during excavation and trenching for all underground utility work to the highest level.
- PG&E Certified in PE Pipe Welding/Fusion: MBS Engineering installers are certified and trained in PE pipe welding & fusion to PG&E utility procedures for natural gas piping sizes ½” though 8” under PG&E Gas Design Standard D-34. This includes Heat Iron Butt Fusion (Hydraulic -Task ID PGE21-07 & Mechanical – Task ID PGE21-06), Electrofusion Couplings (Task ID PGE21-08) and Saddles (Task ID PGE21-09), Mechanical Stab Fittings (Task ID PGE21-11), Heat Iron Socket (Task ID PGE21-05) and Heat Iron Saddle (Task ID PGE21-04) Fusion of PE Pipe.
- PG&E Certified in Iron Pipe Welding: MBS Engineering installers are PG&E trained and certified in Iron Pipe welding for use with natural gas piping sizes 12” and smaller per utility Procedure # TD-4160P-30-F01.
Operator Qualifications
- Install and Backfill Pipe – Plastic (OQ 02-11).
- Install Tracer Wire (OQ 02-14).
- Damage Prevention (OQ 05-07).
- Install and Backfill Pipe – Steel (OQ 02-16).
Miscellaneous Certifications And Registrations
- DIR Registered: MBS Engineering is registered with the Department of Industrial Relations, #1000003509.
- California Small Business (Micro): MBS Engineering is a California certified small business with certification # 2033043.
- ISN Certified Member ISN ID #400-236340.
- MBS Engineering is a California certified small business with certification #2033043.
- Employee OSHA Certifications: MBS Engineering engineers and field crew have completed OSHA 30-Hour Training Courses.
Certified Gas Regulator and Gas Meter Mechanics
- MBS Engineering installers are all factory trained and certified to install, repair and troubleshoot gas regulators and gas meters.
What Our Clients Have Said About Us
“We had a gas leak reported on a late Friday afternoon. We were referred to MBS from PG&E, all I did was make one call and they showed up that night to fix our issue. We now have them on a yearly contract to review everything relating to natural gas on our campus.”
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~ John Lampman, UC Merced |
“Working with MBS was a pleasure. They installed seismic gas valves on all of our schools and have re-piped eight campuses for us, with zero complaints.”
~ Robbie Lyng, Alameda Unified School District
“MBS updated all of our school with seismic valves and repaired multiple leaks along the way. They are our go to gas contractor.”
~ Steve Breakfield, Stockton Unified School District
“We have been working with MBS for about five years now. We count on them to help us with finding gas leaks, fixing gas leaks, re-piping complete schools and they have also installed all of our required seismic gas shut-off valves. Great team of knowable people.”
~ Dan McAuliffe, Gilroy Unified School District
“MBS worked on all three of our campuses updating our seismic valve requirements and testing and changing out bad gas regulators. MBS is a Model Contractor. “
~ Jose Nuñez, San Mateo Community College District
“It has been a pleasure to work with true professionals. Your company kept me abreast of every last detail of our entire gas line replacement. Not only did you stick the specifications of the project engineer, you went over and above. Having your own engineer on site, as well as a highly motivated crew, put our community at ease..."