Meet the Executive Team
Founder - Brian James
Founder - Brian James
Our History
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”.
Now considered a leading expert on Gas Safety Systems, after years of working in the gas safety valve business and eventually passing the first gas safety mandate in the United States, Brian was appointed by the Governor of California in 2001 to serve on The Seismic Safety Commission as a committee member to Improving Natural Gas Safety After Earthquakes.
During his three-year appointment he co-authored the paper "Improving Gas Safety in Earthquakes" and help established guidelines for future California building codes, listings and legislation.
Brian has presented on behalf of the Automatic Gas Shut-Off Valve industry, to the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Official (IAPMO), the American Gas Association (AGA), the California State Fire Marshall, and the State Architect. He was also a major force in creating more than one hundred pieces of legislation in California, Texas and Indiana. His efforts also lead him to address gas safety issues with the US Department of Defense. Within a 24 month period with the help of members in Congress Brian was able to help amend the Military Building Codes to include automatic gas shut-off valves.
MBS has now installed over 100,000 valves on everything from single family homes, HOA’s, Apartment Complexes, Commercial Buildings, K – 12 Schools, Colleges and Hospitals, managing more installations than all of their competitors combined. With every installation we know that when we have the next big earthquake, 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 200,000 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”.
Now considered a leading expert on Gas Safety Systems, after years of working in the gas safety valve business and eventually passing the first gas safety mandate in the United States, Brian was appointed by the Governor of California in 2001 to serve on The Seismic Safety Commission as a committee member to Improving Natural Gas Safety After Earthquakes.
During his three-year appointment he co-authored the paper "Improving Gas Safety in Earthquakes" and help established guidelines for future California building codes, listings and legislation.
Brian has presented on behalf of the Automatic Gas Shut-Off Valve industry, to the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Official (IAPMO), the American Gas Association (AGA), the California State Fire Marshall, and the State Architect. He was also a major force in creating more than one hundred pieces of legislation in California, Texas and Indiana. His efforts also lead him to address gas safety issues with the US Department of Defense. Within a 24 month period with the help of members in Congress Brian was able to help amend the Military Building Codes to include automatic gas shut-off valves.
MBS has now installed over 100,000 valves on everything from single family homes, HOA’s, Apartment Complexes, Commercial Buildings, K – 12 Schools, Colleges and Hospitals, managing more installations than all of their competitors combined. With every installation we know that when we have the next big earthquake, 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 200,000 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.
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.”~ 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
“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..."~ Jacob Timm, Paradise Unified School District
“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.”~ 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
“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..."~ Jacob Timm, Paradise Unified School District