We are a full-service engineering, architecture, construction, environmental and consulting solutions firm, based in Kansas City, Missouri. Our staff of 7,000 includes engineers, architects, construction professionals, planners, estimators, economists, technicians and scientists, representing virtually all design disciplines. We plan, design, permit, construct and manage facilities all over the world, with one mission in mind: Make our clients successful. 

Our company got its start in 1898. Two new Stanford University engineering graduates — Clinton S. Burns and Robert E. McDonnell — sought a professional home base teeming with opportunity, a place to continue the partnership they forged while working for the city of Palo Alto, California. They chose Kansas City because it provided the most potential clients in a 200-mile radius — cities and towns in need of water and power systems to support growth.

They pressed on through the typical struggles of a fledgling engineering firm. McDonnell was the firm’s front man, pitching solutions to municipalities across the country. Burns put his technical skills into practice, building a reputation for precision. By the time Burns died on April 1, 1924 — 26 years to the day after he and McDonnell embarked on their journey — they had served 313 clients and designed 232 waterworks, 115 sewer systems and 87 lighting plants. 

The firm continued on a successful path, building a client-first culture — working to make our clients successful — that would see us through the Great Depression and to a pivotal moment in 1985. That’s when a small band of Burns & McDonnell employees risked their personal finances to secure a loan to buy the firm from Armco Steel, which had purchased the company in 1971. 

Today, our employee-owners draw strength from this sense of perseverance, dedication and ownership. Many of our original clients remain, a testament to our work ethic and commitment. We evolve with the world around us, knowing that seemingly ordinary projects lead to extraordinary opportunities to Create Amazing.