McFadden Engineering Goes With the Flow

The Business View – September 2018 / Small Business of the Month

Bigger isn’t always better. Thirty years ago, Hope and Frank McFadden had a vision for a smaller, more flexible engineering firm that could offer its clients a personal touch along with the expertise of larger firms.

Specializing in water and wastewater, stream modeling and groundwater remediation engineering, McFadden Engineering Inc. (MEI) has been building strong client relationships over the past three decades, which has kept the business growing even as it maintains a small staff of 10.

McFadden Engineering is the Mobile Area Chamber’s Small Business of the Month.

“Not many firms our size can offer full-scale environmental services as well as provide civil engineering design capabilities,” said Hope, the firm’s vice president and chief financial officer. “Our staff is comprised of engineers, geologists and technicians who are experienced in their fields and work as a tightly knit team to meet the expectations of our clients.

“Many people would look at the size of our firm as a disadvantage, but we see it as a positive because our highly trained professionals can closely collaborate to handle the work while developing relationships with our clients.”

Even though it’s small, McFadden’s team brings nearly a century of combined experience in civil and environmental engineering, with engineers and geologists who are licensed in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.

And now, McFadden Engineering is taking on a new challenge. The firm has developed an innovative wastewater treatment and reuse system called OxyShark, a response to clients’ needs for a cost-effective, space-saving system that’s environmentally sound with an excellent return on investment.

“We have always enjoyed solving challenging environmental problems, no matter the size or scope of the project,” said Frank, the firm’s founder and president.

“We saw a need to develop a wastewater treatment process that would be small in relative size to a typical system, provide highly treated water from certain waste streams, be simple to operate and deliver industry-leading return on investment. Through this vision, the patent-pending OxyShark process was born.”

He believes the firm’s movement into the manufacturing sector with the development of OxyShark will bring additional jobs and recognition to Mobile.

“We would like to help put Mobile on the map as an environmentally proactive city, showcasing innovative solutions that provide excellent quality of life,” Hope said. “Our entry into wastewater manufacturing will provide a vehicle for growing both MEI and OxyShark while offering sound and sustainable solutions to the use of one of our major natural resources – water.”

Click here to read The Business View – September 2018

To read about previous Small Business of the Month stories, click here.

 Additional information is on the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce’s website at www.mobilechamber.com, on Facebook at @MobileChamber and Twitter at @MobileChamber.