About
One of Michigan's Most Trusted Civil Engineering Firms
Our Values Set Us Apart
As a leader in civil engineering firms, our values have guided us since the beginning. And, our dedication to them has made Prein&Newhof one of the most-trusted civil engineering firms in Michigan. It’s our dedication to thinking ahead, building lasting relationships, and crafting long-term solutions. But as common-sense as these values may seem, we cannot assume that our corporate character will take care of itself. We cannot rest on our reputation or presume that we know enough. Rather, we must dedicate ourselves to see farther every day. We must live these values, and use them to direct everything we do.
Because choosing to see farther isn’t one decision. It’s dozens of little decisions we make every day— speaking with kindness and respect, working with other offices and departments rather than against them, going the extra mile to do the job right, foregoing our personal preferences, making time to learn and improve our services, taking risks and accepting responsibility for them, telling the whole truth.
Prein&Newhof Values
- We develop long-term relationships with communities, businesses, and our own employees.
- We work collaboratively with municipal governments and regulatory agencies to reach our clients’ goals.
- We communicate openly and thoughtfully, and we remember that our actions always speak louder than our words.
- We find long-term, sustainable solutions—refusing to cut corners or compromise quality.
- We make informed financial decisions that improve our service, build our business, and enable us to fairly compensate our employees.
- We use our time and resources efficiently.
- We work to be experts in our fields, well-qualified to meet our clients’ changing needs.
- We adapt our services to better serve our clients, and we will actively solicit their feedback.
- We are not content with the status quo and constantly seek new ways to improve.
- We are responsible to our clients, our colleagues, and our communities to be completely honest and ethical in all that we do.
- We each work to contribute to the success and profitability of Prein&Newhof.
- We demand accountability from each other, and we reward success.
- We will be a positive force in our communities—making every community we live in and every community we serve a better place to live and work.
- We will protect public health and safety.
Since 1969, our civil engineering firm has been making a better way
History
Since 1969, Prein&Newhof has grown from a venture of two engineers working from rented space in Grand Rapids to an established business that employs more than 150 people across Michigan.
While working together in another civil engineering firm, Ed Prein and Tom Newhof saw a disconnect between the design intent and the constructed product when the design engineer turned the project over to a construction department to oversee it. They saw how discontinuity affected clients and their projects, and they thought they had a better way. So, in 1969 they started their own consulting firm. They wanted their company to be different than other civil engineering firms.
When Ed and Tom founded Prein&Newhof, they joined their creative minds, strong work ethic, solid values and ambitious ideals to create a distinctive engineering company, one based on the belief that a project has the best results when an engineer stays from start to finish. From planning to client relations to design to construction observation, Prein&Newhof engineers still follow that philosophy.
The range of services offered grew to include everything from civil engineering and survey to airport planning, geotechnical, environmental consulting, landscape architecture, geographic information systems, CAD, asset management, grants and funding, and more.
Prein&Newhof has expanded to include an environmental laboratory in Grand Rapids in 1974, a Holland Office in 1994, and a Muskegon Office in 1997. In 1997, Prein&Newhof purchased Wilkins & Wheaton, a 90-year-old engineering company in Kalamazoo. In 2011, P&N expanded to Traverse City by purchasing Peckham Engineering, a small airport engineering firm. In 2013, P&N hired 12 former Wilcox Engineering employees and started an office in Cadillac. In 2019 Prein&Newhof acquired QOE Consulting, further expanding its airport consulting team in Michigan. All of these acquisitions have helped us create one of the most versatile civil engineering firms in Michigan.
