Architecture firm MSH merges with Omaha firm

Jan. 18, 2021

Sioux Falls-based MSH Architects has become part of Omaha-based Schemmer. The move brings MSH, whose initials represent partners Robin Miller, Dave Sellers and Jim Heroux, from a nine-person firm to part of a more than 120-person team.

“This is the logical next move for us. There have been projects in the past we’ve looked at and never been able to go after,” said Miller, who started the firm as RJ Miller Associates in 1989 and added his partners in 1996.

“To me, that expansion capability is incredible. Our work type is very similar. If we have experience with something, it seems like Schemmer does collectively. We’re adding that strength back and forth.”

Schemmer was founded in 1959 and is a full-service architecture, engineering and construction field services consultant. In addition to Omaha and Sioux Falls, there are five branch offices in Nebraska, Iowa and Oklahoma. The firm provides services to clients from coast to coast and border to border across the United States.

“We wanted to expand our geographic reach throughout the Midwest, and Sioux Falls was one of the target metro areas we wanted to locate in,” said Tracy Mumford, director of marketing and business development and a principal of the firm.

Instead of opening a new office, it became apparent that MSH was a good fit, he said.

“What really struck us was a lot of what MSH was doing as far as how they did their work and also the clients they worked with were very similar to what we were doing in our other geographic locations. When I’m in Sioux Falls, I don’t feel like I’m in a different metro. It’s a lot like Omaha, it’s a lot like Des Moines, the people are the same, and it made sense to us to further our conversations.”

Schemmer has done some work in South Dakota with federal agencies related to parks and Indian Affairs but saw other untapped potential, Mumford said.

“Such as commercial and industrial, senior living, health care … and Sioux Falls, if you’re looking at comparing it to Omaha and Des Moines, it’s actually growing faster than those two communities. So we thought this is a place we want to be.”

A Schemmer project at the University of Nebraska

The firm is licensed in nearly every state. It has done a lot of work with The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society in the region outside of South Dakota and currently is working on a number of projects through the federal government’s General Services Administration.

Current projects of MSH include work with the South Dakota Air National Guard and design of the Sioux Falls Community Triage Center.

The combined firm’s broad range of services include architecture; structural, mechanical, electrical, civil/site, transportation, water/wastewater and geotechnical engineering; and survey and construction field services.

“Literally, we’ve become all the engineering disciplines we normally subcontract. We have those capabilities,” Miller said. “We can still work locally when it’s right, but we’re looking at putting the best teams we can together.”

The Sioux Falls office will remain at 625 S. Minnesota Ave. The current team of architects, project managers, technical and administrative staff remains in place, and the plan is to grow the staff, Miller said.

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Architecture firm MSH merges with Omaha firm

Sioux Falls-based MSH Architects has become part of Omaha-based Schemmer.

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