A Proud History; an Exciting Future.

Civil Design Inc. was founded in 2000 by Civil Engineer Carey Bretsch, PE , and Land Surveyor Mike Lapka, RLS, principal partners with over sixty combined years of professional experience.

Located in Brookings, South Dakota, CDI's only employees were Carey and Mike for the first year. They operated their business out of a rented house, while their client base—and their reputation—continued to grow exponentially. In 2001 they moved to a larger leased office at 520 3rd Avenue. The company remained at this location until December 2008. 

Civil Design Inc. continued to distinguish themselves as one of the region's premiere firms. In 2003, CDI was honored by the Eastern Branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers with the prestigious "Outstanding Civil Engineering Project" award for their innovative design of the Fishback Soccer Park in Brookings, South Dakota. In 2004, CDI employed five full-time and two part-time employees. As the firm's services became more and more in demand, they realized they would soon outgrow the rental home that served as their office space. They purchased land for a future office building in 2006.

CDI began the planning process for their new office building in 2007, with construction beginning in 2008. By the close of that year, Carey, Mike, and company moved the firm's operations to their stunning new office on Main Avenue South in Brookings. The bold design of this spacious office was the creation of the talented architects at one of our partner firms, Baldridge-Nelson Architects in Sioux Falls.

2008 was an important year for CDI for another reason. During that year, Carey and Mike were notified that Civil Design Inc. was ranked #1 by Inc. Magazine in the top 50 fastest growing, privately held independent engineering firms in the nation. CDI also earned the number 585 spot on the same magazine's "Top 5000" list of the country's fastest growing, privately held, independent companies. The firm earned this distinction because of their explosive 553% increase in sales between 2004 and 2007.

Today, CDI continues to expand its regional presence with professionals licensed in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Indiana.