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By Mark Felici | Top AEC candidates move fast, and firms with slow hiring processes are losing talent before they can make an offer.

By Sarah Kinard | Market shifts are inevitable, but firms that recognize them early can turn disruption into opportunity.

By Chad Coldiron | The AEC industry is facing uncertainty, but leaders remain optimistic, practical, and focused on adapting to what comes next.

By Chad Colidron | As firms grow, alignment, accountability, and execution become the difference between getting bigger and getting stronger.

By Nam Douglas | Tightening immigration pathways are reshaping AEC talent pipelines, forcing firms to rethink workforce strategy, risk planning, and long-term leadership development.

By Elizabeth Nilsen | Successful AEC firms treat succession planning as a strategic priority from the beginning, not a last-minute retirement decision.

By Chris Catton | Recruiting is the AEC industry’s biggest challenge, yet most firms still operate without a real recruiting plan.

By Steve Jarmon | AEC firms cannot afford to ignore cybersecurity leadership as digital risk grows alongside cloud platforms, data sharing, and remote work.

By Mark Zweig | Market cycles are inevitable, and firms that act before revenue drops will outperform those that wait and react.

By Tom Godin | In AEC M&A, the real risk isn’t finding deals; it’s being unprepared to integrate them.

By Ying Liu | How to recognize the right moment for strategic growth planning and why timing matters more than most leaders think.

By Will Swearingen | A new era of AEC growth is emerging, driven by value creation and strategic expansion.

By Nam Douglass | Businesses across the U.S. face increased federal scrutiny, making proactive workforce compliance essential to mitigate risk and avoid costly penalties.

By Steve McAdams | Firms that scale successfully evolve their leadership approach, formalize operations, and stay grounded in culture.

By Chad Surprenant | A one-profit-center approach encourages teamwork across offices and disciplines, minimizing silos and supporting sustainable, firm-wide growth.

GMB, a professional services firm focused on the education market, has acquired Richard L. Johnson Associates. This acquisition represents an exciting new chapter for Richard L. Johnson Associates and GMB as the firms combine their experience,...

By Mark Zweig | Implement these specific strategies to set the stage for your firm’s long-term growth and success.

EMA Engineering & Consulting, Inc. is pleased to welcome Engineering Elements, a respected 20-year-old MEP firm based in Fayetteville, Arkansas, into our growing family. This strategic step expands EMA's presence into the Arkansas and Oklahoma...

By Will Swearingen | Environmental M&A is where sustainability and strategy meet, driving growth across the AEC industry.

By Dave Williams | Policy slack combines structure with flexibility, empowering leaders with the room to move, own decisions, and grow.

Architecture, engineering, environmental, and planning firm, ISG, has acquired JDAVIS, a multi-disciplinary design firm with offices in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

By Chris Aageson | How to strike a balance between being involved in important community work and pursuing opportunities in new geographic areas.

By Tracey Eaves & Will Swearingen | The first quarter of 2025 saw big moves, bold strategies, and a clear shift toward specialization.

By Mark Zweig | Firms with owners who really understand how powerful this idea is don’t do things like all the other firms in our business.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of AE2S (Grand Forks, ND), a civil/environmental engineering consulting firm specializing in drinking water, wastewater, and water resources.

By Chris Connell | Purpose-built technical report management technology in AEC mergers drives cost savings, productivity, collaboration, standardization, and scalable growth.

By Alec Russell | M&A activity in the AEC industry surged in 2024, driven by private equity, regulatory investments, and strategic acquisitions.

This report details some of the biggest trends and movements regarding M&A activity in the AEC industry as of the end of Q3 2024.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of Vierbicher (Reedsburg, WI), a community planning and engineering firm that is a proven partner for thriving Wisconsin communities.

By David Doxtad & Andy Brandel | As your firm grows, this person ensures you will maintain your core competencies, values, and environment with your newly added team members.

This report details some of the biggest trends and movements regarding M&A activity in the AEC industry as of the end of Q2 2024.

Multidisciplinary design firm Cushing Terrell is joining forces with Eclipse Engineering, a structural engineering firm with offices in Colorado, Oregon, Montana, and Washington. “Cushing Terrell and Eclipse Engineering have been working on projects together for...

By Liisa Andreassen | President of TreanorHL (Lawrence, KS), a full-service architectural firm with a purpose of creating places and experiences that make people’s lives better.

This report details some of the biggest trends and movements regarding M&A activity in the AEC industry as of the end of Q1 2024.

By Matt Verderamo | Prioritize building relationships with clients and potential clients to build trust, credibility, and alignment for better outcomes.

This report details some of the biggest trends and movements regarding M&A activity in the AEC industry as of the end of 2023.

By Travis White | Effective corporate strategy requires defining a direction, fostering collaboration, and leveraging strengths for diversification.

Zweig Group and ACEC have partnered to develop a groundbreaking DEI&B benchmarking tool for AEC firms.

This interactive tool will allow AEC firms to compare performance to peers, empowering them to take steps to strengthen DEI&B efforts.

By Clay Worley | Don’t be paralyzed by the many workplace changes we’re experiencing; instead embrace new expectations to the benefit of your company and employees.

Zweig Group – the leading research, publishing, and advisory services resource for firms in the AEC industry – represented Bullock Tice Associates in this transaction.

By Liisa Andreassen | President and CEO of CHA Consulting (Albany, NY), an innovative, full-service engineering consulting and construction management firm.

By Adrian De la Garza | In 2022, mergers and acquisitions continued to flourish as a growth strategy throughout the AEC industry.

By Mark Zweig | There are steps you can take that will make it more likely your company will adapt to change successfully over time.

Zweig Group represented Bennett Engineering Services in its merger with Y&C Transportation Consultants.

By Will Swearingen | Salary increases were higher than expected in 2022 and AEC workforce demographics continue to shift.

By Mark Zweig | Four things you can do to build the kind of workplace over time that good people want to stay in.

By Ernesto Aguilar | Achieving rapid expansion through both organic and inorganic growth while maintaining a strong, employee-centric culture.

By John Bray | There is no perfect buyer or seller in the marketplace, but how do you attract the best possible partner?

CWE, a 40-person civil and environmental engineering firm providing public and private infrastructure services to clients throughout California, has acquired RFE Engineering, Inc. (RFE), located in the Greater Sacramento area of California. The acquisition increases CWE’s geographic...

By Andy Chavez | What characteristics are highly desirable to buyers in the AEC industry right now?

  Zweig Group is the leading AEC Industry advisory service provider. We blend industry and sector knowledge with experience across the M&A lifecycle to help you capture value for shareholders. Reach our Mergers & Acquisitions Advisory team here. -...

By Ryan Suydam & Blake Godwin | This new award is the strongest way to differentiate your firm from the competition.

By Liisa Andreassen | CEO of LaBella Associates (Rochester, NY), a firm with diverse service offerings that can address any aspect of the built or natural environment.

By Dathan Gaskill | Our industry hasn’t done a great job of managing risk comprehensively or systematically. There’s a better way.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of Dewberry (Fairfax, VA), a nationwide planning, design, and construction firm with more than 50 locations and more than 2,000 professionals nationwide.

By Kevin Brown | Those companies that are resolute, agile, and creative will define the workplace rules of tomorrow, while the rest will be forced to follow or buckle beneath the pressure.

By Liisa Andreassen | President of KSA (Longview, TX), an industry leader that provides a broad range of engineering, architecture, planning, surveying, and construction management services.

By Callum Roxborough | Five ways to develop company culture and how taking these steps can improve your firm’s work environment and your business.

By Mark Zweig | If you want to encourage cooperation in your firm, take a look at your organization structure, accounting, and incentive compensation.

By Christina Zweig Niehues | This year’s cohort has picked up where last year’s group left off – taking on creative ideas to solve both historic and emerging challenges.

By Stephanie Warino | External members on boards of directors increase innovation and spur growth.

By Abdo Kardous | How an initial leap to the Middle East jump-started success around the globe for U.S.-based Hill International.

By John Bray | How will the new infrastructure bill impact M&A activity in the AEC industry?

Domestic Transactions: Investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Capital Partners (New York, NY) have acquired a controlling interest in Alliance Technical Group (Decatur, AL) from Align Capital Partners (Dallas, TX). Alliance Technical Group is the...

By John Bray | Whether you’re an M&A enthusiast, first-time buyer, or an apprehensive seller, it would be naive to disregard these opportunities without understanding the dynamics of the M&A environment.

By Julie Benezet | People have adapted to new ways of working and living, and in the process discovered new ways of thinking.

By Joan DeLorey & Jared Maxwell | All indications point to 2021 being a year when more buyers see higher rates for their professional liability insurance.

AUSTIN – (May 3, 2021) — STG Design, an integrated architecture, interiors, and planning firm transforming businesses through design, announced that Sandra M. Parét (AIA, IIDA) has been named Chief Executive Officer for the firm,...

By Stephanie Warino | To be successful, firms must find their “blue ocean” of uncontested market space.

By Alexandra Pollock | With the vaccine rolling out and workers trickling back into offices, we need to determine what innovations we will carry forward and how we will continue to evolve.

By Christina Zweig Niehues | New data on recruitment and retention shows how firms of different sizes, types, and geographies were impacted by the events of 2020.

By Christina Zweig Niehues | While we’re entering 2021 with a renewed sense of purpose and greater clarity, there are still a lot of unanswered questions.

By Chad Clinehens | 2021 is looking to be a year of increasing freedom, control, and opportunity.

CEO of Olsson (Lincoln, NE), an employee owned 1,300-person firm that is working to leave the world better than they found it.

By Jamie Claire Kiser | Companies are adopting fluid work from home policies and people have begun migrating away from dense cities.

In an increasingly global marketplace, equity, diversity, inclusion, and engagement strategies will be integral to the success of your organization for the foreseeable future.

Leaders from Zweig Group’s top five Hot Firms talk about what they attribute their success to.

For many leaders, business development resides outside their core competencies and comfort zone, to their firm’s detriment.

By Christina Zweig Niehues | In this year of upheaval and change, the most important component of any successful firm remains the same.

By Jamie Claire Kiser | Though the immediate impact of COVID-19 is bleak for many in our industry, there is reason to see the foundation forming for a different type of AEC firm.

Create a three-year vision thinking about what you need to achieve personally and professionally to be happy with your progress, and then work to reach your mountain.

Cross-marketing is the low-hanging fruit of business development. But will it work for your firm?

By Christina Zweig Niehues | A good incentive compensation program needs to be carefully matched with the specific goals of your firm.

CEO of ISG (Mankato, MN), a multi-disciplinary design and engineering firm that has growth in its DNA.

A lot can go wrong while establishing an office in a new market, but if you find a niche and hire strategically, you can succeed.

President and CEO of Parametrix, a 100 percent employee-owned engineering, planning, and environmental sciences firm based in Seattle, Washington.

President and principal-in-charge at Taylor Design, an architecture and interior design firm headquartered in Irvine, California.

President of Ampirical (Best Firm Multi-discipline #21 for 2018), a 200-person firm on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

For AEC firms, findings of latest annual professional liability insurer survey may help guide 2019 risk management and renewal strategies.

Your clients have definite ideas about what your firm is and isn’t, but if you don’t take the time to ask, you’ll never know what they’re thinking. Perception is reality. Do you know how clients...

President and CEO of Morrison-Maierle (Best Firm #27 Multi-discipline for 2017), a 280-person firm based in Helena, Montana. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “It’s vital to our success,” Murphy says, referring to entrepreneurship in the firm....

CEO of Huckabee (Hot Firm #7 and Best Firm Architecture #3 for 2018), a 300-person architecture firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “For us, diversifying is a bad thing,” Huckabee says....

President and CEO of Larson Design Group (Best Firm #5 Geotechnical and Best Firm # 29 Multi-discipline for 2017), a 300-person firm based in Williamsport, PA. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “One person alone can’t make...

If you don’t identify and address your firm’s problems, you could increase the measure of risk while decreasing value. There is a four-letter word floating around out there that’s probably the first that comes to...

Leaders of employee-friendly firms talk about how being a Best Firm affects culture, recruiting, and team building. Architecture and civil: Brian Bowers, President, Bowers + Kubota Our goal in being a Best Firm to Work...

Chairman and CEO of NV5 (Hot Firm #1 for 2018), a 2,000-person global engineering firm headquartered in Hollywood, Florida. By Richard Massey Editor “I must convey to every employee that we are in this together,”...

CEO of Woodard & Curran (Hot Firm #69 for 2018), a 1,000-person integrated engineering, science, and operations company based in Portland, ME. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Give them that opportunity and watch them soar,” McKeown...

Founder and CEO of GATE (Hot Firm #35 for 2017), a 300-plus person oil and gas engineering consulting company based in Houston. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “When clients/friends see what we post and comment to...

President, CEO, and chairman of the board for T&M Associates (Hot Firm #73 for 2016), a 350-person engineering firm based in Middletown, New Jersey. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent Gary Dahms, PE, PP, CME, has been...

President of OHM Advisors (Hot Firm #25 for 2017), a 440-person engineering and architecture firm based in Michigan. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Many firms tried to cut their way to success,” says Hiltz, looking back...

Chairman and CEO of David Evans and Associates, Inc. (Hot Firm #93 for 2016), a 1,000-person engineering firm based in Portland, Oregon. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent Barkouli joined DEA in 1988 as an engineer-in-training. He...

President and CEO of HRP Associates, Inc. (Hot Firm #76 for 2016), a 120-person engineering consulting firm based in Farmington, Connecticut. “Big, bold, rapid changes are exciting and sometimes needed, but well planned, steady change...

President and CEO of Wade Trim (Hot Firm #76 for 2017), a 500-person multidisciplinary engineering and consulting firm based in Detroit. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Organic growth is going to become more difficult as recruiting...

President and CEO of BKF Engineers (Hot Firm #44 for 2016), a 415-person engineering firm based in Redwood City, California, with 13 offices primarily in Northern California. “It’s easy to get a job, but more...

The next big downturn may or may not be just around the corner, but when it comes, and it will, will your firm be ready? Many would argue that the next Great Recession, or worse,...

So many companies have done it but there are many more that still haven’t – morphing from a geographically-based to a market-based firm. Why is this so crucial? There are many reasons, but first and...

You can leverage M&A to accelerate strategic shifts and implement your growth strategy, but there are plenty of risks along with the reward. While M&A is not a strategy in and of itself, it is...

President of Ross & Baruzzini (Hot Firm #57 for 2017), a 270-person international design and consulting company based in St. Louis. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “We’ve offloaded some of our IT functions to the cloud...

CEO of Coffman Engineers (#62 Hot Firm for 2016), a 400-person virtual, multi-discipline firm with offices across the West Coast, Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Outside members can act like guests at...

CEO of HGA (a multiple Hot Firm award winner), a national, 750-person integrated architecture, engineering, and planning firm based in Minneapolis. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent “Our most successful proposals help the client visualize the journey...

Should you buy a firm or sell yours? That’s the question, and regardless of the answer, there’s a lot that goes into a successful merger or acquisition. In the ever-evolving AEC industry, both large and...

President and CEO of ISG (Hot Firm #58 for 2016) a 200-person architecture, engineering, and environmental planning firm based in Mankato, Minnesota. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent With the recent acquisition of Green Bay-based Raasch Associates,...

Third-generation leader of multidiscipline firm embraces debate, seeks consensus, and likes anything with bacon. By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent It started with his great uncle. Then his father. And now him. Firm president John Hiltz is...

There’s a lot to evaluate, and measures can be severe, but if fiefdoms form, or if turnover is high, it’s time to take action. Are you frustrated because some of your teams, groups or offices...

This month, readers seek advice on topics related to social media, benchmarking, and increasing prices. WHO SHOULD FIRMS COMPARE THEMSELVES TO WHEN BENCHMARKING? Dear Christy, “We’re about to start our strategic planning process and like...

This is part one of a two-part series on the acquisition process, written by Jamie Claire Kiser, Director of M&A Services, and Ryan Renard, Financial Analyst/Consultant. Part one focuses on the search phase of an...

Eight suggestions from Mark Zweig to motivate staff, from office decor to proposal-making. I can’t stand it when my seven-year-old tells us how bored she is. Drives me absolutely insane! But I’m afraid that boredom...

By W. Hobson Hogan Principal, ZweigWhite Consulting In today’s environment, many firms believe that they must become more diversified and larger to compete. In most cases, firms turn to mergers and acquisitions as a way...

This article first appeared in The Zweig Letter (ISSN 1068-1310) Issue # 991 Originally published 1/28/2013 When the sky is a different color on the other side, the likelihood of coming to an agreement is...

Press Release: November 8, 2011 FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (November 8, 2011) – Take cue Apple. Holding on to too much cash can be perilous for business enterprises, not the least design firms. An article in the...

By Tracey D. Jeffers There is a four letter word floating around out there in the atmosphere that is likely the first formed in the mind of an investor when determining whether or not an...

By Hobson Hogan I recently attended a conference on alternative investments for asset managers and investors. The attendees were mostly representatives from large institutional investors, endowments, hedge fund managers, and corporate bankers. The conference focused...

The longer I’ve worked with A/E/P and environmental firms, the more clear it has become to me: Most firms are working on the wrong side of the equation when it comes to boosting effective multipliers...

Anyone who knows me or who has read my writings on management for architects and engineers over the years knows that I absolutely HATE buzzwords. They automatically raise the suspicions of the smart design, management,...

It’s real popular for A/E and environmental firms to proclaim that they are “client-centered.” Sounds good, right? Give the clients what they want…. But not many firms really do what is necessary to make this...

If there’s one issue that I see a lot of good A/E/P and environmental firms grappling with right now, it’s how to balance the need for high-performing individuals vs. having a cohesive team that works...

This week, I thought I’d dedicate my column to answering some of the recurring questions we are asked about the A/E/P and environmental consulting industry. Here goes: Should salaried people be paid for overtime? I...

Client-driven organization structures for A/E/P and environmental consulting firms are built around serving particular client types. Sure— it’s a popular management trend right now to be “client directed,” or “client centered.” But don’t think these...

There has been a lot of talk in our industry the last few years about the need for more firms to adopt a client-driven organization structure. Firms of all types and sizes are trying to...

What holds us back as individuals and companies? That question is critical to any A/E/P and environmental firm that wants to be more successful— and being successful is what it’s all about. There’s a tremendous...

Just about every A/E or environmental firm wants to grow. And there are a lot of good reasons for it. To paraphrase an old adage, “growth covers a multitude of sins.” When you are growing,...