Civil & Environmental Consultants

What Civil & Environmental Consultants does

Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc. (CEC) is a privately held, employee-owned engineering and environmental consulting firm founded in 1989 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The firm delivers integrated multi-disciplinary consulting services across nine practice areas — air quality, civil engineering, cultural resources, ecological sciences, environmental engineering and sciences, manufacturing infrastructure services, survey/geospatial, waste management, and water resources — to clients in seven primary verticals: manufacturing, mining, oil & gas, power (including data centers and renewables), public sector, real estate, and solid waste. CEC operates through approximately 32-34 offices across the United States and reports a total bench strength of roughly 1,500 employees.

The firm's underlying technology platform combines established engineering design tools (AutoCAD 3D, InfraWorks, BIM) with field-capture technologies including LiDAR scanning, drones for site surveys and inspections, and AR/VR visualization. CEC does not sell a unified software product; revenue is generated through professional service engagements structured as project-based, retainer, or time-and-materials contracts, with billing tied to multi-year project cycles and regulatory milestones. Customer acquisition is conducted through a direct enterprise field-sales motion supplemented by content marketing (Elements magazine, blog, podcasts), industry conferences, and Educational Training Courses (ETC) covering NEPA, PFAS, air quality, and stream/wetland delineation.

CEC's growth strategy is executed through a combination of de novo office openings (Detroit 2024, Peabody MA 2024, Cincinnati 2024, Johnson City TN 2025) and tuck-in acquisitions (Pickett, Ray & Silver 2022; Engineering & Environmental Consultants Inc. 2023), supplemented by partnerships such as the December 2025 alliance with Birchtech Corp. to deliver PFAS-related water treatment services. The firm is consistently ranked in Engineering News-Record's Top 500 Design Firms (#97 in 2026) and Top 200 Environmental Firms (#107 in 2025), is Certified Employee-Owned, and was named a 2026 Top Diversity Employer by DiversityJobs.com and a 2024 Consultant of the Year by McDonald's.

Name

Civil & Environmental Consultants

Legal name

Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc.

Website

https://cecinc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Civil & Environmental Consultants is an employee-owned, Pittsburgh-based engineering and environmental consulting firm with ~1,500 employees across 32+ U.S. offices, serving manufacturing, mining, oil & gas, power, public-sector, real estate, and solid waste clients with integrated air, water, waste, and civil engineering services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Engineering and Environmental Consulting Services

NAICS

Environmental Consulting Services (54162), Engineering Services (541330), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Refuse Systems (4953)

akta.pro primary industry

Sustainable/Green Building & LEED Consulting (BPAHAKAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Circularity Consulting & Program Management (EPR, Design-for-Circularity, LCA) (EUAIANAH)

Keywords

• Engineering consulting services
• Environmental consulting services
• Civil engineering consulting
• Waste management consulting
• Water resources engineering

Headquarters

HQ city

Pittsburgh

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices32 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Engineering and Environmental Consulting Services: Professional consulting services billed on project basis, retainer arrangements, or time-and-materials contracts for engineering, environmental compliance, permitting, and technical consulting across multiple practice areas including air quality, civil engineering, waste management, water resources, and ecological sciences.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Civil & Environmental Consultants (CEC) is a multi-disciplinary engineering and environmental consulting firm that delivers services in air quality, civil engineering, cultural resources, ecological sciences, environmental engineering and sciences, manufacturing infrastructure, survey and geospatial, waste management, and water resources. The firm serves industrial and public-sector clients across manufacturing, mining, oil & gas, power, real estate, and solid waste markets from 32+ offices nationwide.

Product overview

CEC is an employee-owned professional consulting firm providing integrated multidisciplinary engineering and environmental services. The company does not offer a software product or unified platform; instead, it delivers specialized consulting services across nine distinct practice areas: Air Quality, Civil Engineering, Cultural Resources, Ecological Sciences, Environmental Engineering and Sciences, Manufacturing Infrastructure Services, Survey + Geospatial, Waste Management, and Water Resources. These services are provided through approximately 32 offices nationwide to clients across manufacturing, mining, oil & gas, power, public sector, real estate, and solid waste industries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CEC: Primary company brand and abbreviation for Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc.

Products and services

• Air Quality Consulting Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Ranked #97 in Engineering News-Record's 2026 Top 500 Design Firms
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Birchtech Corp.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 December 2025Birchtech launched its water treatment solutions business with a partnership agreement with Civil & Environmental Consultants Inc. (CEC) to provide Rapid Small-Scale Column Testing (RSSCT) services to CEC's water utility customers across its 34 offices nationwide. The partnership targets the growing water utilities market driven by EPA regulations on PFAS contaminants, with federal funding of $1 billion allocated for water monitoring systems.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Jacobs Solutions: Jacobs is a large global professional services firm with critical infrastructure, environmental, and water practices — a broad incumbent overlapping CEC's Power, Public Sector, and Water Resources engagements.
• AECOM: AECOM is a global infrastructure consulting firm with extensive environmental compliance, water, and transportation practices competing with CEC for large public-sector and industrial assignments.
• Arcadis: Arcadis is a global design, engineering, and management consulting firm with major environmental, water, and mobility practices that overlap with CEC's full service portfolio at scale.
• Stantec: Stantec is a large global engineering, environmental, and project management firm with deep water, infrastructure, and environmental practices — a broad incumbent competitor across most of CEC's service lines.
• Environmental Resources Management (ERM): ERM is a global pure-play environmental, health, safety, risk, and sustainability consultancy — directly comparable to CEC's environmental and air quality practices for large multinational industrial clients.

Direct peers

• Haley & Aldrich: Haley & Aldrich is an employee-owned environmental and geotechnical engineering consultancy with integrated practices across air, water, waste, and site development — competing directly with CEC's environmental engineering, water resources, and waste management practices.
• SCS Engineers: SCS Engineers is a national environmental engineering and consulting firm with a strong solid waste, landfill gas, and environmental compliance focus — directly comparable to CEC's Waste Management practice and a known niche competitor.
• Brown and Caldwell: Brown and Caldwell is an employee-owned environmental engineering and consulting firm specializing in water and wastewater utilities — overlapping with CEC's Water Resources practice and PFAS-related RSSCT work (per the Birchtech partnership).
• Terracon Consultants, Inc. Terracon is a U.S.-based employee-owned engineering and environmental consulting firm serving similar end markets (manufacturing, real estate, oil & gas, public sector, solid waste) with comparable multi-disciplinary environmental, geotechnical, and facilities services — the closest direct analogue to CEC.
• GAI Consultants: GAI Consultants is a mid-sized multi-disciplinary engineering and environmental consulting firm serving similar transportation, municipal, and industrial clients — a comparable niche peer to CEC in size and service mix.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/civil-environmental-consultants-inc
• Xx.com/CorporateCEC
• Facebookfacebook.com/CorporateCEC

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A2 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Civil & Environmental Consultants