CESO, INC.

What CESO, INC. does

CESO, INC. is a multidisciplinary architecture and engineering firm headquartered in Miamisburg, Ohio, operating 16 offices across the Midwest, Southeast, Southwest, and Northeast United States with 500+ associates. The firm delivers integrated professional services across 11 core disciplines—Development Services, Land Planning, Survey, Environmental Services, Civil Engineering, Transportation Services, Inspection Services, Landscape Architecture, Architecture, Interiors, and Building Engineering—operating as a single coordinated platform from concept through construction. Survey work leverages GPS, robotic total stations, and drone-based mapping; architecture uses Revit-based BIM and LEED design workflows; no proprietary AI/ML or platform technology is disclosed beyond standard CAD/BIM tools.

CESO's revenue model is professional services on a project basis, with pricing determined by scope, complexity, and client requirements. The go-to-market is enterprise field sales targeting multi-site national programs (Love's, Circle K, Valvoline, 7-Eleven, Casey's, Refuel), industrial developers (Walmart, DHL, FedEx Ground, NorthPoint, Exeter, Stream Realty), energy operators (Encino Energy, Ascent Resources, Roeslein), homebuilders (Meritage, AMH), and municipal/government clients. The firm is differentiated by its national program delivery capability—handling 30+ Love's projects simultaneously, ~50 active Circle K projects, 60+ Valvoline sites coast-to-coast—and by authoring client design standards (Love's civil/landscape standards, Valvoline prototype, Ascent standard operating procedures), which embeds it as a programmatic design partner rather than a transactional consultant.

The firm serves six primary vertical segments—Municipal/Public Works, Industrial/Commercial Developers, and Automotive Convenience are flagged as primary; Energy, Residential, and Hospitality are secondary—with named customers spanning marquee developments like Geodis Park (Nashville SC), Walmart's Project Baja, DHL's Monroe, Ohio conversion, the world's largest Candlewood Suites (Fort Gordon), and the Granville, Ohio downtown revitalization. CESO has been recognized on Building Design+Construction's Top 110 Industrial Sector Architecture Firms list for 2025, reflecting 35+ years of operating history since founding circa 1987-1990. The firm is privately held with no disclosed parent company, outside investment, or public listing.

Name

CESO, INC.

Legal name

CESO Inc

Website

https://cesoinc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

CESO, INC. is a multidisciplinary architecture and engineering firm offering integrated civil engineering, architecture, survey, environmental, transportation, and building engineering services to enterprise, municipal, and developer clients across the United States from 16 offices.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Engineering and Architecture Professional Services

NAICS

Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services (5413), Engineering Services (541330), Environmental Consulting Services (54162)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711), Oil & Gas Field Services, Nec (1389), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Construction Environmental Management Plans (CEMP) & Permit Compliance Support (EUAHAAAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Sustainability, Energy & Environmental (ESG/LEED) Certifications (EDAAANAO), Environmental & Permitting Execution Services (Erosion Control, Habitat Mitigation, Compliance) (EUAEADAL)

Keywords

• Civil engineering services
• Architecture design services
• Land surveying services
• Environmental consulting services
• Landscape architecture services

Headquarters

HQ city

Miamisburg

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices16 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Professional Services Revenue: CESO generates revenue through providing multidisciplinary professional services including civil engineering, transportation, survey, environmental, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, land planning, building engineering, and inspection services on a project basis to municipal, commercial, industrial, residential, and energy clients.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

CESO, Inc. is a multi-disciplinary architecture and engineering firm that sells integrated professional services across 11 practice areas: Development Services, Land Planning, Survey, Environmental, Civil Engineering, Transportation, Inspection, Landscape Architecture, Architecture, Interiors, and Building Engineering. Services are delivered on a project basis to municipal, commercial/industrial developer, automotive convenience, energy, residential, and hospitality clients nationwide through 16 U.S. offices.

Product overview

CESO, INC. is a multi-disciplinary architecture and engineering firm offering a comprehensive suite of professional services. The company's portfolio consists of 11 core service offerings that operate as an integrated platform: Development Services provides project coordination and management; Land Planning delivers strategic site planning and zoning expertise; Survey offers professional surveying with advanced GPS and drone technology; Environmental Services handles regulatory compliance and assessments; Civil Engineering provides site development and utility design; Transportation Services covers roadway and traffic engineering including roundabout and signal design; Inspection Services ensures construction quality and compliance; Landscape Architecture delivers placemaking and amenity design; Architecture provides building design across multiple sectors; Interiors offers interior design and space planning; and Building Engineering handles mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. These services work together as a coordinated platform to support clients from early planning through construction completion across markets including automotive convenience, industrial, energy, public works, residential, and hospitality.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Development Services Project coordination and management services supporting real estate development from site selection through construction, including due diligence, entitlement coordination, and permitting support for municipal, commercial, industrial, residential, and energy clients.
• Land Planning Strategic land planning services including master planning, site development, subdivision planning, zoning analysis, and urban design to maximize land efficiency and value for residential and commercial developers, municipalities, and energy clients.
• Survey Professional surveying services including boundary surveys, ALTA/NSPS surveys, topographic surveys, construction staking, and aerial mapping using advanced GPS, robotic total stations, and drone technology for commercial, residential, industrial, infrastructure, and federal/state/municipal clients.
• Environmental Services Environmental consulting including stream and wetland delineations, NEPA coordination, environmental assessments, federal and state permitting, Phase I/II site assessments, and environmental remediation planning for energy, industrial, commercial, and residential clients.
• Civil Engineering Civil engineering services for site development including site design, utility design, stormwater management, roadway design, and construction documentation for commercial, residential, industrial, and municipal clients.
• Transportation Services Transportation engineering for public agencies and private developers including roadway design, roundabout design (including turbo roundabout concepts capable of reducing crashes by up to 50% versus conventional multi-lane designs), intersection design, traffic signal design, traffic impact studies, safety studies, pedestrian facility design, and coordination with approving agencies.
• Inspection Services Construction inspection and quality assurance services including site inspections, pavement inspection, ADA compliance verification, and construction oversight for public and private clients; over 1,000 site inspections have been delivered nationwide.
• Landscape Architecture Landscape architecture services including theming and visioning, site design, community gateway design, streetscape planning, amenity design, and sustainability design for residential and commercial developments.
• Architecture Full-service architectural design including prototype development, existing condition assessments, architectural design, construction documents, BIM (Revit), and LEED design services for retail, industrial, hospitality, and commercial sector clients.
• Interiors Interior design services including experience concept design, space planning, interior architecture, FF&E specifications, signage and wayfinding, and fixture and furniture design for hospitality, industrial, retail, and commercial clients.
• Building Engineering Building mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineering services including HVAC design, power distribution, lighting design, plumbing systems, building automation, and sustainable design solutions for clients across market sectors.

Quantifiable outcome

• Completed 310+ projects across 46 states for Love's Travel Stops
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers18 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• 7-ElevencoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Development Services team engaged in 2019 to enhance food service area design, evolved into long-term partner delivering development, architecture, civil engineering, survey, and landscape architecture services across remodel and ground-up projects. Supports locations across South, Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest regions.
• Ascent ResourcescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013Partnership established when Ascent Resources was founded in fall 2013. CESO developed standard operating procedures for site selection, well pad engineering, well permitting and platting, and pre-drill water sampling. Supported hundreds of locations in Ohio and West Virginia.
• Encino EnergycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2011CESO was one of the first consulting engineering firms to partner with Encino Energy when oil and gas activity expanded into Ohio in 2011. Partnership has provided all of Encino's upstream engineering and survey services, delivering design for over 200 locations in eastern Ohio over 8 years.
• Love's Travel StopscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCESO has served as Love's development partner since 2012, providing complete site design and permitting services for up to 30 simultaneous projects. The partnership has spanned over 310 projects across 46 states. CESO also develops and maintains Love's civil engineering and landscape architecture standards and oversees their national as-built survey program.
• Valvoline Instant Oil Change (VIOC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCESO has partnered with VIOC since 2016 providing site design, civil engineering, surveying, landscape architecture, architecture, and construction administration services for their prototype ground-up design program. The partnership has delivered 60+ projects coast-to-coast.
• Circle KcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCESO serves as Circle K's Third-Party Management (TPM) partner, providing end-to-end project coordination from early feasibility through construction. Manages roughly 50 active projects at any given time across Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Oklahoma, and Minnesota for both convenience stores and tunnel car wash locations.
• Mortenson-MesserminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerCESO's survey team partnered with Mortenson-Messer on Geodis Park project in Nashville, providing survey control, construction layout and staking, and quality assurance/quality control as-built reports for the largest MLS stadium in North America.
• Roeslein Alternative EnergyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCESO supported RAE's renewable natural gas production facilities converting hog waste to RNG at nine Smithfield Hog Production facilities in Northwest Missouri. Civil engineering team provided routing, layout, design, permitting, surveying, and environmental services.
• KPFFminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCESO partnered with KPFF to deliver preliminary analysis of the Nelson-Kennedy Ledges State Park pedestrian bridge structure in Ohio, evaluating feasibility of the Falls Edge Glass Walkway concept.
• Duke EnergyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCESO partnered with Duke Energy to design a 2-mile trail system in Sawmills, North Carolina that integrates with natural terrain while preserving landscape features and enhancing accessibility.
• Exeter Property GroupminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered on industrial development projects including an 832,010 SF warehouse facility as part of the Project Maple development in West Jefferson, Ohio.
• Medline IndustriesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered on a 1,200,420 SF distribution center as part of the Project Maple industrial development in West Jefferson, Ohio.
• Merus (Al. Neyer)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCESO partnered with Merus on a 26.5-acre, 225,200 SF rear-loaded industrial warehouse facility development on Louisville Industrial Highway in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.
• TRG/Stream Realty Partners/ThreecoreminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCESO partnered with TRG, Stream Realty Partners, and Threecore on CORE45, a 1.6 million SF two-building industrial development in Wilmer, Texas near Dallas, providing architecture and landscape architecture services.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Stantec: Global multi-disciplinary engineering, architecture, and environmental services firm. Overlaps with CESO across civil, environmental, transportation, survey, and architecture practices, particularly in North American community development and energy markets.
• AECOM: Global infrastructure consulting firm with transportation, environmental, water, and buildings practices. Comparable in scale and breadth to the integrated services CESO delivers across civil, transportation, and architecture.
• WSP: Global professional services firm with strong transportation, civil, environmental, and buildings practices. Comparable in multi-disciplinary consulting delivery and pursuit of integrated program work for public and private clients.
• Tetra Tech: Engineering and consulting firm with deep water, environmental, and infrastructure practices. Comparable to CESO's environmental compliance, site assessment, and civil engineering work for public and energy clients.
• TRC Companies: Publicly traded engineering, environmental, and infrastructure consulting firm with strong energy and utility exposure. Comparable to CESO's oil & gas, environmental permitting, and infrastructure inspection services.
• Burns & McDonnell: Employee-owned engineering, architecture, and construction firm with strong industrial, energy, and infrastructure practices. Comparable integrated delivery model, energy client work, and employee-ownership governance.
• GHD: Employee-owned global engineering, architecture, and environmental consulting firm. Comparable multi-disciplinary structure with strong municipal, water, transportation, and energy client mix.
• HDR Inc. Employee-owned architecture, engineering, and consulting firm with strong transportation, water, and buildings practices. Closely comparable to CESO's employee-owned structure, multi-disciplinary delivery, and public-sector orientation.

Direct peers

• Kimley-Horn: Largest US privately held multi-disciplinary engineering, planning, and design consulting firm. Most directly comparable in private ownership structure, broad service mix (civil, transportation, environmental, land planning, landscape architecture), and national program delivery model for enterprise and public clients.
• NV5 Global: Technical engineering and consulting firm providing infrastructure, environmental, and geospatial services. Comparable in survey-heavy delivery, environmental/site assessment, and infrastructure inspection for public and private clients.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ceso-inc
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Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles24 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about CESO, INC.