Wallace Design Collective

What Wallace Design Collective does

Wallace Design Collective is a privately held, multi-disciplinary engineering and design professional services firm headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with eight offices across the South-Central and Southeastern United States. Founded in 1981 by Tom Wallace as a single-discipline structural engineering practice, the firm has expanded to seven core service lines — structural engineering, civil engineering, landscape architecture, surveying, roof consulting, special inspections, and planning — delivered primarily to enterprise, institutional, and government clients in education, healthcare, commercial and residential, civic and cultural, and parking and transportation verticals. The company rebranded from Wallace Engineering to Wallace Design Collective in June 2021 to reflect this broader scope and the firm's stated "collaborative" service model.

The firm operates a project-based professional services model with pricing quoted on a per-project basis. Revenue is derived from fee-for-service engagements on building, site development, and infrastructure projects, with named clients including Walmart (multi-location retail program since the mid-1980s), Northside Hospital Cherokee, Petersen Automotive Museum, Spelman College, Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, and multiple universities and K-12 districts. Technology infrastructure centers on CAD systems and internally developed custom production workflows dating to the mid-1980s, with no disclosed AI/ML capabilities or proprietary software products. The firm relies on direct client relationships and local office presence as its primary distribution channel.

Wallace has scaled from $20M in revenue and 146 employees in 2017 to $40M+ in revenue and 240 employees in 2022 (131% revenue growth, 64% headcount growth), reaching #41 on Building Design + Construction's 2021 Giants 400 and #393 on ENR's 2022 Top 500 Design Firms. Growth has been a mix of organic expansion, two acquisitions (Howell & Vancuren in 2021, KSi Structural Engineers in 2022), and a second-generation leadership transition to Darren Burns as CEO in June 2024. Management has set a $50M revenue target for the firm's 50th anniversary in 2031. Ownership appears to be closely held by principals and senior leadership with no identified external PE, VC, or public-market participation.

Name

Wallace Design Collective

Legal name

Wallace Design Collective PC

Website

https://wallace.design

Company type

Private

Founded year

1981

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Wallace Design Collective is a privately held, multi-disciplinary engineering and design firm offering structural, civil, landscape architecture, surveying, roof consulting, special inspections, and planning services across eight US offices to enterprise, institutional, and government clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Engineering Services

NAICS

Engineering Services (541330), Landscape Architectural Services (54132), Architectural Services (54131)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711)

akta.pro primary industry

Civil & Structural Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Landscape Architecture & Site Design (BPAHAKAC), Architectural Design Services (BPAHAKAA)

Keywords

• Structural engineering services
• Civil engineering consulting
• Landscape architecture design
• Land surveying services
• Roof consulting inspection

Headquarters

HQ city

Tulsa

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Engineering and Design Services: Professional services revenue from structural engineering, civil engineering, landscape architecture, surveying, roof consulting, special inspections, and planning services provided to commercial, institutional, and government clients.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Wallace Design Collective is a multi-disciplinary engineering and design firm providing structural engineering, civil engineering, landscape architecture, surveying, special inspections, roof consulting, and planning services. The firm serves commercial, institutional, healthcare, education, civic, cultural, retail, and government clients across the United States through eight office locations, delivering integrated design solutions from concept through construction.

Product overview

Wallace Design Collective is a multi-disciplinary engineering and architecture firm offering a unified platform of professional services. The firm's core offerings include Structural Engineering, Civil Engineering, Landscape Architecture, Surveying, Special Inspections, Roof Consulting, and Planning/Land Planning. The company has grown through strategic acquisitions including KSi Structural Engineers and Howell & Vancuren, which operate as brands within the collective. The integrated service model allows clients to access multiple consulting disciplines from a single firm partner.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Structural Engineering Structural engineering services for buildings and structures, including design, analysis, and construction support for projects ranging from commercial to educational facilities.
• Civil Engineering Civil engineering services encompassing site development, infrastructure design, drainage, and utility systems for commercial and civic projects.
• Landscape Architecture Landscape architecture services including site planning, public park design, and outdoor space design for various commercial and civic applications.
• Surveying Land surveying services including boundary surveys, topographic mapping, and construction staking for development projects.
• Special Inspections Special inspection services for construction quality assurance and compliance verification during the building process.
• Roof Consulting Roof consulting services including roof assessments, repair recommendations, and replacement planning for facility maintenance programs.
• Planning Planning services including land planning, zoning, entitlements, and long-range comprehensive planning for communities and developments.

Quantifiable outcome

• 131% revenue increase from 2016 to 2022
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• KSi Structural EngineerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 May 2022KSi Structural Engineers joined Wallace Design Collective, expanding structural engineering expertise and presence in the Atlanta market. KSi continued to provide structural engineering services on projects including Bryn House and Spelman College Performing Arts Center.
• Howell & VancurencoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLandscape architecture firm Howell & Vancuren joined Wallace, bringing specialized landscape architecture capabilities to the collective. The firm had been involved with Tulsa Botanic Garden since its inception.
• Eagleton Financial GroupminorOthersTrey Eagleton from Eagleton Financial Group provides free financial advising services to Wallace employees as part of employee benefits.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• HDR Inc. Global architecture and engineering firm with overlapping capabilities in structural, civil, and landscape architecture across healthcare, education, and civic markets — significantly larger but operating in the same vertical mix as Wallace.
• Burns & McDonnell: Large employee-owned engineering, architecture, and consulting firm with multi-discipline practices touching structural, civil, and surveying — comparable service breadth though materially larger and more vertically integrated than Wallace.
• Stanley Consultants: Mid-to-large engineering and design consulting firm with overlap in civil/structural and similar employee-owned, multi-office model — comparable to Wallace in service mix but larger in revenue and international reach.
• Kimley-Horn: Large US engineering consulting firm with a broad set of disciplines (civil, environmental, planning, landscape architecture) and significant overlap with Wallace in civil/landscape/site development, but materially larger scale.
• RS&H: National infrastructure consulting firm with architectural/engineering service overlap in civic, transportation, and cultural projects — competing with Wallace on similar institutional RFPs but at substantially larger scale.

Direct peers

• Terracon Consultants: National employee-owned engineering consulting firm offering geotechnical, environmental, facilities, and materials services with similar multi-office US footprint, mid-market positioning, and breadth of services comparable to Wallace's professional services model.
• Wight & Company: Mid-sized architecture, engineering, and construction firm in the Midwest serving education, commercial, and civic clients — comparable in scale, multi-discipline offerings, and regional concentration to Wallace.
• Mead & Hunt: Mid-sized multi-discipline engineering, architecture, and planning firm with comparable revenue scale, employee-ownership culture, and federal/state infrastructure focus closely mirroring Wallace's integrated design collective model.
• Olsson: Mid-sized employee-owned engineering firm offering civil, structural, environmental, and field services with strong central-US presence, similar growth profile, and an integrated services approach like Wallace's.

Regional players

• PMA Consultants / DLZ Corporation: Mid-sized architecture/engineering firm focused on the Midwest with strong overlap in surveying, civil, and structural services relevant to Wallace's core markets in the central US.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/WallaceDesign_
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCnGp8GJL6ZfqI1tVdE6oVhw
• Facebookfacebook.com/WallaceDesignCollective
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wallace-design-collective
• Instagraminstagram.com/wallacedesigncollective

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries2 records

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 Wallace Design Collective