Kier & Wright Civil Engineers & Surveyors

What Kier & Wright Civil Engineers & Surveyors does

Kier + Wright Civil Engineers & Surveyors, Inc. is a privately held civil engineering and land surveying firm founded in 1972 by Dick Kier and Jim Wright in Santa Clara, California. The firm delivers planning, design, construction administration, site development, water resources, utility design, roadway infrastructure, and sustainability services, alongside land surveying capabilities including ALTA surveys, topographic surveys, construction staking, mapping, and 3D scanning with terrestrial LiDAR. It serves municipalities, government agencies (such as flood-control and water-conservation districts), and major private-sector clients across the technology, healthcare, retail, and real estate verticals, with named engagements for Apple, Adobe, Meta, NVIDIA, Google, Costco, Kaiser Permanente, John Muir Health, Prologis, and The Sobrato Organization.

The technology stack is centered on a multi-faceted surveying approach that combines fixed-wing and multi-rotor drones, GPS locating, 3D scanning, and terrestrial LiDAR to generate dense 3D point clouds and high-resolution orthoimagery, with fixed-wing platforms capable of mapping over 400 acres per hour. Service delivery also extends into renewable energy through the affiliated brand KWRE (Kier + Wright Renewable Engineering), which provides solar array, battery storage, interconnection, and substation design, alongside a dedicated water-resources practice.

K+W operates a relationship-driven, project-based professional services model, billing clients on the scope of individual engineering and surveying engagements; most work originates from referrals and repeat business cultivated over multi-decade client relationships. The firm runs 14+ office locations across California, Texas, Hawaii, Oregon, Idaho, Arkansas, and Washington, is licensed in at least 14 states, employs 230+ professionals as of its 2022 anniversary, and is recognized on ENR's 2026 Top 500 Design Firms list after a 30-place upward move.

Name

Kier & Wright Civil Engineers & Surveyors

Legal name

Kier & Wright Civil Engineers and Surveyors, Inc.

Website

https://kierwright.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1972

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Kier + Wright is a California-founded civil engineering and land surveying firm serving municipalities, government agencies, and major private developers with site development, infrastructure design, and renewable energy services across 14+ US offices.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Civil Engineering and Land Surveying Services

NAICS

Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services (5413), Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services (541370), Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services (54137)

SIC

Construction - Special Trade Contractors (1700)

akta.pro primary industry

Civil & Site Works EPC (Earthworks, Roads, Drainage, Foundations) (EUAEADAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Sustainable/Green Building & LEED Consulting (BPAHAKAG)

Keywords

• Civil engineering services
• Land surveying services
• Site development engineering
• Construction staking services
• Renewable energy engineering

Headquarters

HQ city

Livermore

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices14 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Professional Services - Engineering: Project-based civil engineering fees for planning, design, construction administration, and site development services. Services include 3D modeling, construction administration, planning, renewable engineering, site development, street and roadway design, sustainability, utility design, and water resources.
2. Professional Services - Surveying: Land surveying services including 3D scanning, ALTA Land Title Surveys, construction staking, mapping, topographic surveys. Billed as project-based professional services fees.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels11 records

Core offering

Kier + Wright provides professional civil engineering and land surveying services for land development projects, including planning, site development, 3D modeling, utility design, water resources, street and roadway design, sustainability, and construction administration. The firm also delivers land surveying services such as 3D scanning, ALTA Land Title Surveys, construction staking, mapping, and topographic surveys. Through its energy affiliate KWRE, K+W extends into renewable energy engineering including solar power, battery storage, interconnections, and substations.

Product overview

Kier + Wright operates as a civil engineering and land surveying firm with a portfolio of integrated service offerings. The core business comprises Civil Engineering Services and Land Surveying Services, supplemented by specialized modules including Construction Staking, Site Development, Water Resources Engineering, and Sustainability services. The company also operates KWRE (Kier + Wright Renewable Engineering) as an energy affiliate brand offering renewable power design services including solar arrays, battery storage, and substations. The overall offering is structured as a unified suite of land development services spanning the full project lifecycle from surveying and planning through engineering design and construction administration.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• KW Renewable Engineering (KWRE): Energy affiliate providing renewable energy engineering services including solar power, battery storage, interconnections, substations, and electrical engineering

Products and services

• Civil Engineering Services Comprehensive civil engineering services including 3D modeling, construction administration, land planning, site development, roadway infrastructure, sustainability, utility design, and water resources engineering for municipal and commercial land development projects.
• Land Surveying Services Professional land surveying services including 3D scanning, ALTA Land Title Survey, construction staking, mapping, and topographic survey services for commercial and residential development projects.
• Construction Staking Construction staking services that translate design plans into physical site markers for contractors during the construction phase of land development projects.
• Renewable Engineering Full-service renewable energy engineering including civil, structural, hydrology engineering, land surveying, and geotechnical oversight for solar power and sustainable infrastructure projects.
• KWRE (Kier + Wright Renewable Engineering) Energy affiliate specializing in solar array design, battery storage units, interconnections, substations, and renewable power design with full project lifecycle management from concept through construction.
• Water Resources Engineering Specialized water resources engineering services including stormwater management, pipeline replacement surveys, and infrastructure resilience design for municipal water districts.
• Site Development On-site design and land development engineering services covering grading, drainage, utility plans, and comprehensive site development for commercial and residential projects.
• 3D Scanning and Modeling Three-dimensional scanning and modeling of historic and complex structures for as-built documentation and future development planning, using dense 3D point clouds and Terrestrial Lidar Scanner (TLS) technology.

Quantifiable outcome

• Delivered over $130 million of constructed public infrastructure at IPC project
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 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.

• KWRE (KW Renewable Engineering)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 March 2026KWRE is K+W's energy affiliate focused on renewable energy design including solar power, battery storage, and sustainable infrastructure. Co-founded by Chuck McCallum (CEO of K+W) and Priyantha Sirisooriya. The firms work collaboratively on projects that combine civil infrastructure with renewable energy solutions, such as the Reno Technology Center powered by the Fort Churchill Solar Farm that KWRE designed.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves15 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Psomas: California/Western US civil engineering and surveying firm with a comparable mix of municipal, commercial, and tech-sector clients. Psomas is the closest direct peer to K+W in scale, geography, service mix (civil + surveying + entitlement), and customer type, though it carries slightly broader GIS and environmental capability.
• BKF Engineers: California-based civil, structural, and surveying firm founded in California and serving Bay Area public agencies, developers, and tech campuses. Highly comparable regional scale and customer mix; BKF's stronger structural engineering depth is the main differentiator.
• RICK Engineering Company: Western US civil engineering and surveying firm serving municipalities and private developers across California, Arizona, Nevada, and beyond. Overlapping service offerings and client base, with similar multi-office California-centric footprint.
• Dudek: California-based environmental and engineering firm providing land development, surveying, and environmental compliance to public and private clients in California. Comparable California-centric footprint with municipal and developer client overlap.

Broad incumbents

• Kimley-Horn: Top-five US civil engineering and planning firm with deep California presence and a national platform. Kimley-Horn competes with K+W on large commercial and municipal work but operates at materially greater scale and breadth, including transportation, environmental, and planning.
• Stantec: Global engineering, architecture, and environmental services firm with major California and Texas practices. Stantec directly overlaps with K+W on commercial land development and surveying for tech and municipal clients, but at a vastly larger scale and with deeper multi-disciplinary capabilities.
• AECOM: Global infrastructure consulting firm with strong California presence serving commercial developers, municipalities, and tech campuses. AECOM is several orders of magnitude larger than K+W but competes on the largest mega-projects in the same client ecosystem.
• Langan Engineering & Environmental Services: Multi-disciplinary engineering and environmental services firm with extensive California and Western US operations. Langan competes on commercial land development, surveying, and entitlement work for institutional clients similar to K+W's roster.
• Tetra Tech: Engineering and consulting firm specializing in water, environment, and sustainable infrastructure, including renewable energy and water resources — overlapping with K+W's water resources practice and the KWRE renewable engineering affiliate.
• TRC Companies: Engineering and consulting firm providing infrastructure, environmental, and energy services across the US. TRC overlaps with K+W on commercial site development, surveying, and renewable-energy engineering — particularly relevant given K+W's KWRE affiliate.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/kierwright
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCzQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/kierwrightcivilengineers
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kier-wright
• Instagraminstagram.com/kier.wright

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 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 Kier & Wright Civil Engineers & Surveyors