What GSE Construction does

GSE Construction, Inc. is a privately held, second-generation family-owned general engineering contractor founded in 1980 by Orlando Gutierrez and headquartered in Livermore, California. The company designs and builds water and wastewater infrastructure, including treatment plants, water reclamation facilities, lift stations, pump stations, and process mechanical and underground utility scopes, and operates across the Western United States through regional headquarters in Escondido (Southwest), Lathrop (Northwest), and Lafayette (Mountain) supported by regional offices in California, Arizona, and Idaho.

The company's core offering spans four service lines — Municipal, Federal, Industrial, and Private — delivered through both traditional design-bid-build and alternative delivery methods including design-build, progressive design-build, CM/GC, CMAR, design-assist, on-call, and job-order-contracting. GSE self-performs much of the craft work, holding certified welders and crane operators on a 200+ employee workforce, and partners with process technology suppliers such as Evoqua, Cloacina, World Water Works, and Culligan to deliver packaged treatment solutions. Notable projects include the $102.3M Phase 2/BNR Tertiary WWTP for the City of Modesto (largest MBR in the Western U.S. at the time), the $36M Transcanyon Waterline for the National Park Service, and the 30 MGD Montevina WTP for San Jose Water Company (nation's first ultrafiltration fiber installation of its kind), with 1,200+ projects and 80+ repeat clients accumulated over 45 years.

GSE generates revenue as a project-based contractor via competitive bidding, negotiated GMP/CM/GC agreements, and design-build contracts serving public utility districts, federal agencies (USACE, VA, NPS, DOE, BLM), and industrial customers in food and beverage, energy, semiconductor, and aerospace. Revenue is not publicly disclosed and the firm is privately held with no external investors, M&A activity, or leadership transitions reported in the available data.

Name

GSE Construction

Legal name

GSE Construction, Inc.

Website

https://gseconstruction.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

GSE Construction is a privately held, second-generation family-owned general engineering contractor founded in 1980 that designs and builds water and wastewater infrastructure for municipal, federal, industrial, and private clients across the Western United States.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Livermore

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices11 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Construction Project Fees: GSE generates revenue by serving as prime contractor or subcontractor on water/wastewater infrastructure construction projects. Revenue is project-based and earned through a mix of fixed-price (design-bid-build), cost-reimbursable (CM/GC, CMAR), and design-build contracts. Additional revenue streams include self-performed craft work and equipment installation scopes.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

GSE Construction is a general engineering contractor that designs and constructs water and wastewater infrastructure for municipal, federal, industrial, and private clients across the Western United States. Projects include water and wastewater treatment plants, lift stations, pump stations, process mechanical installations, underground utilities, and civil/structural work delivered through design-bid-build, design-build, CM/GC, CMAR, design-assist, on-call, and job-order-contracting methods. The company self-performs craft labor including certified welding and crane operation, and has completed 1,200+ projects since 1980.

Product overview

GSE Construction is a water and wastewater infrastructure construction company that operates as a single unified service offering rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The company provides four core construction service lines: Municipal Construction Services (serving public works clients with various delivery methods including design-build, CM/GC, CMAR), Federal Construction Services (serving federal agencies with 40-year track record), Industrial Wastewater Pretreatment Services (serving food & beverage, energy, semiconductor, and aerospace clients), and Private Industry Construction Services (serving private developers and industrial clients). These services are delivered through the company's regional headquarters in California, Arizona, Colorado, and Idaho, with project types including water treatment plants, wastewater treatment facilities, lift stations, pump stations, and related infrastructure.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Municipal Construction Services Construction services for water and wastewater infrastructure serving municipal clients, including treatment plants, water reclamation facilities, lift stations, and pump stations delivered through design-build, progressive design-build, CM/GC, CMAR, design-assist, on-call, and job-order-contracting methods.
• Federal Construction Services Federal infrastructure construction including VA medical center upgrades, National Park Service waterlines, flood control pump stations, and other agency water infrastructure delivered under federal contracting requirements and security protocols.
• Industrial Wastewater Pretreatment Services Industrial water and wastewater treatment construction for Food & Beverage, Energy, Semiconductor, and Aerospace clients, including high-strength wastewater pretreatment, anaerobic/aerobic treatment, biogas utilization, water reuse, and high-purity process water (RODI) treatment systems delivered through design-build turnkey installations.
• Private Industry Construction Services Construction services for private clients including cogeneration facilities, pretreatment systems, design-build turnkey installations, lift stations, transmission lines, and treatment facilities that enable private facilities to treat water on-site rather than connect to municipal systems.

Quantifiable outcome

• At the time, the Phase 2/BNR Tertiary WWTP Project constructed the largest MBR in the Western United States (12.7 MGD)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Cloacina LLCcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024GSE partnered with Cloacina LLC as packaged MBR supplier to provide a turnkey packaged MBR solution for the Meyer Ranch WWTP Expansion (2024). The partnership offered an alternative packaged MBR system at lower cost with higher quality materials of construction than the original design.
• World Water WorkscoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2021GSE partnered with World Water Works (equipment supplier) and T-O Engineers for the Eagle Family Foods Wastewater Pretreatment System Upgrades Phase 1 and 2. The partnership delivered a two-phase treatment solution meeting the city's aggressive discharge limit deadline and budgetary constraints.
• Siemens Water Technologies (now Evoqua)coreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2007GSE partnered with Siemens Water Technologies (now Evoqua) to design, procure, install, and commission wastewater pretreatment systems for the Mariani Packing Co. WWTP (2007) and Fresno Anaerobic Treatment Plant (2009), combining GSE's construction expertise with Siemens's process technology.
• Evoqua Water TechnologiescoreTechnology or IntegrationEvoqua supplied membrane bioreactor tanks (Evoqua membrane bioreactor tanks) for the Phase 2/BNR Tertiary WWTP Project, one of the largest MBR installations in the Western U.S.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Garney Construction: Employee-owned water and wastewater infrastructure specialty contractor with comparable CM-at-Risk and design-build delivery expertise and a similar self-perform craft workforce operating across multiple Western and Midwestern states. Highly comparable in service mix to GSE's municipal and industrial water/wastewater business.
• Sundt Construction: Employee-owned heavy civil and industrial contractor with a strong water/wastewater treatment plant practice across the Western US. Comparable in alternative project delivery capability (CMAR, design-build) and similar multi-state footprint.
• C. Overaa & Co. Northern California-based general engineering contractor with deep water and wastewater treatment plant expertise for municipal and industrial clients. Comparable size, alternative-delivery experience, and geographic concentration in the Bay Area / Northern California region.
• W.M. Lyles Co. Mid-sized California-based general engineering contractor with deep specialization in water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure for municipal clients. Closely comparable size, regional focus, alternative-delivery expertise, and treatment-plant orientation to GSE.
• James W. Fowler Co. Oregon-based general engineering contractor specializing in water treatment, wastewater, hydro, and irrigation infrastructure for municipal clients across the Pacific Northwest and Western US. Closely comparable family-business culture and self-perform craft model.

Broad incumbents

• Kiewit Corporation: One of North America's largest employee-owned infrastructure contractors with a substantial water/wastewater treatment plant practice via design-build. Competes with GSE for the largest municipal and federal alternative-delivery water projects.
• Granite Construction: California-headquartered publicly traded heavy civil contractor with a large water resources segment serving municipal and federal clients across the Western US. Larger scale than GSE with overlapping water infrastructure capabilities, particularly pipelines and treatment facilities.
• MWH Constructors (Stantec): Water infrastructure specialist construction arm of Stantec, with global heavy civil and water treatment plant capabilities including design-build and CMAR delivery. Comparable water/wastewater specialty expertise, though substantially larger and internationally diversified.
• PCL Construction: Large employee-owned general contractor with a dedicated water infrastructure group executing design-build and CMAR water and wastewater treatment projects across the Western US. Overlaps GSE on alternative-delivery municipal work.

Regional players

• Teichert Construction: Sacramento-based heavy civil contractor with extensive underground utility, water, and wastewater pipeline work for Northern California municipalities. Comparable regional water-infrastructure delivery, though more pipeline-heavy than treatment-plant focused.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@gseconstructioncomanyinc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/g-s-e-construction-company-inc
• Instagraminstagram.com/gse.construction
• Xx.com/gseconstruction

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 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 GSE Construction