MHS Planning & Design
MHS Planning & Design is a Texas-based consulting firm providing parks, streetscape, and public space planning, landscape architecture, civil engineering, and grant writing services to municipal governments, MUDs, and select private clients across the state.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1995
- HeadquartersTyler, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What MHS Planning & Design does
MHS Planning & Design, LLC is a privately held Texas-based consulting firm specializing in parks, streetscape, and public space planning, design, and engineering. Founded in the mid-1990s and headquartered in Tyler with a secondary office in Dallas, the firm serves municipal governments (cities, towns, counties, municipal utility districts), camps, churches, and select private developers across Texas. The firm has completed 250+ parks and green space projects and assisted 75-150 communities, with a documented 90% grant application success rate and over $50 million in grants secured on behalf of clients through Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, Texas Department of Transportation, and Texas General Land Office programs.
The firm operates two integrated service lines. Planning & Grant Writing covers parks and open space master plans, comprehensive plans, strategic plans, trails plans, feasibility studies, and athletic assessments, combined with grant writing that materially funds client capital projects. Landscape Architecture & Civil Engineering covers schematic design through construction administration for parks, sports complexes, trails, spraygrounds, downtown redevelopment, playgrounds, and recreational facilities. The core technical stack combines Civil 3D, AutoCAD, ESRI ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online, and Adobe Creative Suite, with 3D visualization, virtual reality tours, and dynamic 3D animations embedded into the design workflow for internal quality control and client engagement. AI exploration is at the whitepaper stage (published 2025) covering procedural modeling, layout optimization, user behavior prediction, and accessibility enhancement.
MHS makes money on a project-based professional services model. Engagement is won through direct government contracting via RFP/RFQ processes, public presentations at city council and parks board meetings, citizen engagement sessions, and ongoing client relationships. Revenue streams include planning and grant writing fees, landscape architecture and civil engineering design fees across the project lifecycle, and likely success-based or percentage-based compensation tied to grant awards. The firm is founder/partner-operated under William H. Spencer (President/PE) alongside named partners in planning and landscape architecture, with no institutional investors or external funding identified.
MHS Planning & Design firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- MHS Planning & Design
- Legal name
- MHS Planning & Design, LLC
- Website
- https://mhsplanning.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1995
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- MHS Planning & Design is a Texas-based consulting firm providing parks, streetscape, and public space planning, landscape architecture, civil engineering, and grant writing services to municipal governments, MUDs, and select private clients across the state.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
MHS Planning & Design industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Landscape Architecture & Planning Services
- NAICS
- Landscape Architectural Services (541320)
- SIC
- Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Urban Planning & Master Planning (BPAHAKAD)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Construction Engineering & Constructability Consulting (BPAHAIAN)
Keywords
Where MHS Planning & Design is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Tyler
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
MHS Planning & Design business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Planning & Grant Writing Services: Professional services revenue from comprehensive planning, parks and open space master planning, trails planning, feasibility studies, strategic plans, athletic assessments, and grant writing services. Revenue is project-based, typically won through RFP processes. Includes securing grants from Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, Texas Department of Transportation, and Texas General Land Office.
- Landscape Architecture & Civil Engineering Design: Design services for parks, recreation facilities, sports complexes, trails, commercial and residential development, and public spaces. Project-based fees covering schematic design through construction administration. Includes both new construction and renovation projects.
- Grant Writing Success Fees: Successful securing of grants for clients with a reported 90% success rate, totaling over $50,000,000 in grant funding. Revenue likely includes success-based fees or percentage-based compensation tied to grant awards.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels7 records
MHS Planning & Design product offering
Product offeringCore offering
MHS Planning & Design provides professional consulting services in landscape architecture, civil engineering, planning, and grant writing for parks, recreation, trails, and public space projects across Texas. The firm delivers end-to-end project execution from master planning and feasibility studies through schematic design, construction documents, and construction administration for municipal clients. Its services are supported by an embedded 3D visualization and VR design process used for internal quality control and stakeholder engagement.
Product overview
MHS Planning & Design is a landscape architecture, civil engineering, and planning firm operating across Texas. The company offers two primary service lines — (1) Planning & Grant Writing and (2) Landscape Architecture & Civil Engineering — supported by a proprietary 3D Visualization & Virtual Reality Design Process used throughout the project lifecycle. Planning & Grant Writing encompasses Parks & Open Space Master Plans, Comprehensive Plans, Strategic Plans, Feasibility Studies, and grant application services (120+ grants secured totaling $50M+). Landscape Architecture & Civil Engineering covers the design and construction administration of parks, sports complexes, trails, downtown redevelopments, and recreational facilities. The 3D Visualization & VR process is embedded across both service lines for internal quality control and external client presentation.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Landscape Architecture & Civil Engineering Services Design services for outdoor spaces including parks, recreation facilities, sports complexes, trails, commercial and residential developments, and public spaces. Project-based fees covering schematic design through construction administration for municipal, commercial, and residential clients across Texas.
- Planning & Grant Writing Services Planning and grant writing solutions for communities across Texas, including Parks & Open Space Master Plans, Trails Master Plans, Comprehensive Plans, Strategic Plans, Feasibility Studies, and Athletic Assessments. Grant writing services secure state (TPWD, TxDOT, GLO) and federal funding for park, trail, and recreation projects with a 90% success rate.
- 3D Visualization & Virtual Reality Design Process Proprietary design workflow that integrates 3D renderings, dynamic 3D animations, and interactive VR virtual tours into the actual design problem-solving process for park and recreation projects. Used for grading, site amenity placement, trail circulation quality control, and client/community engagement presentations before construction.
Quantifiable outcome
- $50,000,000+ in grants secured with 90% success rate
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use MHS Planning & Design
Customer profileNamed customers18 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
MHS Planning & Design technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability5 records
Feature4 records
MHS Planning & Design partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.
- Texas Parks & Wildlife DepartmentcoreOngoing partnership for grant writing and project development. MHS has successfully secured multiple TPWD grants for clients totaling significant funding. TPWD grants are a key revenue stream for municipal park projects.
- Texas Department of TransportationcorePartnership for transportation-related park and recreation grants. MHS writes and secures TxDOT grants for trail projects, park access improvements, and multimodal transportation connections.
- Texas General Land OfficecorePartnership for coastal and land-based recreation grants. MHS assists clients in securing GLO funding for park development and outdoor recreation projects.
- KSA EngineerssecondaryCollaborated with KSA Engineers on City of Winnsboro Comprehensive Plan project. MHS provided parks and open space planning expertise while KSA contributed engineering services.
- MSAsecondaryPartnership with MSA on Gregg County Paddling Trail Strategic Plan. MSA contributed to the project for improved paddling access to the Sabine River.
- Sabine River AuthoritycorePartnered with Sabine River Authority to plan, design, engineer and construct Pendleton Park on the Texas border. MHS led design and construction management for the $6.7M project.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
MHS Planning & Design competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- TBG Partners: TBG Partners is a Texas-based landscape architecture and planning firm with strong municipal parks and community design experience. Directly comparable to MHS in both geography (Texas) and core service offering (parks, public spaces, master planning).
- LandDesign: LandDesign is a multi-discipline design firm offering civil engineering, landscape architecture, and planning services with strong parks and community development work. Comparable to MHS in its integrated planning-civil-landscape model for public and private clients.
- Sasaki Associates: Sasaki is a planning, urban design, and landscape architecture firm with deep public realm and parks work. Comparable to MHS in its integrated planning-design approach and emphasis on master planning for cities and institutions.
- SWA Group: SWA Group is a leading landscape architecture and urban design firm with deep expertise in parks, plazas, and public realm projects. It is directly comparable to MHS in core offering (landscape architecture for public spaces) but operates at significantly larger national scale.
- Design Workshop: Design Workshop is a long-established landscape architecture, planning, and urban design firm specializing in parks, open space, and community master plans. Comparable to MHS in its integrated planning-to-design delivery model for public sector clients.
- OLIN: OLIN (now The Olin Studio) is a landscape architecture and urban design firm with a strong parks and public realm portfolio. Comparable in core service line and emphasis on integrating design excellence with public engagement, though operating at a larger national scale than MHS.
Broad incumbents
- Kimley-Horn: Kimley-Horn is a major national planning and engineering firm with a parks and recreation practice serving municipal clients across the U.S. Comparable to MHS in service offering and target market, but operates as a broad incumbent with far greater scale and geographic reach.
Regional players
- Pape-Dawson Engineers: Pape-Dawson is a Texas-based civil engineering and planning firm serving municipalities across the state. Comparable to MHS in Texas municipal client overlap and planning capability, but heavier on civil engineering than parks-specific design.
- Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam (LAN): LAN is a Texas-based planning, engineering, and program management firm that competes for municipal infrastructure and planning projects across the state. Comparable to MHS in Texas geography and municipal client base, though broader in scope beyond parks.
- Halff Associates: Halff Associates is a Texas-headquartered engineering, planning, and environmental services firm with a parks practice that competes for similar municipal clients in Texas. Comparable to MHS in geography and target market, but operates as a broader multi-discipline engineering firm rather than a parks specialist.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
MHS Planning & Design social profiles
Digital presenceMHS Planning & Design financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
MHS Planning & Design leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles11 records
MHS Planning & Design funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
MHS Planning & Design M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about MHS Planning & Design
What does MHS Planning & Design do?
MHS Planning & Design provides professional consulting services in landscape architecture, civil engineering, planning, and grant writing for parks, recreation, trails, and public space projects across Texas. The firm delivers end-to-end project execution from master planning and feasibility studies through schematic design, construction documents, and construction administration for municipal clients. Its services are supported by an embedded 3D visualization and VR design process used for internal quality control and stakeholder engagement.
Is MHS Planning & Design a public or private company?
MHS Planning & Design is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was MHS Planning & Design founded?
MHS Planning & Design was founded in 1995. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is MHS Planning & Design based?
MHS Planning & Design is headquartered in Tyler, United States, in the North America region.
How does MHS Planning & Design make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Planning & Grant Writing Services are the primary driver. The others are landscape Architecture & Civil Engineering Design and grant Writing Success Fees.
Who are MHS Planning & Design's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are TBG Partners, LandDesign, Sasaki Associates, SWA Group, Design Workshop and OLIN. Kimley-Horn is listed as a broad incumbent. Regional players are Pape-Dawson Engineers, Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam (LAN) and Halff Associates.
Does MHS Planning & Design have an API?
No public API is recorded for MHS Planning & Design.
What industry is MHS Planning & Design in?
MHS Planning & Design's product category is Landscape Architecture & Planning Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHAKAD, Urban Planning & Master Planning, with a secondary code of BPAHAIAN, Construction Engineering & Constructability Consulting. Its NAICS code is 541320 and its SIC code is 8700.