What Michaud Cooley Erickson does

Michaud Cooley Erickson (MCE) is a Minneapolis-based MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) consulting engineering firm founded in 1946, serving enterprise and institutional clients across the United States and Canada. The firm provides full-service building systems design across mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, lighting design, technology systems, and commissioning, delivered through vertical specializations in aviation, healthcare, higher education, corporate, retail, government, mission critical, entertainment and hospitality, and science and technology. MCE is anchored by long-tenured client relationships — most notably a 50+ year, 1,700+ project engagement with Target Corporation and Continuing Consultant status at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport since 2000 — supported by a national delivery footprint.

The firm operates an advanced modeling and simulation technology stack built on industry-standard tools (Revit MEP, IES-Virtual Environment, FARO laser scanning, Navisworks, PIPE-FLO, TRIFLEX, MicroFlow/Tileflow CFD, and SKM PowerTools), enabling energy modeling, computational fluid dynamics, clash detection, and arc-flash analysis. These capabilities underpin decarbonization-oriented work tied to the firm's MEP 2040 Commitment and LEED/B3 sustainability services. MCE's go-to-market is direct enterprise field sales, with deep technical credibility driving repeat and referral-based engagements; there is no public pricing, no self-serve channel, and no published fee schedule.

MCE is privately held with no parent company, external investors, or public listing identified, and operates with an employee-ownership model typical of professional services partnerships (including a 401(k) plan with 25% employer match). Recent leadership signals — the 2022 retirement of John Smith and the January 2025 promotion of Rosemary Wolf, Nick Edwards, and Leisbel Lam to Partner — indicate an active generational transition underway alongside an expansion of the firm's aviation practice to eleven clients beyond MSP.

Name

Michaud Cooley Erickson

Legal name

Michaud Cooley Erickson

Website

https://michaudcooley.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1946

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Michaud Cooley Erickson is a Minneapolis-based MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) consulting engineering firm founded in 1946, providing full-service building systems design for enterprise and institutional clients across nine verticals including aviation, healthcare, higher education, retail, and corporate.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Minneapolis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. MEP Engineering Consulting Services: Professional consulting fees for mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, lighting design, technology systems, and commissioning services for building projects.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Michaud Cooley Erickson (MCE) is a full-service mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) consulting engineering firm that designs HVAC, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, lighting, technology systems, and provides commissioning and building modeling/simulation services for commercial, institutional, and mission-critical facilities. The firm serves enterprise clients across aviation, healthcare, higher education, corporate, retail, government, mission-critical, hospitality, and science and technology sectors.

Product overview

Michaud Cooley Erickson (MCE) is a full-service MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing) consulting engineering firm offering a comprehensive portfolio of design services. The company provides Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Fire Protection, Technology Systems, Commissioning, Lighting Design, and Building Modeling & Simulations as its core service offerings. These services are delivered across diverse market sectors including Aviation, Government, Mission Critical (data centers), Corporate, Healthcare, Retail, Entertainment & Hospitality, Higher Education, and Science & Technology. MCE also offers Sustainability Services with a focus on building decarbonization and the MEP 2040 Commitment. The firm uses advanced modeling and simulation software tools including Revit MEP, BIM360, IES-VE, FARO laser scanning, PIPE-FLO, TRIFLEX, Navisworks, MicroFlow, Tileflow, and SKM PowerTools to inform design decisions and optimize building performance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Mechanical Engineering

Named customers7 records

Segments9 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature9 records

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Page (Page Southerland Page): Page is an integrated architecture and engineering firm with substantial MEP consulting capabilities serving healthcare, higher education, aviation, and science & technology markets. Comparable due to overlapping verticals (aviation, healthcare, higher ed) and full-service engineering approach.
• Affiliated Engineers (AEI): AEI is a specialized MEP and structural engineering consulting firm with strong focus on mission-critical facilities (data centers), healthcare, and higher education. Comparable as a similar-sized specialty MEP consultancy with overlapping verticals including mission-critical and science/technology.
• ME Engineers: ME Engineers is a privately held MEP consulting engineering firm of similar size and service portfolio, specializing in mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and technology systems design across commercial, healthcare, higher education, and entertainment sectors. Directly comparable as a similarly scoped national MEP consulting firm.
• CMTA Engineers: CMTA is a national MEP engineering firm specializing in energy-efficient and sustainable building design across healthcare, higher education, government, and commercial sectors. Comparable due to strong sustainability focus (similar to MCE's MEP 2040 commitment) and overlapping vertical mix.
• Mazzetti: Mazzetti is an MEP and technology consulting engineering firm specializing in healthcare and mission-critical (data center) facilities. Directly comparable due to shared focus on mission-critical and healthcare verticals and similar project-based consulting model.
• Affirm Engineers: Affirm Engineers is an MEP/FP consulting engineering firm serving healthcare, higher education, science & technology, and commercial markets. Comparable as a similarly sized specialty engineering consultancy with overlapping verticals and B2B professional services model.

Broad incumbents

• SmithGroup: SmithGroup is an integrated design firm with significant MEP engineering capabilities across healthcare, higher education, science & technology, and workplace markets. Comparable due to overlapping client verticals but with broader integrated design services including architecture.
• Burns & McDonnell: Burns & McDonnell is a large engineering, construction, and consulting firm with significant MEP and building systems practices across aviation, healthcare, higher education, and mission-critical. Comparable as a national-scale competitor pursuing similar project types, though substantially larger.
• WSP Building Systems: WSP is a global engineering professional services firm with a significant building MEP practice serving healthcare, higher education, aviation, and commercial clients. Comparable as a broader incumbent competing on similar project types with greater geographic reach and scale.

Emerging players

• kW Mission Critical Engineering Group: kW Mission Critical specializes in MEP engineering for data centers and mission-critical facilities, an emerging high-value vertical for MCE. Comparable due to specialized MEP expertise in mission-critical environments and shared focus on high-reliability building systems.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/michaud-cooley-erickson
• Facebookfacebook.com/michaud-cooley-erickson-160709257285391

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 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 Michaud Cooley Erickson