Welch Comer

What Welch Comer does

Welch Comer is a privately held, 100% employee-owned civil engineering firm founded in 1979 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, providing surveying and engineering services to municipal, state, federal, and select private clients across Idaho and Washington. The firm operates from three offices (Coeur d'Alene, Liberty Lake, and Spokane Valley) with more than 30 employees, including professional engineers, project managers, drafters, surveyors, and support staff, and functions as an extension of municipal staff for cities, counties, and special purpose districts.

The company delivers seven integrated service lines: Municipal Engineering, Transportation, Water, Wastewater, Master Planning, Surveying, and Parks and Recreation. Technical capabilities include hydraulic modeling, 3D rendering, ALTA/ASCM surveys, aerial drone surveying, bathymetric surveying, and award-winning membrane bio-reactor wastewater treatment design. Projects span the full lifecycle from planning and grant writing assistance through design, permitting, bidding, and construction administration, with named engagements including the Pullman Downtown Revitalization, Lewiston downtown transformation, Colville Reservoir 2 Replacement, and Gozzer Ranch Water Treatment Plant Improvements.

Welch Comer generates revenue through professional services fees on project-based engagements with public-sector clients. Pricing is project-specific and quote-based; the firm does not disclose pricing publicly. Its go-to-market is direct, relationship-driven enterprise sales, leveraging 40+ years of regional presence, an average employee tenure exceeding 10 years, and a sustained track record of ACEC engineering excellence awards in both Idaho and Washington to win competitive municipal procurements and long-term on-call assignments.

Name

Welch Comer

Legal name

Welch Comer

Website

https://welchcomer.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1979

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Welch Comer is a 100% employee-owned civil engineering firm serving municipalities in Idaho and Washington since 1979, delivering planning, surveying, design, and construction administration for water, wastewater, transportation, and public-infrastructure projects.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Civil Engineering Services

SIC

Construction - Special Trade Contractors (1700)

akta.pro primary industry

Construction Management (Agency/Owner’s Rep) (IMAFAAAC)

Keywords

• Civil engineering services
• Municipal engineering
• Water and wastewater design
• Transportation engineering
• Land surveying services

Headquarters

HQ city

Coeur D Alene

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Engineering Consulting Services: Provides civil engineering services including planning, mapping, surveying, design, bidding and construction phase services for water, wastewater, transportation and stormwater projects. Also specializes in development and revitalization of public spaces. Revenue generated through professional service fees for municipal, state, federal, and select private client engagements.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Welch Comer provides civil engineering and surveying services to municipal, state, federal, and select private clients across Idaho and Washington. The firm delivers full-lifecycle services spanning planning, mapping, surveying, design, bidding, and construction-phase support for water, wastewater, transportation, stormwater, and parks/recreation infrastructure projects, effectively acting as an extension of municipal staff.

Product overview

Welch Comer is an engineering services firm offering a unified portfolio of civil engineering services rather than a software product platform. The company provides seven integrated service lines: Municipal Engineering, Transportation, Water, Wastewater, Master Planning, Surveying, and Parks & Recreation. These services are offered as a cohesive package to municipalities and select private clients across Idaho and Washington, with projects typically involving planning, design, construction administration, and surveying. The company operates with approximately 30 employees across offices in Coeur d'Alene, ID and Liberty Lake/Spokane Valley, WA, serving as an extension of municipal staff for communities across the Inland Northwest.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Municipal Engineering Services Provides infrastructure systems planning and design, infrastructure and plat reviews, technical assistance with ordinances and standards, annexations, grant writing assistance, local improvement districts, bond assistance, utility rate studies, and surveying services to municipalities across the Inland Northwest.
• Transportation Engineering Services Delivers transportation plans, traffic studies, urban and rural road design, highway design, intersection signalization, roundabout planning and design, 3D rendering, pedestrian pathways, and complete streets and placemaking solutions.
• Water Engineering Services Offers hydraulic modeling, system analysis and troubleshooting, fee and rate analysis, groundwater wells, surface water development, water treatment plants, pumping facilities, distribution and transmission systems, and storage facilities.
• Wastewater Engineering Services Provides wastewater system planning and design including sewer collection lines, lift stations, wastewater treatment systems such as recirculating gravel filter systems and membrane bio-reactors, collection systems, infiltration/inflow analysis, NPDES permitting, and land application.
• Master Planning Services Assists cities, districts, and agencies with transportation, utility, parks, and downtown master plans through concept development, stakeholder and public meeting facilitation, surveying, floodplain mapping, and funding options and phased implementation strategy.
• Surveying Services Provides topographic surveys, boundary surveys, right-of-way surveys, ALTA/ASCM surveys, aerial drone surveying, and bathymetric surveys for civil engineering projects.
• Parks & Recreation Engineering Services Helps communities create parks, pathways, and recreation spaces through topographic and aerial drone surveying, conceptual layout, master planning, permitting, construction administration and inspection, and plans, specifications, and estimate services.

Quantifiable outcome

• Serves more than 25 municipalities throughout the Inland Northwest
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers24 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• ignite cdanotableStrategic or Co-development Partnerignite cda is a public-private development partnership with the City of Coeur d'Alene. Welch Comer partners with ignite cda on surveying and development projects including Atlas Development waterfront project.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• Bernardo Wills Architects: Bernardo Wills is a Spokane-based architecture, engineering, and planning firm serving public agencies in eastern Washington and the Inland Northwest. It is a local-market peer that competes with Welch Comer for municipal and public-sector assignments in the Spokane region.

Direct peers

• J-U-B Engineers: J-U-B Engineers is a Pacific Northwest-headquartered civil engineering firm of similar size that provides municipal engineering, water, wastewater, transportation, and surveying services to public agencies across Idaho, Washington, Utah, and neighboring states. It is the closest scale and geography match to Welch Comer.
• Parametrix: Parametrix is a Pacific Northwest engineering and planning firm with strong municipal water, wastewater, transportation, and parks practices across Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Its service mix and public-sector focus closely mirror Welch Comer's portfolio.
• David Evans and Associates (DEA): DEA is a Pacific Northwest-based engineering and surveying firm serving public agencies and private clients with transportation, water, environmental, and land services. It is a comparable regional civil engineering peer with similar municipal exposure.
• Century West Engineering: Century West Engineering is a Pacific Northwest civil engineering firm that delivers municipal transportation, water, wastewater, and aviation projects to cities and counties. Its geographic overlap with Welch Comer makes it a direct competitor for similar municipal contracts.
• T-O Engineers: T-O Engineers is an Idaho- and Pacific Northwest-based civil engineering firm that serves municipalities with water, wastewater, transportation, and land development services. It competes head-to-head with Welch Comer for municipal clients across the Inland Northwest.
• Kimley-Horn: Kimley-Horn is a national civil engineering consulting firm with strong municipal water, wastewater, transportation, and land development practices. It is a comparable professional services model but at significantly greater scale and geographic reach than Welch Comer.
• Otak: Otak is a Pacific Northwest architecture, engineering, and planning firm with a strong municipal practice spanning water, transportation, parks, and community design. Its multi-disciplinary public-sector delivery model is highly comparable to Welch Comer's.

Broad incumbents

• HDR Inc. HDR is a large global engineering firm with deep municipal water, wastewater, and transportation practices that serve many of the same types of public-sector clients as Welch Comer. It is a much broader incumbent competing on larger programs.
• Stantec: Stantec is a global engineering, architecture, and environmental services firm with significant municipal water and infrastructure practices in the Pacific Northwest. It competes with Welch Comer on larger bundled municipal engagements as a broader incumbent.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 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 Welch Comer