Cherne Contracting Corporation

What Cherne Contracting Corporation does

Cherne Contracting Corporation is a privately held, union-only heavy industrial contractor headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. The firm's heritage is that of a mechanical contractor, indicating its core capability set centers on mechanical systems installation and related industrial construction work performed under collective bargaining labor agreements. Founded in 1916, Cherne has operated continuously for over a century, with a current headcount of 51-100 employees consistent with a mid-sized specialty trade contractor serving industrial clients.

The company operates in the heavy industrial construction segment, restricted to union labor, which shapes both its addressable market (projects that mandate or prefer unionized craft work) and its cost structure (union wage and benefit rates). Its website is cherne.com, and the firm is classified as a for-profit private company. No further operational detail such as service lines, end markets, customer roster, geographic reach beyond its headquarters, project backlog, revenue, or financial history is disclosed in the available source material.

The business model is implicit: as a project-based mechanical and heavy industrial contractor, Cherne likely generates revenue through unit-price, lump-sum, or time-and-materials contracts on industrial construction projects, with labor (passed through at union rates), materials, and equipment markups as the primary revenue mechanics. However, pricing model, contract structures, segment mix, and go-to-market details are not present in the input data. Note that a substantial portion of the provided source material pertains to Kiewit Corporation rather than Cherne Contracting Corporation, and has been excluded from this analysis.

Name

Cherne Contracting Corporation

Website

https://cherne.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1916

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Cherne Contracting Corporation is a union-only heavy industrial mechanical contractor founded in 1916, headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, with 51-100 employees serving industrial clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Industrial Mechanical Contracting

NAICS

Other Specialty Trade Contractors (2389), Specialty Trade Contractors (238)

SIC

Construction - Special Trade Contractors (1700)

akta.pro primary industry

Industrial/Process Piping & Mechanical Contracting (IMAFALAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Industrial/Process Plant General Contracting (IMAFAAAH)

Keywords

• Industrial mechanical contracting
• Heavy industrial construction
• Union construction services
• Mechanical contractor services
• Industrial piping contracting

Headquarters

HQ city

Eden Prairie

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Core offering

Cherne Contracting Corporation is a union-only heavy industrial contractor whose core offering is mechanical contracting services for heavy industrial projects. Leveraging a heritage that dates to 1916, the company delivers mechanical construction work to industrial clients, with its union-only labor model as a defining operational characteristic.

Product overview

Kiewit offers a comprehensive suite of industrial construction and engineering services organized as an integrated platform with specialized market sector offerings and core service modules. The platform serves six primary markets: Data Centers, Industrial Energy, Industrial Water, Mining Minerals and Metals, Process and Manufacturing, and Semiconductors. These market-specific services are supported by five interconnected service modules—Feasibility and Project Development, Engineering and Design, Procurement, Construction, and Commissioning and Start-Up—that work together to provide integrated solutions from concept through operational handover. With over 140 years of experience and more than $10 billion in annual procurement across 22,000+ vendors, the platform enables Kiewit to self-perform the majority of critical work and deliver execution excellence.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Heavy Industrial Mechanical Contracting

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Direct peers

• Turner Industries: Turner Industries is one of the largest privately held union industrial contractors in the U.S., delivering mechanical, piping, fabrication, and maintenance services to refining, petrochemical, power, and process clients. Like Cherne, it self-performs craft-heavy industrial scopes with a union workforce, making it the closest direct comparable in business model and customer set.
• Industrial Constructors and Managers (ICM): ICM (formerly TIC/The Industrial Company heritage in Denver) is a heavy industrial mechanical and process contractor serving power, mining, metals, and oil & gas. Its self-perform mechanical/piping model and union craft base overlap directly with Cherne's heritage as a mechanical contractor on heavy industrial projects.
• Matrix Service Company: Matrix Service is a publicly traded industrial contractor providing mechanical, fabrication, and construction services to energy, power, and process clients. It competes for the same union-mechanical, piping-heavy scopes as Cherne on industrial capex projects, particularly in the Midwest and Mountain West.
• Barnhart Crane and Rigging: Barnhart provides industrial rigging, equipment setting, and heavy mechanical contracting services from a Mid-South base to industrial clients nationwide. It competes with Cherne for the rigging, equipment setting, and heavy mechanical scopes that fall within the company's mechanical-contractor heritage.
• Hornung Mechanical Industries: Hornung Mechanical is a union mechanical contractor based in the Upper Midwest providing industrial piping, HVAC, plumbing, and process mechanical services. Its regional base and mechanical focus make it a closely comparable peer to Cherne in size, scope mix, and customer base.
• Strike, LLC: Strike is a privately held industrial mechanical, pipeline, and process contractor serving energy, petrochemical, and midstream clients. Its union mechanical self-perform model and focus on heavy-industrial process scopes make it a relevant comparable for Cherne's mechanical-contractor offering.

Broad incumbents

• EMCOR Group Mechanical & Industrial Construction segment: EMCOR is a national mechanical & industrial construction services platform (incl. subsidiaries such as EMCOR Industrial and fabricated mechanical specialists) providing union mechanical contracting at a much larger scale than Cherne. It is the natural broad-incumbent comparison for a union mechanical specialist, with overlapping capabilities but a national building-services franchise Cherne does not pursue.
• BrandSafway (Industrial Services): BrandSafway's industrial services division provides scaffolding, insulation, coatings, and mechanical access services to industrial plants and capital projects across North America. It is a broad incumbent that overlaps with Cherne on industrial plant turnaround and mechanical-scope work.
• Quanta Services (Industrial Division): Quanta Services is the largest publicly traded specialty contractor for infrastructure, including a substantial industrial mechanical and pipeline construction segment that competes with Cherne for heavy-industrial mechanical and process-piping scopes.

Regional players

• C.A. Services: C.A. Services is a Midwest-focused industrial contractor providing mechanical, insulation, scaffolding, and coatings services to refineries and power plants. Its geographic concentration in the Midwest petroleum and power markets makes it a regional comparable to Cherne's Upper Midwest industrial base.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Cherne Contracting Corporation