What Ardaman & Associates does

Ardaman & Associates is a privately held geotechnical and environmental engineering consulting firm headquartered in Orlando, Florida, founded in 1959 by Dr. M.E. Ardaman and operating today as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tetra Tech Inc. (NASDAQ: TTEK) since a 2002 merger. The firm delivers professional engineering services across two main lines: Resource Management (industrial solid waste and phosphogypsum disposal, dams/levees/earthen structures, mining, water resources, contamination remediation, and laboratory testing) and Infrastructure and Development (geotechnical and foundation engineering, construction materials testing and inspections, environmental assessments and remediation, sinkhole investigation, and subsurface investigations). Its technology stack combines field exploration (a fleet of 25+ drilling rigs on truck, ATV, track, and barge platforms), a custom CPT unit, a full geophysical survey suite, and one of the best-equipped geotechnical laboratories in the Southeastern United States — accredited by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, AASHTO, and the Geosynthetic Accreditation Institute. The firm also maintains an internal database of more than 175,000 projects completed since 1959.

Ardaman operates from 15 offices — 11 in Florida, 3 in Louisiana, and 1 in Houston, Texas — staffed by more than 400 engineers, scientists, designers, technicians, and inspectors, including a centralized Corporate Engineering Group of 60+ senior professionals. Its go-to-market is enterprise field sales: direct engagement with government agencies (federal, state, and county), industrial clients (fertilizer, mining, power, refining), utilities, A&E firms, contractors, and developers, augmented by an inbound service request form on its website. Revenue is project-based professional services billing, anchored by multi-year continuing services contracts with agencies such as the South Florida Water Management District, Florida Department of Transportation, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The firm has executed some of the largest geotechnical assignments in the region, including a $1.3 billion USACE Inner Harbor Navigation Canal barrier project (as subconsultant to Tetra Tech), a $54 million Port Tampa Bay petroleum terminal, and phosphogypsum stack closures on six continents.

The firm is differentiated by deep domain specialization, particularly in phosphogypsum disposal (100+ disposal areas designed on six continents, including the first lined phosphogypsum stack with a compatible liner system) and Florida karst/sinkhole investigation. Long-tenured customer relationships (e.g., 35 years with Willis Knighton Health System across 100+ project assignments) and an internal culture emphasizing safety (TRIR 0.21, EMR 0.61, below industry averages) reinforce repeat engagement. Marketing is conducted primarily through technical publications, sponsored lectures (the annual Dr. Anwar Wissa Lecture at the University of South Florida), and a content-rich website rather than paid digital channels.

Name

Ardaman & Associates

Legal name

Ardaman & Associates, Inc.

Website

https://ardaman.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1959

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Ardaman & Associates is a Florida-headquartered geotechnical and environmental engineering consulting firm, founded in 1959 and operating as a subsidiary of Tetra Tech, serving government agencies, industrial clients, and developers across the Southeastern U.S. through 15 offices and 400+ staff.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Geotechnical and Environmental Engineering Services

NAICS

Engineering Services (541330), Environmental Consulting Services (54162), Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services (54136)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711)

akta.pro primary industry

Geotechnical & Subsurface Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Water, Wastewater & Hydraulics Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAD)

Keywords

• Geotechnical engineering services
• Environmental engineering consulting
• Construction materials testing
• Subsurface investigation services
• Industrial waste management engineering

Headquarters

HQ city

Orlando

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices15 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Engineering Consulting Services: Professional engineering and consulting services billed on a project basis. Services include geotechnical engineering, environmental assessments, construction materials testing, water resources, mining support, and industrial waste management. Revenue is project-based with multi-year continuing services contracts with government agencies.
2. Laboratory Testing Services: Geotechnical and materials laboratory testing services for external clients as well as internal project support. Includes testing of soil, concrete, asphalt, geosynthetics and specialized materials.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Ardaman & Associates is a civil engineering firm providing geotechnical and environmental consulting services, including subsurface exploration (drilling, CPT, geophysics), in-house laboratory testing, foundation engineering, construction materials testing, environmental site assessments, contamination remediation, water resources engineering, mining support, and specialized industrial waste and phosphogypsum disposal stack design. The firm serves government agencies, industrial clients, developers, and contractors through 15 branch offices across Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, supported by a centralized Corporate Engineering Group and one of the best-equipped geotechnical laboratories in the Southeastern United States.

Product overview

Ardaman & Associates is a geotechnical and environmental engineering consulting firm offering professional engineering services rather than a software product or platform. Their portfolio consists of distinct service offerings organized under two main categories: Resource Management services (Industrial Solid Waste and Phosphogypsum Management, Dams/Levees/Earthen Structures, Mining, Water Resources, Contamination Remediation, and Laboratory Testing) and Infrastructure and Development services (Geotechnical and Foundation Engineering, Construction Materials Testing & Inspections, Environmental Assessments and Remediation, Sinkhole Investigation and Evaluation, and Subsurface Investigations). The company operates from 15 offices across Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, serving clients throughout the southeastern United States and internationally.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Industrial Solid Waste and Phosphogypsum Management Specialized engineering services for siting, design, construction monitoring, management, and closure of industrial solid waste disposal facilities, including phosphogypsum disposal stacks and coal combustion residual landfills. Ardaman has worked on over 75 phosphogypsum disposal sites worldwide.
• Geotechnical and Foundation Engineering Full range of geotechnical engineering analysis, design, and inspection of foundations and foundation systems, including shallow foundations, mats, deep foundations, earth retaining structures, and sinkhole evaluation.
• Construction Materials Testing and Inspections Full-service construction materials testing and inspection services including testing of soil, concrete, asphalt, masonry, and steel, with cross-trained, GPS-dispatched field representatives.
• Environmental Assessments and Remediation Environmental assessment and remediation services including Phase I and II Environmental Site Assessments, contamination assessments, groundwater monitoring, tank removal/closure assessments, and asbestos, mold, and lead paint surveys.
• Sinkhole Investigation and Evaluation Comprehensive sinkhole investigation and evaluation services including literature research, subsurface exploration, structural damage inspection, karst condition analysis, and remediation alternatives in karst-prone areas.
• Subsurface Investigations Geotechnical subsurface investigation services using indirect methods (geophysical surveys, aerial photographs, GIS database) and direct methods (soil borings, cone penetrometer testing, in-situ testing).
• Mining Services Geotechnical engineering and consulting for mining operations including impoundments, earthen structures, foundations, hydrology, waste disposal planning, and tailings disposal facility design.
• Dams, Levees and Earthen Structures Evaluation and design of water resource dams, flood protection levees, mine tailings dams, and impoundments.
• Water Resources Water resources engineering including surface water and groundwater hydrology, basin modeling, water supply wells, wastewater disposal, groundwater monitoring, and watershed management.
• Contamination Remediation Environmental remediation services including assessment of contamination, remediation planning and implementation, risk analysis, and Brownfields assessment for soil and groundwater contamination.
• Laboratory Testing Geotechnical laboratory analysis services including soil classification, strength, compressibility, permeability testing, sedimentation, consolidation, compatibility evaluation, and synthetic liner and geotextile testing, delivered through one of the best-equipped geotechnical laboratories in the Southeastern United States.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduced remediation cost from estimated $90+ million to $7 million ($15/ton vs $200/ton) for Tampa Mill project through innovative on-site vault disposal
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments5 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.

• Tetra Tech Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2002In 2002, Ardaman merged with Tetra Tech Inc., a national and international infrastructure and environmental engineering company. Tetra Tech is Ardaman's parent company. The merger expanded Ardaman's services globally and provided access to broader resources and project opportunities. Ardaman operates as a subsidiary of Tetra Tech while maintaining the Ardaman brand identity.

Scale indicators16 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Tetra Tech: Ardaman's parent company and the broader international infrastructure and environmental engineering consultancy of which Ardaman is a subsidiary. While not a direct competitor to Ardaman internally, Tetra Tech competes for the same mega-infrastructure projects and shapes Ardaman's strategic positioning.
• AECOM: Global infrastructure consulting firm with comprehensive geotechnical, environmental, water, and transportation practices. Frequently competes with Ardaman — and its owner Tetra Tech — on large transportation, water resources, and federal engineering contracts across Florida and the Gulf Coast.

Direct peers

• Haley & Aldrich: Geotechnical and environmental engineering consultancy with strong industrial site development, water resources, and remediation practices. Comparable to Ardaman's environmental and infrastructure service lines for complex industrial and government projects.
• ECS Group of Companies: Major US geotechnical, environmental, construction materials, and facility engineering consultancy with regional offices across the Southeast, directly competing with Ardaman on transportation, public works, and private development projects.
• Terracon Consultants: Largest US-based geotechnical, environmental, construction materials, and facilities engineering consulting firm, directly competing with Ardaman across service lines and on Florida/Southeast projects. Terracon operates a similarly distributed branch model and comparable in-house drilling and laboratory capabilities.
• GeoSyntec Consultants: Specialty environmental and geotechnical engineering consultancy with strong industrial waste management and remediation practices — directly comparable to Ardaman's industrial solid waste, phosphogypsum, and contamination remediation offerings.
• Universal Engineering Sciences: Florida-headquartered geotechnical and environmental engineering firm with overlapping services (subsurface exploration, materials testing, environmental assessments) competing directly for Southeast infrastructure and development projects.
• S&ME: Southeast-US-rooted geotechnical, environmental, and construction engineering firm with comparable service portfolio (geotechnical engineering, materials testing, environmental services) and a similar office-distribution model; often competes head-to-head with Ardaman in Florida and the Carolinas.
• Tolunay Wong Engineers: Gulf Coast-focused geotechnical and materials engineering firm that directly competes with Ardaman in Louisiana and Texas on industrial site work, ports, and infrastructure projects.

Regional players

• Krazan & Associates: Western-US-based geotechnical engineering, materials testing, and inspection firm with a comparable service portfolio, competing in adjacent regional markets on transportation and infrastructure work.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance7 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Subsidiaries2 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 Ardaman & Associates