RDQ

What RDQ does

RDQ, Inc. is a private, 100% employee-owned engineering services firm founded in 2018 by Michelle DeQuoy and headquartered in Denver, Colorado with a second office in San Diego. The company provides specialized transmission and distribution line engineering services to electric utilities across North America, executing work in California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Hawaii, Colorado, and British Columbia. Its service portfolio comprises six integrated offerings: Transmission Engineering, Distribution Engineering, Owner's Engineer, Project Management, Staff Augmentation, and Fire Risk Assessment & Mitigation — with the latter productized around California wildfire hardening and G.O. 95 compliance.

RDQ's technical work is built around industry-standard structural and design tooling — PLS-CADD, PLS-Pole, PLS-Tower, MFAD, AutoCAD, Microstation, and SPIDA — combined with a proprietary QUEST Quality Management Plan for project delivery. The firm is WBE (Women-Business Enterprise) certified, a credential that provides access to diversity procurement budgets at investor-owned and public utilities. Named enterprise clients include SDG&E, PG&E, NVE, and NYPA, with engagements spanning new line design, system hardening, owner's engineering, and embedded staff support.

RDQ operates a project-based professional services model, billing on time-and-materials or fixed-scope arrangements negotiated per engagement, with no public pricing or disclosed revenue. Go-to-market is direct enterprise field sales supported by LinkedIn presence, industry conference participation (notably IEEE T&D), and a downloadable capabilities statement. The firm has 11–50 employees, with a leadership bench of senior engineers each carrying 15+ years of high-voltage transmission and distribution experience.

Name

RDQ

Legal name

RDQ, Inc.

Website

https://r-dq.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

RDQ is a 100% employee-owned, WBE-certified engineering services firm providing transmission, distribution, and owner's-engineer services to electric utilities across North America, with offices in Denver and San Diego.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Denver

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Engineering Services: Professional engineering services billed on a project or time-and-materials basis for transmission line design, distribution engineering, owner's engineer services, project management, and staff augmentation. Revenue is generated through fee-for-service arrangements with electric utility clients.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

RDQ provides transmission and distribution line engineering services for electric utility infrastructure. Its portfolio covers route selection, structural and foundation design, conductor selection, owner's engineering, project management, staff augmentation, and fire risk assessment and mitigation for transmission and distribution systems.

Product overview

RDQ provides engineering services for electric utility infrastructure with a focus on transmission line design. The company offers a unified portfolio of six integrated service offerings: Transmission Engineering, Distribution Engineering, Owner's Engineer, Project Management, Staff Augmentation, and Fire Risk Assessment & Mitigation. These services are designed to support electric power infrastructure projects from concept through completion, providing coordination, technical expertise, and practical problem-solving. RDQ's services are grounded in real engineering experience and designed to keep work organized and moving forward, with a focus on responsive support and consistent involvement from experienced leadership.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Transmission Engineering Transmission engineering services covering route selection, structural and foundation design, conductor selection, and underground interconnections, supporting hundreds of miles of overhead transmission and distribution lines across North America.
• Distribution Engineering Distribution engineering support including overhead and underground systems, pole loading, collector systems, and fire risk mitigation designed for real-world field conditions.
• Owner's Engineer Acting as a trusted extension of client teams, providing scope definition, budgeting, feasibility studies, technology assessment, permitting support, and environmental coordination during early project phases.
• Project Management Engineering-informed project management supporting scope, schedule, and budget coordination using Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project expertise.
• Staff Augmentation Providing experienced professionals who integrate with client workflows for short-term support or specialized expertise, including access to specialized and legacy expertise.
• Fire Risk Assessment & Mitigation Engineering-based fire risk assessment and mitigation planning for transmission and distribution systems, supporting system hardening, resilience strategies, and risk-informed asset evaluation.

Quantifiable outcome

• Delivered transmission line design across hundreds of miles in North America

Named customers4 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Black & Veatch: Global engineering, procurement, and construction firm with significant power delivery and T&D capabilities — competes for the same utility engineering spend but as part of a much wider portfolio.
• HDR Inc. Large multi-disciplinary engineering firm with a substantial power delivery practice covering transmission, distribution, and substation work — overlaps with RDQ's services but at materially greater scale.
• Burns & McDonnell: Large, full-service engineering firm with a major transmission and distribution practice serving IOUs and developer clients — broader portfolio but overlapping in RDQ's core T&D design market.
• GHD: Global engineering and advisory firm with a North American power and utilities practice covering T&D and owner's-engineer services — comparable offering though broader geographic and sector footprint.
• Quanta Services: Largest pure-play utility infrastructure services provider in North America, primarily construction-focused but increasingly offering engineering support — competing for the same utility program spend though at much larger scale.

Direct peers

• Ulteig: Mid-size, employee-owned engineering firm focused on power, renewables, and utility infrastructure for IOUs and public power — closely comparable to RDQ in size, ownership model, and utility-only customer focus.
• Kimley-Horn: Privately held engineering firm with a power/utilities practice that delivers transmission, distribution, and owner's-engineer services — direct competitor for utility-side engineering contracts.
• TRC Companies: Engineering and consulting firm with a dedicated power and utilities practice covering transmission planning, siting, and design — competes for similar utility engineering mandates.
• NV5 Global: Technical engineering and consulting firm with infrastructure, power, and utility-related services — comparable in offering transmission and distribution engineering to utility clients.
• POWER Engineers (POWER Engineering): Specialist engineering consultancy with a heavy emphasis on transmission, distribution, and grid systems for utilities — directly comparable technical services and customer base to RDQ.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/r-dq

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 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 RDQ