What Ross Bryan Associates does

Ross Bryan Associates is a privately held civil and structural engineering firm founded in 1949 in Nashville, Tennessee, providing structural design, restoration, investigative/forensic, and plant certification auditing services. The firm operates through two wholly-owned subsidiaries — RBA Structural Engineering LLC, which delivers structural design, restoration, forensic investigation, sign structure design (including programs for Ford Motor Company and General Motors), and GFRC/architectural precast facade engineering — and RBA Audit LLC, an IAS-accredited inspection agency that performs plant certification audits for the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) and the National Precast Concrete Association (NPCA), covering approximately 280 plants annually across North America and Mexico. The firm's technology stack is built around BIM, structural analysis software, and CAD/3D modeling, applied across diverse materials including prestressed and post-tensioned concrete, structural steel, precast elements, and glass fiber reinforced concrete.

The firm is registered to offer services in 49 states and the District of Columbia, with a marquee project portfolio spanning higher education (University of Tennessee, Belmont, Vanderbilt, Middle Tennessee State, Trevecca Nazarene), healthcare (East Tennessee Children's Hospital), municipal/civic (Music City Center, Pennsylvania Convention Center, Knoxville Convention Center), and corporate work. Leadership includes long-tenured principals with 32-37 years at the firm. Go-to-market is reputation-led and project-based, executed through direct enterprise sales relationships with architects, developers, contractors, and lenders, supported by extensive industry recognition (ACEC, AIA, ULI, ENR, TNSEA awards across decades) and academic partnerships such as the endowed Ross Bryan Associates Fellowship at the University of Tennessee.

On December 17, 2025, Ross Bryan Associates announced it has joined Salas O'Brien, an engineering platform, with offices to remain under existing leadership and clients to continue working with the same team — positioning the firm's structural and precast auditing capabilities inside a larger combined platform. Revenue is not disclosed; given the 11-50 employee band and the mix of institutional project work alongside recurring audit revenue, the firm is best characterized as a small, mature professional services practice with a defensible niche rather than a high-growth venture.

Name

Ross Bryan Associates

Legal name

Ross Bryan Associates, Inc.

Website

https://rossbryan.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1949

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Ross Bryan Associates is a Nashville-based structural engineering firm founded in 1949 providing structural design, restoration, forensic investigation, and PCI/NPCA plant certification auditing (via subsidiary RBA Audit LLC) to architects, developers, contractors, and lenders across the United States.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Structural Engineering Services

NAICS

Engineering Services (54133), Engineering Services (541330), Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services (5413)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711), Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Civil & Structural Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAA)

Keywords

• Structural engineering services
• Building restoration services
• Forensic structural investigation
• Precast concrete plant auditing
• Prestressed concrete design

Headquarters

HQ city

Nashville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Structural Engineering Consulting Services: Professional engineering fees for structural design, restoration, investigative, and auditing services billed on a project basis. The firm serves as engineer of record for construction projects and provides consulting to architects, developers, contractors, and lenders.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Ross Bryan Associates is a structural engineering firm that provides professional consulting services including structural design (Engineer of Record for building projects, sign structures, facades, precast/prestressed concrete elements), structural restoration and preservation, forensic investigative services for failed or distressed structures, and third-party plant certification auditing for precast concrete manufacturers through its subsidiary RBA Audit LLC.

Product overview

Ross Bryan Associates is a structural engineering firm offering a portfolio of professional services including Structural Design (EOR building projects, sign structures, precast/prestressed concrete elements, GFRC facades, precast production facilities), Structural Restoration, Investigative/Forensic Services, and Auditing Services through its subsidiary RBA Audit LLC. Founded in 1949, the firm provides engineering solutions for projects across commercial, educational, healthcare, municipal, and worship sectors throughout the United States.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• RBA Audit: Auditing agency subsidiary performing plant certification audits for the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute and National Precast Concrete Association
• RBA Structural Engineering

Products and services

• Structural Design Services Engineering services for designing structural systems for buildings and structures, including Engineer of Record (EOR) building projects, sign structures, precast elements and buildings, facades, and precast production facilities.
• Structural Restoration Services Consulting engineering services for restoration and stabilization of facades and full building renovations, serving both structural and historical restoration needs.
• Investigative Services Structural consultant services including evaluation of buildings and their components, forensic structural investigation of failed or distressed structures, and construction monitoring for lending institutions.
• RBA Audit LLC Auditing Services Subsidiary providing auditing agency services for the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) and National Precast Concrete Association (NPCA), accredited by the International Accreditation Service (IAS) since 2006. Audits approximately 280 precast concrete plants annually across North America and Mexico.
• Sign Structures Design Structural design for retail location signage, sports venues, hotels, airports, national chains, and specialty cladding and architectural features. Includes dealer identification programs for Ford Motor Company and General Motors Corporation across the United States.
• GFRC and Architectural Precast Facade Design Structural design services for Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete (GFRC) and architectural precast concrete facades for new construction and restorations, drawing on 6+ decades of precast/prestressed concrete experience.

Quantifiable outcome

• Audits approximately 280 plants annually across North America and Mexico
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Salas O'BrienflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 December 2025Ross Bryan Associates joined Salas O'Brien on December 17, 2025. The firm will remain under the same leadership and clients can expect the same team and level of service. The combination offers clients the benefit of combined expertise and geographic reach.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH): Structural engineering and building envelope consulting firm with overlapping structural design, investigation, and restoration services. Similar prestige project history and employee-owned structure comparable to RBA's pre-acquisition profile.
• Martin/Martin: Mid-sized structural and civil engineering firm with comparable service breadth across design, restoration, and forensic work. Similar in scale, employee ownership culture, and project-type portfolio.
• Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates (WJE): Employee-owned engineering firm specializing in structural investigation, restoration, and materials consulting. Directly comparable to RBA's investigative and restoration services, with similar long-tenured expert model and prestigious project portfolio.
• Walter P Moore: National structural engineering consultancy with comparable service mix (structural design, forensics, restoration) and a similar prestigious institutional client base in sports, healthcare, and convention facilities. Closely aligned in scale, technical depth, and project types.
• Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA): Structural and civil engineering consultancy with comparable expertise in complex buildings, stadiums, and civic infrastructure. Comparable in technical reputation and award recognition (ACEC, AIA), though larger in scale.
• Raths, Raths & Johnson (RRJ): Mid-sized structural engineering firm specializing in investigation, restoration, and forensic services. Closely comparable niche overlap with RBA's investigative and restoration practice lines and similar firm scale.
• T.Y. Lin International: Civil and structural engineering consultancy with deep prestressed/post-tensioned concrete heritage (founded by prestressed concrete pioneer Tung-Yen Lin). Directly comparable specialization in concrete bridges and structures.
• Degenkolb Engineers: West Coast-headquartered structural engineering firm with comparable focus on complex new design, seismic retrofit, and forensic investigation. Similar in scale, technical depth, and academic/industry recognition pattern.

Broad incumbents

• Thornton Tomasetti: Larger, globally-scaled structural engineering firm offering the same core services plus advanced analysis, applied science, and forensics. Provides a ceiling benchmark for the upper end of RBA's addressable service lines.
• Salas O'Brien: Acquiring platform (Dec 2025) and broader engineering, MEP, and structural services firm. While now RBA's parent, Salas O'Brien operates adjacent structural capabilities at larger scale and offers the relevant strategic comparison for evaluating post-acquisition positioning.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ross-bryan-associates-inc.

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 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 Ross Bryan Associates