What Hope Furrer Associates does

Hope Furrer Associates is a privately held, women-owned structural engineering consulting firm founded in 1992 by Hope H. Furrer, PE, headquartered in Towson, Maryland with a second office in State College, Pennsylvania. The firm provides a full range of structural engineering services for architectural projects — including structural system selection, design development, construction documents, quality control review, and construction administration — serving architects, contractors, developers, and public owners across the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, and Southeast United States. Its work spans higher education (Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland, Penn State, Morgan State, UVA, Towson University), K-12 (Baltimore County Public Schools), government (Maryland State Police, Rockville District Court), and commercial/cultural projects (Towson Town Center, Under Armour, CFG Bank Arena), with project construction values ranging from approximately $11.5M to $120M.

The firm employs Building Information Modeling (BIM) via Autodesk Revit alongside industry-standard structural analysis tools (RAM Structural System, RAM Concept, RISA-3D) to deliver designs for steel, reinforced concrete, post-tensioned concrete, masonry, mass timber, and hybrid structural systems. Specialized expertise includes vibration-sensitive research laboratories, high-rise structures, adaptive reuse, and LEED-certified sustainable buildings. The leadership team comprises six principals and associate principals, several of whom serve in national Structural Engineering Institute and ASCE leadership roles, and the firm maintains a sustained talent pipeline through its partnership with Penn State's Architectural Engineering program.

The business operates as a project-based professional services firm, with revenue generated from fees tied to scope, complexity, and project size rather than standardized pricing tiers. Engagement is driven by direct relationships with over 80 architectural firms and direct outreach to project owners in the firm's served segments. WBE certifications across six states plus Maryland MBE certification provide access to public sector set-aside work, and the firm is an SE2050 signatory committed to reducing embodied carbon in structural design by 2050.

Name

Hope Furrer Associates

Legal name

HOPE FURRER ASSOCIATES, INC.

Website

https://hfurrer.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Hope Furrer Associates is a women-owned structural engineering consulting firm founded in 1992, providing structural design and construction administration for higher education, K-12, government, and commercial projects across the Mid-Atlantic region from offices in Towson, MD and State College, PA.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Towson

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. Structural Engineering Consulting Services: Professional services revenue generated through providing structural engineering design, consulting, and construction administration services to architects, contractors, and developers. Services are project-based, typically engagements with architectural firms and project owners for new construction and renovation projects across institutional, commercial, and residential building types.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Hope Furrer Associates provides full-scope structural engineering design and consulting services for architectural projects, including structural system selection, design development, construction documents, quality control review, and construction administration. The firm serves architects, contractors, developers, and public-sector owners across higher education, K-12, commercial, government, and cultural building types, using BIM (Autodesk Revit), RAM Structural System, RAM Concept, and RISA-3D for analysis and design.

Product overview

Hope Furrer Associates is a structural design and consulting firm offering professional structural engineering services. The firm provides a unified set of consulting services centered on structural design for architectural projects, including new construction, renovation, and restoration of commercial, institutional, and educational facilities. Services include structural system selection, design development, construction document production, quality control review, and construction administration support. The firm specializes in higher education, K-12 education, science and technology, residential, retail, public, cultural, and recreation building types. State-of-the-art technologies employed include BIM (Autodesk Revit), RAM Structural System, RAM Concept, RISA-3D, and other structural analysis and modeling software to deliver engineering designs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Structural Engineering Consulting Services

Named customers12 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.

• SE2050 ProgramcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHope Furrer Associates joined the SE2050 program initiated by the Structural Engineering Institute in October 2022. This is a grassroots industry effort to reduce carbon emissions, with the vision that all structural engineers shall understand, reduce, and ultimately eliminate embodied carbon in projects by 2050.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Smislova, Kehnemui and Associates (SKA): Mid-Atlantic structural engineering consulting firm of comparable size that specializes in new construction, renovation, and adaptive reuse across institutional, commercial, and residential sectors. SKA is a direct competitor to HFA in the same regional market and project typologies, and was a former employer of HFA Principal Thomas P. Barabas.
• Cagley & Associates: Structural engineering consulting firm focused on commercial, institutional, healthcare, and educational projects in the Mid-Atlantic. Comparable in size and service offering to HFA, with similar emphasis on architectural collaboration and building design.
• Rathgeber/Goss Associates: Structural engineering consulting firm serving institutional, commercial, and high-end residential clients in the Mid-Atlantic region. Directly comparable to HFA in service scope and market focus; a former employer of HFA Principal Amy Barabas.
• Structural Design Group: Structural engineering firm with deep expertise in educational, institutional, and cultural building projects. Comparable to HFA in project typology emphasis on academic and civic facilities; a former employer of HFA Principal Thomas P. Barabas.
• LERA Consulting Structural Engineers: Structural engineering consulting firm specializing in complex new construction and renovation of cultural, educational, and commercial buildings. Comparable in technical complexity and architectural collaboration emphasis; a former employer of HFA Project Designer Joshua Antolick.

Regional players

• Whitman, Requardt & Associates (WRA): Mid-Atlantic-based multi-discipline engineering firm (civil, structural, MEP) with offices across the region. WRA competes with HFA on institutional and infrastructure structural work from a broader platform; an HFA Associate's prior employer.
• Morris & Ritchie Associates (MRA): Mid-Atlantic multi-discipline engineering, architecture, and surveying firm offering structural services alongside civil, geotechnical, and environmental practices. Comparable geography and client overlap with HFA on institutional and developer-led work; a former employer of HFA Associate Principal Nicole Baer.

Broad incumbents

• KCI Technologies: Larger Mid-Atlantic engineering, planning, and construction services firm with a structural engineering practice competing for the same institutional and public-sector RFPs as HFA. KCI offers broader service breadth (civil, environmental, telecom) at greater scale; a former employer of HFA Associate Principal Nicole Baer.
• Hammel, Green and Abrahamson (HGA): National architecture and engineering firm with a structural engineering practice serving cultural, healthcare, and higher-education clients. Comparable in design-sensitivity emphasis and project typology; a former employer of HFA Principal Amy Barabas.
• Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates (WJE): National engineering firm with deep structural and architectural forensics, investigation, and design expertise serving institutional and civic clients. WJE frequently competes on complex higher-education and adaptive reuse assignments from a much larger platform than HFA's.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 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 Hope Furrer Associates