What Cole & Associates does

Cole & Associates is a privately held civil engineering and multi-disciplinary professional services firm founded in 1990 and headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. The firm operates from five regional offices (St. Louis, St. Charles, and O'Fallon, MO; Dallas, TX; Phoenix, AZ) and is licensed to provide engineering and surveying services in 43 states. It employs 101–250 people and is led by founder-CEO and majority shareholder Kevin E. Riggs, PE.

The firm delivers six integrated in-house service lines: civil engineering, survey, planning, landscape architecture, ADA Transition Planning, and GIS. Its technical stack includes Trimble S-Series Total Stations, Trimble R-Series GNSS Receivers, Leica P40 3D Scanner, UAS aerial mapping, ESRI-based GIS (as a Bronze Business Partner), and Cole's proprietary ULIP-ADA platform for ADA sidewalk inventory and accessibility data collection. Differentiated capabilities include multi-state licensure, integrated in-house service delivery, and a data asset of over 100,000 assessed pedestrian access features accumulated across ADA compliance engagements.

Cole's business model is project-based, quote-driven professional services with no publicly disclosed pricing tiers. Go-to-market is relationship-driven enterprise field sales through Relationship Development Directors, targeting municipal, education, industrial, commercial, residential, and federal government clients. The firm is privately held, founder-controlled, with no disclosed venture capital, private equity, or institutional investment, and no M&A history. Revenue is not publicly disclosed.

Name

Cole & Associates

Legal name

Cole & Associates, Inc.

Website

https://colestl.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1990

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Cole & Associates is a privately held civil engineering firm offering integrated civil engineering, surveying, planning, landscape architecture, ADA Transition Planning, and GIS services from five U.S. regional offices, serving municipal, state, federal, education, industrial, and commercial clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Civil Engineering Consulting

NAICS

Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)

SIC

Services-Engineering, Accounting, Research, Management (8700)

akta.pro primary industry

Instrumentation, Controls & Automation Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAM)

Keywords

• Civil engineering services
• Land surveying services
• ADA transition planning
• Landscape architecture
• GIS mapping solutions

Headquarters

HQ city

St Louis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Professional Engineering Services: Project-based professional services revenue from civil engineering, land surveying, planning, landscape architecture, ADA transition planning, and GIS consulting services. Services are typically quoted and billed per project with duration varying by scope.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Cole & Associates is a multi-disciplinary civil engineering and planning consulting firm that delivers integrated professional services spanning civil engineering, land surveying, master planning, landscape architecture, ADA transition planning, and GIS. The firm serves commercial, industrial, institutional, and federal clients through regional offices and is licensed in 43 states. Its ADA transition planning practice is differentiated by a proprietary ULIP-ADA data collection platform.

Product overview

Cole & Associates is a civil engineering and planning consulting firm offering a coordinated suite of six integrated professional services: Civil Engineering, Survey, Planning, Landscape Architecture, ADA Transition Planning, and GIS. The firm operates as a multi-disciplinary team that combines these in-house services to provide integrated project management, with civil engineering, survey, and GIS serving as foundational capabilities that inform planning and landscape architecture recommendations. The ADA Transition Planning practice is notably differentiated by the firm's proprietary ULIP-ADA technology platform, which the firm uses to deliver data collection, mapping, and remediation prioritization for accessibility compliance projects. All six services are delivered through regional offices in St. Louis, St. Charles, O'Fallon (MO), Dallas (TX), and Phoenix (AZ), and the firm is licensed in 43 states.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Civil Engineering Services
• Survey Services
• Planning Services
• Landscape Architecture Services
• ADA Transition Planning Services
• GIS Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Projects completed efficiently, often ahead of schedule, with rigorous quality control
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• ESRIcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2013Cole is a Bronze Level Business Partner of ESRI, the global market leader in GIS software, location intelligence and mapping. This partnership provides access to worldwide community of GIS consulting firms, best practices, emerging technologies, technical expertise, and support. The partnership ensures clients receive industry-leading geospatial solutions.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• HDR Inc. Architecture, engineering, and consulting firm with deep transportation, water, and federal practice; serves DOTs and municipalities nationwide. Comparable to Cole in civil engineering, survey, and government services, though HDR operates at much larger scale and ranks among the top U.S. AEC firms.
• Kimley-Horn: One of the largest U.S. planning, engineering, and design consulting firms with deep practice in land development, transportation, and survey. Directly comparable to Cole across civil engineering, planning, surveying, and landscape architecture services, but operates at materially larger national scale.
• Tetra Tech: Global consulting and engineering firm specializing in water, environment, and infrastructure. Overlaps with Cole's civil engineering and ADA practice via federal/state government contracts, though Tetra Tech operates at substantially larger scale.
• Burns & McDonnell: 100% employee-owned engineering, architecture, construction, and consulting firm with strong municipal infrastructure and federal practice. Comparable to Cole as a multi-discipline firm serving public sector, commercial, and industrial clients, with substantially greater scale and geographic reach.
• Stantec: Global professional services firm in engineering, architecture, surveying, and environmental services. Direct overlap with Cole's integrated civil engineering, planning, surveying, landscape architecture, and GIS offerings, but at significantly larger scale and broader geographic footprint.

Direct peers

• HR Green: Mid-sized multi-discipline consulting firm providing civil engineering, planning, surveying, and GIS for municipal and private development clients. Closely comparable to Cole in scale and integrated service mix, with similarly strong municipal/government focus.
• Garver: Employee-owned engineering, planning, and environmental services firm headquartered in the South-Central U.S., serving transportation, water, and federal clients. Comparable to Cole in multi-discipline scope, mid-market scale, and government contracting focus.
• Alfred Benesch & Company: Multi-discipline consulting firm specializing in civil engineering, transportation, structural, and surveying services. Comparable to Cole in serving state DOTs and municipalities with integrated engineering services, with stronger Northeast/Midwest footprint and DOT focus.
• Wight & Company: Integrated architecture, engineering, and planning firm serving commercial, institutional, and public clients in the Midwest. Closely comparable to Cole's integrated civil engineering, planning, surveying, and landscape architecture delivery model.

Emerging players

• Badean Management Group / ADA accessibility consulting specialists: Specialized ADA Title II transition planning and accessibility consulting firm serving universities and municipalities. Direct overlap with Cole's ADA practice using GIS-based inventory workflows, though narrower service scope focused exclusively on accessibility compliance.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights8 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cole-&-associates
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• Facebookfacebook.com/coleassociates

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 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 Cole & Associates