What Pickering Firm, Inc. does

Pickering Firm, Inc. is a full-service engineering and architectural firm founded in 1946 by O.L. Pickering in Memphis, Tennessee. The firm is 100% employee-owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and has been debt-free for more than 20 years. Pickering delivers multidisciplinary design services spanning civil engineering, structural engineering, mechanical/electrical/plumbing, transportation, water resources, natural resources/environmental consulting, surveying, and architectural facility design. Service delivery is organized around portfolio verticals: Commercial, Industrial, Governmental, and Transportation.

The firm serves state agencies (Tennessee DOT, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality), municipal governments (City of Biloxi, City of Gulfport, City of Pearl), higher education institutions (Mississippi State University, Arkansas State University), and private enterprise clients across consumer goods, automotive, beverage, retail (Kroger, Nike, Volvo, Coca-Cola, Kellogg's, Wright Medical), and nonprofit sectors. Marquee projects include a 5.5-mile I-40 widening for TDOT, Mississippi's first rural roundabout (ACEC Grand Award 2018), a $100 million ground transportation center at Memphis International Airport, and post-Hurricane Katrina water and wastewater infrastructure planning for MDEQ.

The business model is project-based professional services: fees for design, construction administration, surveying, and consulting, with pricing quoted per project scope. Go-to-market is relationship-led — over 80% of work is sourced from repeat clients, supplemented by RFP responses for public-sector work, word-of-mouth referrals, and a new VP of Business Development function formalized in July 2025. Pickering operates from seven offices across Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas, employing 130-140 professionals. In July 2025, CEO Mike Pohlman retired after 45+ years; Bob Pitts assumed the CEO role, Mike Foster became President, and Curt Craig was named VP of Business Development.

Name

Pickering Firm, Inc.

Legal name

Pickering Firm, Inc.

Website

https://pickeringfirm.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1946

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Pickering Firm, Inc. is a 100% employee-owned, full-service engineering and architectural firm founded in 1946 and headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, serving government, commercial, industrial, and institutional clients across Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Engineering and Architectural Services

NAICS

Engineering Services (54133), Engineering Services (541330)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711)

akta.pro primary industry

Civil & Structural Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Industrial & Process Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAF), Product Design & Mechanical Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAJ)

Keywords

• Engineering and architectural services
• Civil engineering design
• Transportation infrastructure design
• Water and wastewater engineering
• Surveying and land development

Headquarters

HQ city

Memphis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices7 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Engineering and Architectural Services: Project-based professional services for engineering design, architectural design, surveying, construction administration, and environmental consulting. Revenue is generated through fees for design services, construction phase services, and consulting engagements. Over 80% of work comes from repeat clients.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Pickering Firm, Inc. is a full-service engineering and architectural firm providing integrated design, surveying, and construction administration services across facility design, civil engineering, transportation, water resources, and natural resources. The firm delivers project-based professional services to government, commercial, industrial, and institutional clients in the Mid-South region.

Product overview

Pickering Firm, Inc. is a full-service engineering and architectural firm offering a unified portfolio of services rather than a modular platform. The core service offerings include Facility Design, Civil Engineering, Surveying, Transportation, Water Resources, and Natural Resources. These services are organized into project portfolio categories covering Commercial, Industrial, Governmental, and Transportation sectors. The company provides comprehensive project delivery from surveying and civil/site development through architecture, structural, mechanical and electrical engineering, plumbing and fire protection, to construction administration. Specialized offerings include environmental assessments, roadway and bridge design, NEPA documentation, and water/wastewater infrastructure planning.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Facility Design Comprehensive facility design integrating complex engineering with architectural precision, prioritizing functionality, process efficiency, and quality for commercial, industrial, and institutional clients.
• Civil Engineering Site efficiency and cost-effectiveness optimization through customized design for streets, sanitary sewer systems, stormwater management, and water and gas systems.
• Surveying Comprehensive surveying services leveraging latest industry technology including boundary, topographic, and right-of-way acquisition surveys, with drone-assisted modern surveying capabilities.
• Transportation Planning and design services for roadways, bridges, airfields, and railroads, along with traffic studies and transit solutions.
• Water Resources Water supply support for municipalities, utility districts, and manufacturing/energy sectors with compliance for state and federal environmental and wastewater regulations.
• Natural Resources Full suite of natural resource services including environmental audits, regulatory compliance assessments, federal and state permitting, indoor air quality studies, and energy consumption audits.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 80% of work comes from repeat clients
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers17 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

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Mississippi Engineering GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPickering partnered with Mississippi Engineering Group to assist MDEQ in implementing the Governor's Hurricane Katrina recovery effort. Pickering was responsible for the water supply portion of the Mississippi Gulf Region Water and Wastewater Plan.
• EDRminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPickering was selected by EDR to provide surveying, civil engineering, and environmental consulting services for the MSU College View mixed-use development project.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Stantec: Multidisciplinary engineering, architecture, and environmental consulting firm with significant presence in Pickering's Southeast geography and practice areas spanning infrastructure, water, buildings, and environmental services.
• AECOM: Global infrastructure consulting firm with major U.S. transportation, water, environment, and buildings practices — frequently competes for large state DOT and federal infrastructure work that Pickering also targets, though at substantially greater scale.
• Burns & McDonnell: 100% employee-owned engineering, architecture, and construction firm with significantly broader scale and a global footprint. Comparable in ownership model and integrated service delivery, but operates at a much larger scale across energy, industrial, transportation, and government markets.
• WSP USA: Global professional services firm with large U.S. engineering practice overlapping transportation, water, environment, and buildings — competing for the same state DOT and large municipal programs as Pickering but at substantially greater scale.

Emerging players

• TRC Companies: Engineering, consulting, and construction management firm with comparable environmental, infrastructure, and energy practice areas, frequently partnering with or competing for the same state agency and municipal environmental and water infrastructure assignments.

Direct peers

• Kimley-Horn: One of the largest privately held U.S. engineering, planning, and design consulting firms with a similar employee-ownership culture and broad multidisciplinary practice spanning civil, transportation, water resources, environmental, and facilities design — directly comparable to Pickering's integrated service model.
• Garver: Mid-sized, privately held engineering firm headquartered in the Mid-South/South-Central U.S. with comparable multidisciplinary services (transportation, water, facilities, environmental) and a strong regional DOT and municipal client base overlapping Pickering's core verticals.
• Neel-Schaffer: Mississippi-based engineering firm with deep Mid-South presence and overlapping practice areas in transportation, water/wastewater, civil/site development, and surveying — directly competing for state DOT and municipal work in Pickering's home geography.
• Barge Design Solutions: Employee-owned engineering and architecture firm with comparable size (500+ employees), ESOP structure, and full multidisciplinary services across transportation, water, facilities, and environmental — operating in the Southeast U.S. with significant overlap in markets Pickering serves.

Regional players

• Allen & Hoshall: Memphis-headquartered engineering and architecture firm with overlapping Mid-South service offerings in civil, structural, mechanical, and electrical engineering — a direct local-market competitor for facility design and infrastructure work in Pickering's home territory.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/pickeringfirm
• Facebookfacebook.com/pickeringfirminc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pickering-inc-

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles16 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 Pickering Firm, Inc.