What Mills Group does

Mills Group is a privately held architecture, planning, and preservation firm headquartered in Morgantown, West Virginia, with additional offices in Wheeling, Shepherdstown, and Elkins. Founded by Michael Mills, the firm has operated for more than 18 years serving higher education institutions, government entities, commercial real estate developers, hospitality operators, financial institutions, residential clients, and nonprofit historical organizations across West Virginia and adjacent states. Service offerings span architectural design (schematic design through construction administration), urban and master planning, historic preservation (including Secretary of the Interior's Standards compliance, National Register nominations, and Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit applications), interior design, sustainability consulting, and residential design.

The firm's technology pipeline is built on commercially available advanced visualization and documentation tools rather than proprietary software, including 3D laser point cloud scanning with sub-centimeter accuracy, VR visualization (web-optimized for remote collaboration), photogrammetry-to-mesh workflows compatible with BIM and CAD, FAA Remote Pilot-certified UAS drone services, and 360° spherical imagery used for hybridized existing-conditions and conceptual-design tours. Mills Group positions these tools as enabling faster, more accurate, and more immersive client engagement across its project portfolio.

Mills Group operates a project-based professional services model with fees typically structured as a percentage of construction cost or fixed-fee arrangements, billed across multi-year contracts. Go-to-market is relationship-driven and regional, with projects sourced primarily through referrals, AIA WV Design Award recognition, and direct enterprise engagement. The firm has completed 145 projects for 99 clients across 26 West Virginia counties and 4 states, working with 26 external consultants, and has won four AIA WV design awards including Citations for the Oglebay Park Resort Wilson Lodge Porte Cochere (2026), the Tygart Hotel Rehabilitation (2025), and the Clear Mountain Bank Suncrest Branch (2025).

Name

Mills Group

Legal name

Mills Group

Website

https://millsgrouponline.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Mills Group is a privately held West Virginia architecture, planning, and preservation firm serving higher education, government, commercial real estate, hospitality, and nonprofit clients with project-based design services supported by VR, 3D scanning, drone, and photogrammetry technology across four regional offices.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Morgantown

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

Revenue model

1. Architectural Design Services: Professional architecture services including schematic design, design development, construction documents, and construction administration. Projects span commercial, residential, institutional, hospitality, and civic sectors. Revenue is project-based with fees calculated as percentage of construction cost or fixed fee arrangements.
2. Planning Services: Urban planning and master planning services for greenfield and infill sites. Includes design due diligence, constraint analysis, historic context research, and regulatory compliance planning.
3. Preservation Services: Historic preservation and restoration services including historical research, existing conditions assessment, feasibility studies, historic structures reports, and National Register nominations. Often combined with rehabilitation tax credit applications.
4. Interior Design Services: Integrated interior architecture services for commercial, public, and residential clients spanning municipal government, health care, higher education, and corporate business facilities.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Mills Group is a private architecture, planning, and preservation firm delivering professional design services from concept through construction administration. Its offerings span commercial, residential, institutional, hospitality, religious, civic, and cultural projects, with particular depth in historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and New Market/Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit work. The firm blends modern visualization technology (VR, 3D scanning, drones, photogrammetry) with contextual, story-driven design across four West Virginia offices.

Product overview

Mills Group is an architectural, planning, and preservation firm that provides comprehensive design services rather than a software product platform. The company's service offerings include: Architecture (encompassing commercial, residential, college/university, hospitality, religious, and civic/cultural sectors), Planning (site planning and urban design), Preservation (historic restoration and adaptive reuse), Sustainability (green design and adaptive reuse), Residential (individual family and multi-story residential design), and Interiors (interior architecture for commercial, public, and residential clients). These services are delivered as professional consulting offerings, not as software products or modules.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Architecture Services
• Planning Services
• Preservation Services
• Interior Design Services
• Sustainability Services
• Residential Design Services

Quantifiable outcome

• 4 AIA WV awards received including Citation for Oglebay Park Resort Porte Cochere (2026) and Citations for Tygart Hotel Rehabilitation and Clear Mountain Bank Suncrest Branch (2025)
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Moody NolancoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTeamed with Moody Nolan of Columbus, OH to design the Highlands Sports Complex. Partnership merged Moody Nolan's sports facilities expertise with Mills Group's local knowledge and completed work at The Highlands to provide OCDA with comprehensive architectural and engineering team.
• Davis & Elkins CollegecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOngoing partnership for campus development including Freshman Residence Hall project and Myles Center. Davis & Elkins College is a key institutional client with multiple project phases.
• BaskervillminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with Baskervill on Clear Mountain Bank Pierpont renovation project alongside Allegheny Design Services and Arrow Engineering.
• AOII InternationalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with AOII international representatives on Alpha Omicron Pi sorority house renovation project in Morgantown.
• Jarrett Construction ServicesminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerConstruction partner for AOII Sorority House renovation, completing 3,000 SF renovation in summer 2019.
• WV Living Co.minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered to design and construct custom pop-up retail kiosk for Pittsburgh International Airport new terminal, showcasing West Virginia-made products.
• Pittsburgh International AirportminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorHost venue for WV Living Co. retail kiosk showcasing West Virginia products to international travelers.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• CannonDesign: Large national architecture, engineering, and planning firm with significant higher education, healthcare, and civic practices. Directly comparable to Mills Group's higher education and civic/cultural segments at greater scale.
• Page Southerland Page: National architecture, engineering, and interiors firm with strong higher education, healthcare, and civic portfolios. Comparable to Mills Group's higher education and institutional client base at significantly larger scale.
• Perkins&Will: Global architecture firm with major higher education, civic, and healthcare practices. Competes with Mills Group for higher education and civic clients in West Virginia and the broader Mid-Atlantic region at substantially larger scale.
• Moody Nolan: One of the largest US architecture firms (Columbus, OH), with deep sports, education, and civic sector expertise. Moody Nolan partnered with Mills Group on the $35M Highlands Sports Complex, showing direct project-level collaboration and overlap in target markets (higher education, civic, sports).
• HGA Architects: National architecture, engineering, and interior design firm with strong healthcare, arts, and education practices. Principal Chris Clark previously worked at HGA designing hospitals, evidencing directly comparable project typologies, scale, and licensure profile.

Direct peers

• Baskervill: Richmond, VA-based architecture and interior design firm of similar mid-size scale with comparable higher-education, commercial, and adaptive-reuse practices. Mills Group partnered with Baskervill on the Clear Mountain Bank Pierpont renovation, indicating directly comparable project types and delivery model.
• Quinn Evans: Mid-size architecture firm nationally recognized for historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and culturally significant projects. Direct overlap with Mills Group's preservation + tax credit + adaptive reuse specialization and comparable scale of preservation teams.
• John Milner Architects: Specialist historic preservation architecture practice (now part of WSP) with deep expertise in Secretary of the Interior's Standards and National Register nominations. Direct overlap with Mills Group's preservation + tax credit practice as a national specialist competitor.
• SMG Architects: Mid-size architecture firm with mixed commercial, residential, and institutional portfolio. Principal Chris Clark previously worked at SMG from 2001-2006, indicating comparable project types, firm scale, and delivery model.

Regional players

• Allegheny Design Services: Morgantown, WV-headquartered multidisciplinary architecture and engineering firm serving West Virginia and the broader mid-Atlantic region. Mills Group's MEP/structural engineering partner on multiple projects, demonstrating directly comparable regional client base, scale, and project types.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/millsgroupllc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mills-group-llc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 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 Mills Group