What Structural Design Group does

Structural Design Group, Inc. (SDG) is a privately held structural engineering consulting firm founded in 1996 by J. Stewart Lee, P.E. and headquartered at 300 Chase Park South, Suite 125, Hoover, Alabama. The firm provides structural design services across a broad range of building types including schools, parking garages, office buildings, multi-family and student housing, hospitals, retail, municipal facilities, industrial plants, research laboratories, athletic facilities, churches, and entertainment venues. Service methodologies span post-tensioned concrete, tilt-up concrete, structural steel, composite steel and concrete, wood framing, masonry, seismic design, long-span roofs, and progressive collapse/anti-terrorist design compliant with DoD, UFC, and GSA standards. The firm claims market-leading positions in several specialties, including the majority of two-way post-tensioned slab projects in Alabama designed over the past 17 years, national recognition in tilt-up concrete, and over $900 million in wood-framed construction. SDG is licensed to practice in 20 U.S. states spanning the Southeast and Midwest.

The firm operates on a project-based professional services model: licensed Professional Engineers are assigned directly to each engagement rather than layered through project managers, and the firm maintains a design-build and fast-track delivery capability that has reportedly made it a preferred consultant for several nationally recognized general contractors. Revenue is generated through fee-based structural engineering consulting billed against project scope; SDG explicitly engages projects up to approximately $40 million in construction cost. The active team comprises roughly 13 members, anchored by three principals (Lee, Jones, Winn) each with 30+ years of experience plus senior drafting and CAD/BIM production staff. There are no software or AI product offerings; service delivery is grounded in human PE expertise and conventional CAD/BIM tooling. Marketing is primarily via website portfolio, professional reputation, and direct relationships with developers, contractors, architects, and government entities. SDG is founder-owned and controlled with no disclosed institutional investors, parent company, or M&A activity.

Name

Structural Design Group

Legal name

Structural Design Group, Inc.

Website

https://structuraldesigngroup.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Structural Design Group, Inc. is a privately held structural engineering consulting firm founded in 1996 and headquartered in Hoover, Alabama, providing PE-led structural design across schools, healthcare, multi-family, commercial, municipal, parking, and research facilities, with licensure in 20 U.S. states.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Structural Engineering Services

NAICS

Engineering Services (541330)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711)

akta.pro primary industry

Civil & Structural Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAA)

Keywords

• Structural engineering services
• Structural design consulting
• Construction engineering
• Building design services
• Seismic design services

Headquarters

HQ city

Hoover

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

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 engineering consulting fees for structural design services on construction projects. Revenue generated through billable engineering services for projects of various sizes and complexity. Philosophy supports projects up to approximately $40 million construction cost.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Structural Design Group provides consulting structural engineering services for commercial, educational, healthcare, municipal, residential, and industrial construction projects. The firm designs structural systems using concrete, post-tensioned concrete, structural steel, composite steel and concrete, wood, and masonry. Services span project categories including schools, parking garages, office buildings, housing/apartments, hospitals, commercial/retail spaces, municipal buildings, industrial facilities, research laboratories, athletic facilities, churches, and entertainment venues, with construction costs ranging up to approximately $40 million.

Product overview

Structural Design Group is a consulting structural engineering firm that provides engineering design services across a wide range of building types and construction methodologies. The firm does not offer a modular software product or platform; instead, it delivers professional engineering consulting services for construction projects. Services span various project categories including schools, parking garages, office buildings, housing/apartments, hospitals/medical facilities, commercial/retail spaces, municipal buildings, industrial facilities, research laboratories, athletic facilities, churches/chapels, and entertainment venues. The firm specializes in structural engineering approaches including post-tensioned concrete, seismic design, advanced masonry design, wood-framed construction, tilt-up concrete, and steel construction. Their expertise covers construction costs ranging from simple structures to projects up to approximately $40 million, with registered professional engineers licensed across 20 U.S. states.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Educational Facility Structural Engineering

Quantifiable outcome

• Completed 2,300+ projects in ten years
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments11 records

Ideal customer profiles8 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature10 records

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Arup: Global engineering consultancy with deep structural engineering practice spanning concrete, steel, timber (mass timber leadership), seismic design, and research facilities — directly competes on project type but at much broader scale and international footprint.
• Buro Happold: International engineering consultancy with structural engineering practice covering complex geometry, long-span roofs, and timber expertise — overlaps SDG's long-span roof and commercial/cultural project work but operates at significantly larger scale.
• Kimley-Horn: Large multi-discipline engineering firm with a substantial structural practice serving commercial, retail, multi-family, education, and municipal clients — comparable customer base and project categories as SDG but with vastly more resources and geographic reach.

Direct peers

• Walter P Moore: National structural engineering and diagnostics consulting firm with deep expertise in concrete, steel, and tilt-up construction across commercial, healthcare, sports, and education sectors — directly comparable to SDG's project mix and specializations but at significantly larger scale.
• Thornton Tomasetti: Global structural engineering consultancy working across concrete, steel, timber, and complex typologies including tall buildings, sports venues, and parking structures — directly overlaps SDG's technical service lines and serves many of the same building categories.
• Magnusson Klemencic Associates (MKA): Structural and civil engineering consultancy with recognized expertise in post-tensioned concrete, seismic design, parking structures, and mixed-use developments — a strong comparable on SDG's specialized technical niches and project categories.
• Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates (WJE): Engineering consultancy combining structural design with materials and failure investigation expertise; overlaps with SDG on advanced concrete/masonry design and parking-structure work, though more diversified into forensics.
• SK&A Structural Engineers: Mid-Atlantic structural engineering consultancy (now part of WDP) with deep expertise in post-tensioned concrete, parking structures, and mixed-use developments — closely comparable technical profile and project mix to SDG.
• Martin/Martin Consulting Engineers: Mid-sized structural engineering firm with comparable specializations in concrete, post-tensioning, and tilt-up construction for commercial, education, healthcare, and mixed-use developments — similar scale and regional focus to SDG.

Emerging players

• Structural Engineering Associates: Regional structural engineering consultancy serving commercial, educational, and healthcare clients in the Southeast — comparable size and regional footprint to SDG with overlapping project categories.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/structural-design-group-inc-

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 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 Structural Design Group