Yarbrough Williams & Houle

What Yarbrough Williams & Houle does

Yarbrough Williams & Houle, Inc. (YWH) is a privately held professional services firm headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, founded in 1960 by John Yarbrough and operating from a purpose-built office at 730 Windsor Oak Court. The firm delivers three integrated service lines — Land Planning, Land Surveying, and Civil Engineering — for land development projects across a nine-county region spanning North Carolina (Mecklenburg, Iredell, Union, Cabarrus, Lincoln, Catawba) and South Carolina (York, Greenville, Lancaster). Services span boundary and ALTA surveys, wetland mapping, flood plain cross sections, design and construction staking surveys, rezoning and sketch plans, and full civil engineering design for residential, commercial, industrial, federal, and military infrastructure projects. The technology stack is conventional for the discipline: AutoCAD for drafting and design, physical land surveying equipment, and standard civil engineering design software.

The firm serves a primarily B2B client base consisting of residential developers (including national builders DR Horton and True Homes), commercial and mixed-use developers (MPV, Pearson Land Corp, Telware), federal and military installations, and local planning departments. Pricing is project-based and quote-driven, with no public rate cards; engagement is won through long-standing developer relationships, government connections across the Carolinas, and reputation for embedded local regulatory expertise. Leadership consists of President Vincent G. Keene, VPs Todd Godfrey and Joseph Whaley (each with the firm since 1987), and CFO Lori F. Schmitt (joined 2022). The firm reports cumulative outputs of over 2,000 miles of engineered streets, water, and sewer lines and over 100,000 homes surveyed across its 65-year history.

YWH is a locally owned, small-business professional services firm (11-50 employees) with no institutional ownership, funding history, subsidiaries, or M&A activity disclosed. Customer acquisition is relationship-driven, supplemented by community sponsorships (American Heart Association Heart Ball 2025, Tim Roberts Memorial Golf Tournament) and a corporate website. The firm holds no patents and has not announced AI/ML capabilities, software products, or platform technology. Its competitive position rests on talent longevity, multi-decade county-level regulatory familiarity, and an installed base of developer relationships in the Charlotte metro and surrounding Carolinas region.

Name

Yarbrough Williams & Houle

Legal name

Yarbrough-Williams & Houle, Inc.

Website

https://y-wh.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1960

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Yarbrough Williams & Houle is a privately held Charlotte-based professional services firm founded in 1960 that provides land surveying, land planning, and civil engineering services to residential developers, commercial developers, and federal/military clients across the Carolinas.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Civil Engineering & Land Surveying Services

NAICS

Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services (54137), Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services (541370)

SIC

Water, Sewer, Pipeline, Comm & Power Line Construction (1623)

akta.pro primary industry

Geotechnical & Subsurface Engineering Consulting (BPAHAIAB)

Keywords

• Land surveying services
• Civil engineering design
• Land planning services
• Construction surveying
• ALTA land surveys

Headquarters

HQ city

Charlotte

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

Revenue model

1. Land Surveying Services: Project-based professional fees for comprehensive land surveying including boundary surveys, wetland surveys, ALTA surveys, flood plain cross sections, design surveys, construction surveys, platting surveys, and as-built surveys for water sewer and storm drainage.
2. Land Planning Services: Fees for land development concepts, sketch plans, and rezoning plans developed for land planning professionals and developers.
3. Civil Engineering Services: Engineering design and project management services for land development including residential, commercial, and industrial projects, as well as federal and military infrastructure.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Yarbrough Williams & Houle is a professional services firm providing land surveying, land planning, and civil engineering for land development projects. Services include boundary surveys, wetland surveys, ALTA surveys, construction and platting surveys, sketch and rezoning plans, and civil engineering design (water, sewer, storm drainage, roadways) for residential, commercial, industrial, and federal/military clients in the Charlotte, NC region.

Product overview

Yarbrough Williams & Houle is a professional services firm offering three integrated core service lines: Land Planning, Land Surveying, and Civil Engineering. These services work together to provide comprehensive land development solutions from initial surveying and planning through to construction-ready civil engineering plans. The company serves residential, commercial, and industrial developers in the Charlotte, NC metropolitan region.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Land Planning

Named customers11 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

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• American Heart AssociationminorOthers · 1 January 2025YWH is a proud sponsor of the American Heart Association, participating in the Heart Ball 2025 event. This represents community philanthropy rather than strategic business partnership.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• McAdams: McAdams is a Carolinas-based civil engineering, land planning, and surveying firm headquartered in Raleigh with major Charlotte presence. Directly comparable to YWH in service mix (planning, surveying, civil engineering) and target market (residential and commercial developers in the Carolinas), but with substantially larger scale and broader geographic reach.
• DRMP: DRMP is a Southeast-focused engineering, surveying, and planning firm with offices across the Carolinas. Offers the same integrated land development services (surveying, civil engineering, planning) for developers and municipalities in markets overlapping YWH's Charlotte footprint.
• ESP Associates: ESP Associates is a Southeast-based civil engineering, surveying, and geospatial services firm with significant Carolinas operations. Directly competes with YWH in land surveying and civil engineering for residential and commercial land development in the region.
• ColeJenest & Stone: ColeJenest & Stone is a Charlotte-headquartered civil engineering, land planning, and landscape architecture firm serving developers in the Carolinas. Direct competitor in Charlotte metro for civil engineering design on residential, commercial, and mixed-use land development projects.
• WithersRavenel: WithersRavenel is a North Carolina-headquartered engineering, planning, and surveying firm serving developers, municipalities, and private clients across the Carolinas. Closely comparable service offerings (civil engineering, land surveying, planning) and geographic overlap in Charlotte-area counties make it a direct regional competitor.

Regional players

• Stewart Engineering: Stewart Engineering is a North Carolina-based civil engineering, surveying, and geomatics firm with offices in Raleigh and Charlotte. Provides directly comparable land surveying and civil engineering services to developers and government clients in overlapping Carolinas markets.
• Tindall Engineering: Tindall Engineering is a Carolinas-based civil engineering and surveying firm focused on land development for residential and commercial clients. Comparable service offering to YWH with similar small-to-mid firm profile in the regional market.

Broad incumbents

• Kimley-Horn: Kimley-Horn is a national, employee-owned engineering, planning, and consulting firm with a strong Charlotte office serving residential, commercial, and federal clients. Provides overlapping civil engineering and land development services at much larger scale and with broader capabilities than YWH.
• Bowman Consulting Group: Bowman Consulting is a publicly traded national engineering, surveying, and consulting firm with substantial Carolinas operations. Provides land surveying, civil engineering, and planning services comparable to YWH but at much larger scale and across broader markets.

Emerging players

• Urban Design Partners: Urban Design Partners is a Charlotte-based civil engineering and land planning firm focused on urban infill, mixed-use, and higher-density development. Emerging player with partial overlap to YWH, particularly in Charlotte-area land planning and civil engineering for developers.

Market position

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 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 Yarbrough Williams & Houle