Rardin & Carroll Architects

What Rardin & Carroll Architects does

Rardin & Carroll Architects is a privately held architectural firm founded in 1980 and headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee, specializing in faith-based and civic architecture for clients across the Southeastern United States. The firm has completed more than 800 projects over its 40-plus-year history and operates with a team of approximately twelve professionals organized around five partners, supported by associates, designers, and administrative staff. Its documented technology stack centers on BIM/Revit for design, documentation, and coordination, with no disclosed AI/ML capabilities.

The firm's active portfolio is dominated by ecclesiastical and institutional work, including sanctuary projects (e.g., St. Michael's), higher-education facilities (Lee University Engineering Building and additional campus improvements scheduled across 2024 to 2026), and mixed-use community developments such as Silverdale Commons and Real Life Village. Geographic reach spans Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida. Repeat institutional relationships — most notably Silverdale Baptist Church (a client for more than twenty years) and Lee University — anchor the book of work and suggest deep project context and design continuity with these clients.

The business model is a project-fee professional services structure: revenue is generated through architectural fees negotiated per engagement, typically as a percentage of construction value or a fixed fee tied to defined scope. There is no evidence of subscription, retainer, or alternative pricing. Ownership has been deliberately broadened from the two founders to a five-partner structure, signaling formal succession planning and continuity of the practice as a long-duration professional partnership rather than a founder-dependent studio.

Name

Rardin & Carroll Architects

Legal name

Rardin & Carroll Architects

Website

https://rc-architects.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Rardin & Carroll Architects is a Chattanooga-based architectural firm founded in 1980 that designs faith-based and civic buildings for institutional clients across the Southeastern United States, with a team of about twelve and over 800 completed projects.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Architectural Services

NAICS

Interior Design Services (54141)

SIC

Services-Engineering Services (8711)

akta.pro primary industry

Architectural Design Services (BPAHAKAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Interior Design Services (BPAHAKAB), Building Information Modeling (BIM) & Digital Design Services (BPAHAKAK)

Keywords

• Architectural design services
• Master planning services
• Faith-based architecture
• Adaptive reuse design
• Interior design services

Headquarters

HQ city

Chattanooga

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, Others

Revenue model

1. Architectural Services: Project-based professional services for planning and architectural design, including pre-design consultation, master planning, architectural design, interior design, and construction administration services for faith-based and civic clients.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Rardin & Carroll Architects delivers professional architectural services — including pre-design consultation, master planning, full architectural design, and construction administration — to faith-based organizations, educational institutions, civic/municipal clients, and commercial developers. The firm combines BIM-driven design production with interior design and adaptive reuse expertise to serve institutional and organizational building programs across the Southeastern United States.

Product overview

Rardin & Carroll Architects (RC Architects) is an architectural firm offering a comprehensive suite of design and planning services for faith-based and civic clients. The firm provides Pre-Design Consultation, Master Planning, Architectural Design Services, and Construction Services. Their design process includes Research and Analysis, Collaboration and Envisioning, Production and Budgeting, and Negotiating and Construction phases. The firm specializes in projects across multiple categories including Worship, Education, Commercial, Community, Master Plan, and Renovation, with over 800 faith-based projects completed since founding in 1980.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Pre-Design Consultation Services
• Master Planning Services
• Architectural Design Services
• Interior Design Services
• Construction Administration Services

Named customers20 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

Feature2 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• SmithGroup: Major U.S. architecture and engineering firm with established higher education and civic practices, overlapping with RCA in institutional, educational, and community facility design.
• HKS Architects: Large national architecture firm with a meaningful religious and civic portfolio, representing the kind of well-capitalized incumbent RCA competes against for larger institutional and faith-based commissions.
• Pelli Clarke & Partners: International architecture firm with a track record of civic, cultural, and institutional projects, comparable as a high-design incumbent pursuing landmark institutional commissions.
• BSA LifeStructures: National architecture firm dedicated to designing spaces that heal, learn, and worship, with overlapping faith-based, healthcare, and educational practice areas comparable to RCA's mission-driven work.
• DLR Group: Large integrated architecture and engineering firm with significant education and civic practices, a competitor RCA may face for mid-to-large institutional projects in the Southeast.

Direct peers

• TMP Architecture: Michigan-based firm with a dedicated faith-based practice designing churches, religious schools, and associated facilities, directly comparable to RCA's faith-based specialization and project types.
• Hastings+Chivetta Architects: St. Louis-based architecture firm with a long-standing specialization in higher education, religious, and civic projects, making it a closely comparable peer in mission-driven architecture for faith-based and institutional clients.
• Matheny Goldmon Architecture: Faith-based architecture firm serving churches, schools, and nonprofit clients across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, a directly comparable peer in religious facility design and master planning.

Regional players

• Lake|Flato Architects: San Antonio-based architecture studio with comparable practice size, multi-disciplinary services (architecture, interiors, BIM/master planning), and emphasis on context-driven regional design for civic, educational, and cultural clients.
• Helix Architecture + Design: Mid-sized regional architecture firm offering architecture, interior design, and master planning for civic, educational, and community clients with comparable practice mix and project scale to RCA.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/rardincarrollarchitects
• Facebookfacebook.com/RardinCarrollArchitects
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/rardin-and-carroll-architects

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Rardin & Carroll Architects