Midwest Landscape Architecture & Design Firm, 20-Year Public-Sector Practice

Full Editorial Writeup

This is a 20-year-old landscape architecture practice operating from two leased Midwest offices, specializing in the design of parks, campuses, waterfronts, trails, and other public spaces. It serves institutional and municipal clients across its state, and its in-house design and technical team leads complex, multi-consultant projects where roughly 90% of designed work advances to construction. With $3.4M in revenue and $1.35M in cash flow, the firm runs at a strong roughly 40% owner-earnings margin on just 8 full-time employees.

The moat here is relationship-driven and sticky in a way that is unusual for a project-based services firm. Around 90% of work comes from returning clients, about half of engagements are negotiated directly without an RFP, and several client relationships exceed 20 years. The firm is one of the few remaining single-discipline landscape architecture shops in its markets, where competitors are mostly architect- or engineer-led multidisciplinary firms, which gives it a specialist reputation and award-winning credibility on public commissions.

The team is a genuine asset: average tenure exceeds 10 years and 75% of staff are licensed with the rest pursuing licensure. Management believes the current two-office footprint can support $5M to $6M of annual volume, meaning there is meaningful operating leverage already built into the leased infrastructure. The reason for sale is owner retirement, and the sellers are flexible on transition length and offering seller financing.