Tetra Tech/KCM

Specialty: Municipal infrastructure, including engineering, architecture, planning, design, construction services

Management: Stephen Wagner, president; John McGlenn, vice president and chief engineer

Year founded: 1943

Headquarters: Seattle

Current projects: King County Metro bus base expansion, Seattle; wastewater treatment plants on Vashon and Bainbridge islands; Brightwater conveyance project, Bothell/Woodinville; floodplain mapping for Department of Ecology and Pierce County

Image courtesy of Tetra Tech/KCM Tetra Tech/KCM is working with King County Metro to expand the Sodo area bus base.

In January, Tetra Tech/KCM bought ECS Engineering of Bothell and TerraLogic GIS of Stanwood. This year, the firm’s revenues grew by 25 percent and it expanded to a staff of 120 in six offices.

Government opportunities

President Steve Wagner anticipates 10 percent to 15 percent growth next year, with wastewater, stormwater, fisheries and facilities projects leading the pack.

“The economy is pretty good in the Northwest and there’s a lot of opportunities,” he said. “The city of Seattle and King County have strong capital-improvement programs over the next several years.”

While governments struggle to find the money and voter support for big public projects, Wagner is optimistic. “The needs are still there,” he said, “they will continue to find ways to fund the improvements.”

Where are the A/E workers?

Wagner’s biggest concern is the difficulty of finding qualified professionals to do the work.

“The universities and educational systems are not turning out the numbers of engineers and architects we need. We’re all experiencing that problem,” he said.

“There has to be a campaign to get young people interested in engineering again.”

Tetra Tech/KCM earns $19 million a year in gross revenues. It is a subsidiary of Tetra Tech, a Pasadena, Calif.-based architecture and engineering firm with 8,000 employees and $1.3 billion in annual revenues.