Mergers & Acquisitions
Deal Spotlights
Kuhn and Associates’ Armko LLC
Kuhn and Associates, Inc. has joined Armko LLC , the Dallas-Fort Worth-based building envelope engineering and consulting firm. The transaction announced May 4, 2026, marks Armko’s first add-on acquisition since Align Partners Capital Management took a majority stake in January 2026.
Armko’s founding speciality is roofing, waterproofing, and building envelope consulting across the US Southwest, with over 7,000 completed engagements serving K-12 schools, higher education institutions, municipalities, and healthcare systems.
“Joining Armko allows us to continue that mission while expanding opportunities for our people and strengthening the service we provide.” Bob Kuhn, President of Kuhn and Associates
The Kuhn team remains in place, continuing to serve existing clients with the same personnel and service model, now with Armko’s expanded platform behind them. For those watching the building envelope consultancy space, this is the first move of what is likely to be a string of add-ons under Align Capital Partners’ buy-and-build strategy, and it confirms Armko as a serious consolidator in this segment.
Prestige Environmental joins LaBella Associates
LaBella Associates, the Rochester-headquartered multidisciplinary engineering, acquired Prestige Environmental Services Group in May 2026, strengthening LaBella’s environmental consulting platform and expanding its operational presence in New Jersey. Prestige brings established municipal relationships and expertise in environmental due diligence, regulatory compliance, waste management, and remediation services, particularly across public-sector projects.
The acquisition also broadens the environmental capabilities available through LaBella’s multidisciplinary platform, which includes architecture, civil, structural, geotechnical, environmental, and power systems engineering. Jeff Roloson described Prestige’s municipal relationships and environmental expertise as complementary to LaBella’s existing capabilities. Prestige’s leadership remains in place following the transaction, including principal engineer Girish Mehta.
Market Insights
Three leadership developments stand out this month, each pointing toward broader trends in how firms in the built environment and forensic space are investing in their next phase of growth.
Promotion Spotlight
Dylan Richard promoted to Managing Director | Walter P Moore
Dylan Richard has been promoted to Managing Director of Structures within Walter P Moore’s Tampa operation. Leadership promotions at this level in structural engineering reflect a firm’s confidence in how someone represents them externally, not just what they deliver internally. For Walter P Moore, this is a continued investment in their Tampa presence and a signal that the Florida market remains a priority.
Leadership Expansion
Rimkus appoints two new leaders in Canada
Rimkus has made two new leadership appointments within its built environment practice in Canada. Moves like this tend to reflect more than internal progression; they usually point to where a firm sees growth and where it is investing its leadership capacity. In the forensic and built environment space, leadership hires at this level often signal one of three things: a push to strengthen technical credibility, an expansion of service lines, or a deliberate effort to build out regional presence. For Rimkus in Canada, it is likely a combination. It will be worth watching how their Canadian offering develops over the next 12 to 18 months as this new leadership layer settles in.
Joelle Nelson joins DeSimone Consulting Engineering as Principal
DeSimone Consulting Engineering has hired Joelle Nelson as a principal within its forensic consulting practice. Principal-level appointments in forensic engineering are a meaningful signal; these roles carry both technical authority and business development weight. For DeSimone, whose reputation spans structural design and consulting across major markets, this hire reinforces a continued investment in forensic capability as a core service offering rather than a peripheral one.
The bottom line
Leadership investment is one of the most reliable leading indicators in professional services. When firms like Rimkus, DeSimone, and Walter P Moore are placing or elevating experienced people in forensic and structural roles, they are signalling pipeline confidence. The talent market for senior technical leaders in these disciplines remains competitive, and that competition is only intensifying as consolidation brings more platforms into the recruiting arena.
Spotlight | Extreme weather and the forensic engineering pipeline
The shift
Extreme weather events are recurring demand drivers, no longer tail risks in the built environment sector. Hurricanes, atmospheric rivers, hailstorms, and freeze-thaw cycles are producing a sustained pipeline of building envelope failures, water intrusion claims, and structural damage investigations that is reshaping the forensic engineering market. What was once a reactive, event-driven business is beginning to look more like a structural feature of the market.
The pressure points
Insurers are under growing pressure to resolve claims faster, more defensibly, and at scale. At the same time, the complexity of those claims is increasing, with multi-system failures, disputed causation, overlapping jurisdictions, and legacy construction materials all compounding the investigative challenge. Forensic engineers are being asked not just to determine what failed, but to do so in a way that can withstand legal and regulatory scrutiny.
The opportunity
Beyond reactive claims work, the most forward-thinking firms are beginning to position their weather-related forensic expertise as the foundation for pre-loss risk advisory, helping asset owners and insurers assess vulnerability before an event occurs. This mirrors the broader shift from reactive investigation to evidence-led risk intelligence and represents a meaningful service line expansion opportunity for firms with the right technical depth.
Market pressure
Material cost inflation is embedding itself into the market baseline
Trade tariffs are becoming a structural feature of the cost environment. Steel and aluminium now carry tariffs of up to 50% in some categories. The AGC notes that a 10% global tariff on most countries is set to expire in July 2026, but this sits alongside persistent steel, aluminium, softwood lumber, and reciprocal tariffs ranging from 10 to 40% on most trading partners. For forensic engineers and claims consultants, this matters beyond just project cost. Tariff-driven material price volatility is a direct driver of delay and disruption claims, particularly where fixed-price contracts leave contractors exposed to procurement costs that were unforeseeable at tender. As contract language evolves to include tariff adjustment clauses, disputes about when escalation rights apply and how they are calculated are already beginning to reach claims teams. Firms with strong delay, disruption, and quantum expertise are increasingly well-positioned as this pipeline develops.
OSHA revised Heat NEP, construction is a primary target
On April 10, 2026, OSHA issued a revised National Emphasis Program for Outdoor and Indoor Heat-Related Hazards, which took effect immediately and replaces the prior 2022 directive. It will remain in force for five years.
While OSHA’s broader federal heat illness prevention standard, first proposed in 2024, has not yet been finalised, the agency continues to prioritise heat-related enforcement under its existing authority, including the General Duty Clause.
The revised NEP maintains a focus on high-risk industries such as construction, agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and warehousing. It also refines inspection procedures, including updated guidance for evaluating employer heat illness prevention efforts and for issuing citations. Enforcement activity is expected to increase during periods of elevated temperatures, including targeted inspections in high-risk sectors.
With warmer months approaching, employers in affected industries should ensure that heat illness prevention measures are in place, documented, and tailored to site-specific conditions, and that they can be readily demonstrated during an OSHA inspection.
