Business developmentforDayton AEC firms.
BD-AEC runs business development for Dayton architecture, engineering, and construction firms. Your engineers bill $300 an hour, so they should not be the ones chasing the pipeline. We run it for you in this market, with the federal primes, agencies, and institutional owners already on a first-name basis with Scott, the relationships that win work long before the solicitation posts.
The Dayton market
Who buys design and construction here
Dayton is a defense-anchored AEC market, and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base sets the buyer table. About 228 design and construction firms compete here, where security clearances, IDIQ vehicles, and prime/sub teaming decide who wins far more often than the low number does.
Dayton runs on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio's largest single-site employer at roughly 38,000 people, and the defense-engineering cluster it pulls in around it. AFRL, NASIC, UDRI, and the contractor base working outside the fence make the dominant buyer a federal one. Here clearances, IDIQ vehicles, and prime/sub teaming relationships decide who wins, not a low bid dropped in on the open market by a firm nobody knows.
Layered on top of the federal base is a civilian market with real volume: two competing health systems in Premier Health and Kettering Health, the University of Dayton, Wright State, and Sinclair, and a City of Dayton water enterprise drawing from the Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer. Public design and construction work runs through ODOT District 7, the city's engineering department, and Montgomery County, with active programs like the I-75 reconstruction north of downtown keeping the pipeline full.
That is the opening for a fractional BD director. Winning in Dayton means being a known quantity to the right primes, agencies, and institutional owners, and that is exactly the relationship-building most technical firms have nobody dedicated to doing. A director who already works these buyers shortens a runway that otherwise takes years to build.
U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns (NAICS 5413, 2022)
Federal & defense
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, AFRL, NASIC, UDRI, and the GE Aerospace presence in Beavercreek and on the UD campus, plus the cleared contractor base teaming on IDIQ and prime/sub vehicles outside the fence.
Healthcare systems
Premier Health and Kettering Health, the two competing systems whose hospital and outpatient capital programs anchor much of the region's private design and construction work.
Public infrastructure
ODOT District 7, the I-75 reconstruction north of downtown, the City of Dayton water and engineering departments, and the Mad River and Miami wellfields drawing on the Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer.
Institutional
The University of Dayton, Wright State University, Sinclair Community College, and the region's K-12 capital programs across Montgomery County.
Municipal & county
The City of Dayton, Montgomery County, and the surrounding Kettering, Beavercreek, and Greene County governments that put steady local capital work to bid.
By discipline
BD-AEC in Dayton, by discipline
We run business development for Dayton AEC firms one discipline at a time, one client per discipline. Open your discipline’s Dayton page on the main site for the local picture.
Civil Engineering
Dayton business development for civil engineering firms.
Structural Engineering
Dayton business development for structural engineering firms.
Architecture
Dayton business development for architecture firms.
Land Surveying & Geospatial
Dayton business development for land surveying & geospatial firms.
Landscape Architecture
Dayton business development for landscape architecture firms.
Construction Management
Dayton business development for construction management firms.
Transportation & Traffic Engineering
Dayton business development for transportation & traffic engineering firms.
Testing & Special Inspection
Dayton business development for testing & special inspection firms.
Why us, here
Why a fractional BD director in Dayton
BD-AEC runs business development in Dayton, and Scott knows the federal primes, the public agencies, and the institutional owners here by name. In a market where Wright-Patterson and its contractor cluster decide so much of the work through teaming and clearances, that local knowledge is the difference between a cold submission and a warm introduction from someone already at the table.
By policy, BD-AEC represents one firm per discipline, project type, and market, an ethical line that protects every client's pipeline. For a Dayton firm, that means an exclusive BD partner who will never walk your relationships across town to a competitor.
Questions
Straight answers
Does BD-AEC actually work the Dayton market?
Yes. Scott works the Dayton owners, primes, and public agencies directly, not from a distance. He knows the players around Wright-Patterson, the two health systems, the universities, and the county and city departments that put work out, and he builds the relationships that decide who gets the call before a solicitation ever posts.
What kind of AEC firms do you represent in Dayton?
Principal-led architecture, engineering, and construction firms, roughly $1M to $20M in revenue, whose senior people are too valuable to spend their week on business development. By policy we take only one firm per discipline, project type, and market, so we never represent two competitors.
How is a fractional BD director different from hiring a salesperson?
A salesperson cold-calls. A fractional BD director is an embedded, senior partner who owns your pipeline: the strategy, the relationships, the teaming, and the pursuit. You get the expertise of a six-figure BD hire without the full-time salary line.
Wright-Patterson and federal work drive this market. Do you cover that?
Yes. The federal base is the center of gravity in Dayton, so we work it head-on. Scott understands how clearances, IDIQ vehicles, and prime/sub teaming actually decide these awards, and he positions your firm with the right primes and agencies long before the RFP drops, not after.
How do we start?
Tell us about your firm and your market using the form below. Scott will respond within one business day to set up a discovery call and tell you honestly whether your discipline and market are open.
Talk to Scott
Is your Dayton market open?
Tell us your firm and your discipline. Scott will respond within one business day and tell you honestly whether your Dayton market is open and what a fractional BD director would do first.
Request a discovery call
DaytonAEC firms only. We'll never share your details.
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