Vertical Earth

Vertical Earth is a civil construction contractor based in Cumming, Georgia, specializing in sitework, transportation and structures work across the Southeast. Founded in 1997 by Brett Johnson, the firm is a licensed Georgia general contractor and utility contractor and a GDOT prequalified prime contractor, and it self-performs earthwork, grading, underground utilities and concrete structures. It generated $217 million in revenue in 2025 and employs more than 600 people across Georgia and Florida. In July 2026, Madrid-based Acciona agreed to acquire 80% of the company, making Atlanta the strategic hub for its U.S. infrastructure division; Johnson retains the CEO role and a 20% stake. The deal is expected to close near the end of 2026.

Vertical Earth handles the part of a project that happens before anything vertical goes up. The Cumming, Georgia contractor self-performs mass grading and earthwork, site development, road and transportation construction, retaining walls and civil structures, erosion control, sanitary and storm sewer installation, rock excavation and crushing, and traffic control, a scope that takes a raw site through to a graded, serviced and structured base ready to build on.
Self-performing that range matters. Rather than coordinating a chain of subcontractors, the company puts its own crews on the grading, the utilities and the structures, which keeps control of quality and schedule in one place. Rock excavation and crushing is a telling inclusion, it means the firm can process material on site instead of hauling it, which changes the economics of a difficult site.
Trained crews and the markets they serve
Safety underpins that self-performed work. Vertical Earth runs continual in-house and industry training covering trench safety, OSHA 10-hour, first aid, traffic control and flagging, utility identification, and erosion control certification, the specific hazards that come with deep excavation and roadway work. Those crews serve both public and private clients on transportation projects, commercial and retail sites, schools, and multifamily developments.
Founded in 1997 and now 201-500 people strong, the firm works from Georgia bases at Atlanta and Savannah out into Florida and across the Southeastern United States. That footprint, paired with a self-performing model and a trained workforce, suits the large sitework and infrastructure jobs that set the foundation for everything built afterward.
Erosion control and storm and sanitary sewer installation are the unglamorous utilities a site needs before anything else can proceed, and self-performing them keeps that critical early phase on Vertical Earth’s own schedule. Running offices in both Georgia and Florida lets the firm keep crews and equipment within reach of the Southeastern jobs it targets, rather than mobilising from a single base.