PMA Consultants

PMA Consultants keeps big construction programs on schedule and on budget, or explains why they slipped. The employee-owned firm, founded in 1971 and headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, handles program management, project controls, scheduling, and construction claims for public and private owners. PMA built the NetPoint and NetRisk planning tools its consultants use to model schedules and risk on complex jobs. Its people support water, transportation, aviation, and infrastructure programs, including scheduling on California’s Anderson Dam seismic retrofit. With a few hundred staff spread across U.S. offices, PMA sits on the owner’s side of the table, advising the parties writing the checks rather than swinging the hammers.

PMA Consultants is a program, project and construction management consultancy founded in 1971, with an Ann Arbor office among roughly 20 locations nationwide. It is a certified Minority Business Enterprise and employs more than 250 people.

The distinction worth understanding is that PMA does not build. It works on the owner’s side of the table, managing programs and projects, running project controls and scheduling, and handling risk and claims analysis. Owners hire firms like PMA when a capital program is large or complex enough that they need dedicated expertise to keep contractors, budgets and timelines aligned.

Scheduling and project controls are a particular strength; the firm is well known for analytical rigor in how it plans and tracks the sequence of a project. On public work, that role often shows up as an owner’s project manager guiding a municipality or institution through a build it will only do once.

With five decades of experience and offices coast to coast, PMA supports market sectors ranging from transportation and water to education and energy. Its 2024 recognition among Fortune’s Best Workplaces in Consulting and Professional Services speaks to internal culture as much as project delivery. For public and institutional owners in the Michigan region, the Ann Arbor office is the local entry point into a national consultancy.