Connico Incorporated

Connico is a construction cost estimating and program management consultancy founded in 1990 by the late Connie S. Gowder and based in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. The firm specializes in independent cost estimates, scheduling and phasing, constructability review and program management, and it works almost entirely on the owner’s side of the table rather than for contractors. Aviation is its deepest market: Connico has worked in 46 states and at more than 400 airports, where independent estimating carries particular weight because federal funding programs require defensible cost documentation. The firm holds Disadvantaged Business Enterprise certification along with minority-owned and small business certifications nationwide. It is part of the consultant team on the CLEvolution program at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

Connie Gowder led the firm she founded until 2021. Sri Kumar, PE, is now President and CEO, and the practice has kept the same posture: it works for owners, agencies and design teams, not for the contractors whose numbers it is checking.

Three offices carry the work, in Nashville (Mount Juliet), Cincinnati (Hebron, Kentucky) and Atlanta (Roswell, Georgia).

The differentiator Connico claims is field experience. Rather than staffing estimators who have only ever worked from drawings, it runs a dedicated Field Services group under its own director, and it organises subject-matter experts by trade, with named electrical, architectural and scheduling specialists alongside mechanical, plumbing and fire protection estimating. Credentials across the team run to PE, CCP, CPE, CEP, CCT, PMP, MRICS, CMIT, EIT and LEED Green Associate.

Scheduling staff work in Oracle Primavera Cloud, Primavera P6, Bluebeam and Microsoft Project. The firm also employs a Director of Digital Transformation, which is a rare line item on a consultancy of this size and suggests the toolset is treated as something to maintain rather than something to buy once.

Sector coverage is broader than aviation alone: civil, transportation, institutional, commercial and industrial work, plus healthcare and education. The firm publishes a podcast called The B-Side with Sri and a weekly newsletter, the Connico Chronicles. Stated core values are respect, resiliency, integrity, inclusivity, thoughtfulness and innovation.