Kentucky-licensed civil and environmental engineering practice running two parallel lanes — Bardstown water and sewer engineering after the Charter divestiture plus career-and-technical-center subcontracting beneath Codell and Sherman Carter Barnhart.

The water and sewer stack runs on cash, not on a federally mandated consent decree. Charter Communications' $49.5 million acquisition of Bardstown Connect closed March 31, 2025. City Administrator Aaron Boles confirmed the proceeds are earmarked against roughly $80 million of water and sewer capex through 2030. Two emergency projects landed first. The Gunning Sewer Pump Station and Force Main Upgrade at $3.2 million followed the February 2025 flood under FEMA disaster declaration DR-4860 — the existing pumps failed and ran on rental bypass. The Withrow Creek Lift Station Improvements at $6.122 million addressed an undersized lift station described as on the brink of failure. The Town Creek wastewater treatment plant change order was recently approved. Verified near-term water and sewer demand totals roughly $9.3 million in Kentucky Infrastructure Authority Fund B emergency capex plus the Town Creek change order plus the $80 million earmark queue through 2030.

The school-construction stack runs in parallel. Bardstown Independent Schools is delivering a $42.7 million paired-funded Career and Technical Education Center — a $21.3 million bond plus a $21.6 million state grant that includes $10 million from the Local Area Vocational Education Center program. Codell Construction of Winchester is construction manager at risk. Sherman Carter Barnhart is architect of record. Phase 1 (Bardstown High School, Middle School, and Career and Technical Center) is the $21.3 million slice on Codell's portfolio. Phase 2 is the Fifth Street Campus modernization. Completion runs through 2030. Fiscal year 2026 active spending: $2.5 million for high-school renovation, $3.7 million for the CTE Center, and $1.1 million for an energy upgrade.

Nelson County Schools carries a $52 million facility plan approved by the Kentucky Department of Education in June 2025, covering the New Haven and Cox's Creek schools. The Connected Campus Plan controversy — a 3-2 board vote merging Thomas Nelson High School into Nelson County High School — generated more than $3 million in halted-construction losses per the March 2024 KDE filing. KDE concluded a management review in July 2024 and reinstated Superintendent Wes Bradley over a board removal vote. The 2026 and 2028 board elections could reset vendor relationships mid-program. Treat Nelson County Schools as upside, not anchor demand.

Adjacent capex cross-sells exist. The Bardstown Aquatic and Sports Center runs $40 million across 80,000 square feet. Luckett and Farley is architect of record; retired city economic director Kim Houston is project manager; ground broke April 29, 2025; completion is December 2026. Salt River Electric Cooperative — Bardstown headquarters, 40,000 members across ten counties — runs parallel procurement on the rural electric side. Bardstown municipal electric serves 4,600 customers with KYMEA-supplied generation and ongoing distribution-side capex.

The founder profile carries a Kentucky Professional Engineer license in civil (sanitary and wastewater) plus an environmental specialty seal. The Kentucky Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors verifies the seal. The founder pre-qualifies with Codell Construction and Sherman Carter Barnhart for school-CTE subcontracting — mechanical, electrical, and plumbing scope, civil site scope, or specialty work such as CTE shop fit-out and lab utility runs (the highest-margin sub-scopes). The founder also knows the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority Fund B and Water Resource Information System — the emergency-loan procurement framework, the post-flood disaster declaration cadence, and the board resolution sequencing. The regional KIA Engineer of Record bench includes Strand Associates, Black and Veatch, GRW Engineers, HDR, Stantec, HMB, and Bell Engineering. The founder positions beneath one of these primes as a Tier-2 specialty sub, or competes directly on the under-$1-million task-order tier. The shop is bondable to $1 to $3 million single-project and $3 to $5 million aggregate. KRS 45A.490 grants a 5 percent Kentucky-resident-bidder preference on state-funded portions. The Kentucky-resident principal anchors in the Bourbon Belt with Bardstown navigation across cityofbardstown.org, the Nelson Fiscal Court bid portal, and Salt River Electric Cooperative. The Charter Communications procurement surface left the municipal column on March 31, 2025.

Year-3 steady-state. Founder-PE + 2-3 staff PEs/EITs + 1 admin/billing.

Service revenue Y3: $1.4M-$2.5M (Cohort A higher end on inherited backlog; Cohort B lower end on built-from-scratch).

Direct labor + benefits (3-4 FTE staff + founder): $700K-$1.1M. Overhead (rent, insurance, software-Bentley/Civil3D, vehicles, marketing, surety, professional development): $250K-$400K. Pre-owner net: $450K-$1.0M.

SBA 7(a) debt service (acquisition path): ($40K-$150K/yr). Owner total take-home Y3: $200K-$400K (W-2 + retained S-corp distribution; midpoint ~$280K). Multiple on exit (Y7-10): 3.5-5.0× SDE depending on PE diversification + recurring-MSA-share + key-person discount.

Capital tier. Acquisition path (Cohort A): $300K-$1.2M total enterprise value; $60K-$240K equity (20% SBA 7(a) injection); $240K-$960K SBA 7(a) at ~10% / 10-year (~$3,200-$12,700/mo debt service); working capital $50K-$150K. Startup path (Cohort B): $200K-$500K; $60K-$150K cash (PE seal + insurance binder + first-year payroll bridge for founder + 1-2 PE/EIT staff); $140K-$350K SBA 7(a) or revolving LOC. Bridge candidates: KY Cabinet for Economic Development KCEDF small-business loan (ced.ky.gov); Nelson County Industrial Development Authority bridge financing (nelsoncountyky.gov / Bardstown-Nelson EDA); SBA 7(a) at Town & Country Bank and Trust or Wilson & Muir Bank & Trust (both Bardstown-resident; both Chamber Gold; both bourbon-aging-stock lenders with deep Bardstown commercial-credit muscle and likely C&I appetite for a PE-led practice). Surety: Travelers / Old Republic / Liberty Mutual KY agent; two-year CPA-reviewed financials + personal indemnification standard.

• Bardstown Utility Services

  Municipal water, sewer, and electric utility

  Institution

  Mayor J. Richard Heaton serves through December 31, 2026. City Administrator Aaron Boles confirmed the post-Charter capital program. (502) 348-5947.
• Bardstown Independent Schools

  K-12 district delivering the $42.7 million paired-funded CTE Center

  Institution

  308 North Fifth Street. Superintendent Dr. Ryan Clark per Spectrum News 1, April 15, 2025. Fiscal year 2026 active spending: $2.5 million high-school renovation, $3.7 million CTE Center, $1.1 million energy upgrade.
• Nelson County Schools

  K-12 district carrying a $52 million approved facility plan

  Institution

  288 Wildcat Lane. Superintendent Wes Bradley, reinstated by the Kentucky Department of Education in July 2024 per WHAS 11. The Connected Campus Plan generated more than $3 million in halted-construction losses; the 2026 and 2028 board elections could reset vendor relationships.
• Codell Construction (Winchester)

  Construction manager at risk on the Bardstown Independent Schools CTE Center

  Out-of-county

  Named only on the Bardstown High School, Middle School, and Career and Technical Center project. Phase 2 and downstream KDE-funded Nelson work could rotate to other construction managers — prequalify on two or three rosters, not just Codell.
• Sherman Carter Barnhart

  Architect of record on the Bardstown CTE Center

  Out-of-county

  Lexington and Louisville offices. Named only on the Bardstown architect-of-record scope.
• Luckett and Farley

  Architect of record on the Bardstown Aquatic and Sports Center

  Out-of-county

  $40 million; 80,000 square feet. Kim Houston, retired Bardstown economic director, is project manager. A cross-sell adjacency for this founder by Year 2 or 3.
• Kentucky Infrastructure Authority — Fund B and Water Resource Information System

  State infrastructure financing

  Out-of-county

  Funded the post-flood Gunning Sewer Pump Station and Withrow Creek Lift Station emergency capex. Different procurement cadence (emergency hydrology, pump-rental bridge, expedited PE review) from the $80 million asset-renewal queue.
• Regional Engineer-of-Record bench — Strand Associates, Black and Veatch, GRW Engineers, HDR, Stantec, HMB, Bell Engineering

  Tier-1 primes; the founder positions as a Tier-2 specialty sub beneath one of them

  Out-of-county

  Common Kentucky Infrastructure Authority Fund B engineers of record. Named only on their covered scopes.
• Kentucky Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors

  State engineering licensure

  Out-of-county

  Verifies the civil sanitary or wastewater and environmental specialty seals and the continuing-education compliance window.
• Salt River Electric Cooperative and Bardstown municipal electric

  Rural and municipal electric utilities; parallel procurement portals

  Institution

  Salt River Electric — Bardstown headquarters, 40,000 members, 10 counties. Bardstown municipal electric — 4,600 customers, KYMEA-supplied generation, ongoing distribution-side capex.
• Nelson County Economic Development Agency and the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development

  Economic-development and bridge-financing infrastructure

  Out-of-county

  The county EDA handles project navigation. The Cabinet handles the KCEDF small-business loan path.
• Town and Country Bank and Trust, Wilson and Muir Bank and Trust, Lincoln National Bank

  Bardstown community banks — SBA 7(a) and 504 commercial loan officers

  Institution

  All three are Bardstown-resident with bourbon-aging-stock lending experience that maps to civil-engineering succession buys.

The acquisition lane has both a Cohort A succession-buy path (mid-career PE buying an existing Bardstown-resident or Louisville-suburban civil/environmental practice with existing Bardstown Utility Services or Nelson Fiscal Court touch-points at the 2-5 PE / $800K-$2.0M revenue tier with succession-prone 60+ lead PE; SBA 7(a) at 3-4× SDE; retain seller as 12-24 month transition consultant) and a Cohort B startup path (KY-licensed PE or PE-eligible EIT under licensed-principal mentor starting a 2-3 person specialty practice positioned as Tier-2 sub to Codell on BIS + to KIA-Fund-B-roster primes on Bardstown water/sewer). Sub-cohort C (cross-sell, not standalone) — Codell prequalified specialty MEP/civil-site sub for the CTE Center + Bardstown Aquatic & Sports Center + downstream BUS facility-side work — is a defensible expansion lane for either A or B founders by Year 2-3.

The highest-yield path is Cohort A succession-buy at $300K-$1.2M total enterprise value with the founder retaining the seller as a 12-24 month transition consultant. The acquisition variant inherits BUS + Nelson Fiscal Court touch-points + 5-7+ years documented CSO/SSO + sanitary-collection-system modeling + lift-station mechanical/electrical design-of-record + WWTP process-equipment specification past performance — compressing entry by 12-18 months versus Cohort B startup. Cohort B is the realistic path for founders without acquisition target inventory but with strong sub-positioning relationships at Codell + Sherman Carter Barnhart + Strand / Black & Veatch / GRW / HDR / Stantec / HMB / Bell pre-launch.

Cert and onboarding scope. KY business entity registration is 1-2 weeks. KY PE license civil sanitary/wastewater + environmental specialty (reciprocal-state PE conversion 2-4 months at KYBOELS; in-state licensure-holders portable). Professional liability $2M+ + general liability $1M/$2M city + $2M/$4M KIA/state-funded + auto $1M + umbrella $5M binding 1-2 weeks for clean credit. Surety $1-3M single-project / $3-5M aggregate requires two-year CPA-reviewed financials + personal indemnification. Codell + Sherman Carter Barnhart Tier-2 sub-prequalification on the BIS $42.7M CTE Center (MEP + civil-site + CTE-shop fit-out + lab utility specialty) is the centralLane B credentialing. KIA Fund B + WRIS familiarity scoping with Strand / Black & Veatch / GRW / HDR / Stantec / HMB / Bell named-prime sub-relationships is the Lane A credentialing. The integrated stack plus a $50K-$150K working-capital cushion is the realistic 12-18 month buildout.

• — The named Bardstown Utility Services manager, operations director, and the three separate electric, water, and wastewater superintendent seats post-divestiture.
• — The named Bardstown Independent Schools business manager and finance director.
• — The named Nelson County Schools facility-plan project manager and director of facilities.
• — The named Codell Construction Bardstown project lead and role.
• — The named Sherman Carter Barnhart Bardstown CTE Center project architect.
• — How fast the $80 million water-sewer earmark deploys. The Charter sale was a one-time cash injection; the city has stated intent but no published multi-year capital plan with year-by-year line items. The hedge: do not underwrite this practice on more than $30 million a year of Bardstown water and sewer flow. Assume $10 million to $25 million a year through 2030 against a 5 to 10 percent Tier-2 design-fee take rate, which is $1 million to $2.5 million a year addressable from the utility line alone.
• — The prime and process-equipment subcontractor on the Town Creek wastewater treatment plant change order.
• — What happens after the CTE Center completes in 2030. The recurring subcontract tail thins markedly into 2031. The hedge is to diversify into the Nelson County Schools facility-plan follow-on, a Bardstown-to-Louisville Water Company main extension, and Salt River Electric Cooperative civil work by Year 4.
• — Whether Nelson County Schools' 2026 and 2028 board elections reset the majority and re-litigate vendor relationships. Pursue Nelson County Schools share through scope-locked task orders on the approved facility plan, not through board-discretion lines. Treat it as upside, not anchor demand.

Tonight, this week, this month — in that order. Each step produces a yes/no or a number, not a deeper understanding.