2019 Economic Impact Awards 16-29 Years in Business Honoree: Toth and Associates Inc.

From the family kitchen table to becoming the largest engineering firm ranked by Springfield Business Journal in 2019, Toth and Associates Inc. has grown from an electrical firm to a multifaceted operation.

“We had ambitions of growing. We’ve met or exceeded our hopes but still have ambitions to grow,” says Adam Toth, who was promoted to the president role in March. “It’s a great honor to be given that responsibility to make decisions that make an impact on almost 100 families and lives.”

Toth succeeded his father Lou, who now holds the board chairman position and continues to work as an engineer.

While the company is close to hitting its year-end goal of 100 employees, officials continue to look for more engineers and technical staff to hire.

Wages are growing, too. Last year, Toth and Associates increased the average hourly employee pay by nearly $3 to $40.21 per hour.

Founded in 2003 and based in Springfield, the firm also operates in Oregon – one office is in Hermiston and another opened in Portland in April 2018. Toth says Washington, Idaho and Montana may be future target markets for the firm. Those markets would include electrical consulting, electrical utility improvements, wind farms and new industries in the renewable energy field.

Declining to disclose annual sales, Toth says company revenue has grown 74% over the past four years with an average growth rate of nearly 15%.

The client list has expanded to 361 from just 33 in 2004, the firm’s first full year in business.

“We’ve always organically grown,” Toth says. “We’ve never purchased another firm. We’ve always grown from within.”

Toth and Associates utilizes a relationship with Missouri State University to keep local talent in the area, with company officials speaking at campus events.

“We keep trying to strengthen that relationship,” Toth says, adding the university offering structural engineering in 2008 has bolstered its program.

The kitchen table vision has added new components since its inception. Toth and Associates now works in civil and structural engineering, land surveying and grant writing. The firm also is known for its safe room construction.

After hiring one of Toth’s college roommates for the structural wing, the safe-room division blossomed.

“Whenever they started the structural, the (Federal Emergency Management Agency) safe rooms were starting to become a thing, and they took it and ran with it,” Toth says.

The company has constructed 31 safe rooms in Missouri, including five each for the Springfield and Nixa public school districts, Missouri State University, and the cities of Willard and Monett.

Current projects for the firm include civil and structural engineering for a safe room for Noel Primary School and Mid-Missouri Bank’s new combined headquarters at 1615 E. Independence St., as well as engineering work for the School of the Osage High School Fieldhouse, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.