Michels Construction, Inc.

Michels Construction, Inc., a large Wisconsin-based for-profit Subchapter S Corporation, is a federal prime contractor specializing in heavy civil engineering and marine construction, competing exclusively under full-and-open competition with no small-business set-asides across its federal footprint. The company delivers large-scale infrastructure projects including dredging operations, bank stabilization, navigation channel repairs, lock and dam improvements, vessel yard construction, and spillway work, primarily for the Department of the Army Corps of Engineers.

Michels Construction's customer concentration is acute and dominated by USACE. The top five funding entities account for 86% of recent awards, with the Department of the Army Corps of Engineers (across all districts) anchoring six awards worth $143 million in combined potential value. Supporting customers include the Department of Interior National Park Service National Office ($16.1 million for the Kettle Falls Power of Recovery design-build awarded September 26, 2025), the USACE Engineering District Sacramento ($56 million for Tule River Basin Phase 2 awarded December 10, 2021), and smaller USACE-affiliated work. The two rankings—award count and potential value—align tightly around USACE dominance; no single non-USACE customer breaks meaningful dollar concentration. Recent capability work includes a $39.8 million bank stabilization and stone placement project along 100 miles of the Missouri River (USACE Kansas City District, awarded November 4, 2022, completion June 14, 2026), a $45.2 million bank stabilization and navigation improvements contract along 140 miles of the Missouri River (USACE, awarded September 29, 2022, completion April 21, 2026), a $9.2 million pilot water-injection dredging demonstration at Tuttle Creek Lake, Kansas (USACE, awarded December 9, 2024), a $7.7 million mooring dolphins and shore power installation at Caven Point Marine Terminal in New York (USACE New York District, awarded August 1, 2025, funded through the Infrastructure and Jobs Act), and maintenance dredging contracts for Scarborough River, Maine ($3.1 million, October 1, 2023) and Wells Harbor, Maine ($3.5 million, September 15, 2023).

Michels Construction operates exclusively as a prime contractor—100% of its award footprint consists of prime definitive contracts with no subcontract participation. Service Contract Inventory records show minimal SCI-reportable activity (one SCI record in FY2024 as a named subcontractor only), indicating that the company's federal work is goods-heavy or product-delivery-focused rather than labor services, and SCI is not a meaningful revenue lens for this vendor. Activity volume has remained flat to slightly declining over the past five years—three awards in 2022, two in 2023, three in 2024, three in 2025, and one in early 2026. Five awards carrying combined potential value of $40.3 million reach ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing significant recompete exposure and opportunity for competitors. The vendor's geographic footprint spans the Upper Mississippi River system, Missouri River system, Great Lakes region, and select Atlantic and Pacific coastal waterways where USACE has active navigation and flood-management missions.