7.2.7Segment

Remediation & Cleanup Services

Environmental remediation contractors cleaning up contaminated sites, brownfields, and Superfund properties.

4
Verticals

Overview

Remediation & Cleanup Services covers the cleanup of contaminated sites — soil and groundwater remediation, brownfield restoration, spill response, and site closure. It serves industrial, government, and real-estate clients restoring contaminated land for redevelopment or compliance, led by environmental-services and remediation firms.

Demand is driven by environmental regulation, brownfield redevelopment, and emerging contaminants (PFAS a major and growing driver), plus voluntary and mandated cleanups. This profile is also maintained (and sized) under Construction & Engineering; it is a fragmented, technically specialized segment consolidating around environmental-services platforms.

Market snapshot

Market size
~$23B
Growth
~7.2%CAGR (2017–22, nominal)
Companies
~4,829 firms
Firms by employee count

81.5% of firms have fewer than 20 employees: 3,938 micro-businesses, below most mandates.

The investable universe891 firms with 20+ employees
20–99
66274%
100–499
14116%
500+
8810%

Demand is created by regulation and litigation rather than by economic activity, which makes this the least cyclical business in the sector. PFAS is the driver worth watching: it is generating a remediation obligation across tens of thousands of sites that has barely started.

NAICS 562910. U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Economic Census.

Business model & economics

Revenue model

Remediation and cleanup project contracts

Key economics

Revenue per firm
$4,708,865
Revenue per employee
$233,701
Employees per firm
19.1
Recurring revenue
Low–Moderate

projects plus ongoing monitoring

EBITDA margin
Specialized, regulation-driven economics
Capex intensity
Moderate

Characteristics

  • Balanced cost base — payroll is 27% of revenue, leaving room to scale margin without cutting staff
  • Moderate strategic-buyer pool — 88 firms exceed 500 employees; a scaled asset has buyers, but not many
  • Soil/groundwater remediation and brownfield restoration.
  • PFAS a major and growing demand driver.
  • Technically specialized and fragmented.

NAICS 562910. U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Economic Census.

Geographic concentration

AlabamaArizonaFloridaGeorgiaIndianaKansasMaineMassachusettsMinnesotaNew JerseyNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOklahomaPennsylvaniaSouth DakotaTexasWyomingMissouriWest VirginiaIllinoisNew MexicoArkansasCaliforniaDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaHawaiiIowaKentuckyMarylandMichiganMississippiMontanaNew HampshireNew YorkOhioOregonTennesseeUtahVirginiaWashingtonWisconsinNebraskaSouth CarolinaIdahoNevadaVermontLouisianaRhode IslandAlaskaColoradoConnecticut

Alaska leads at nearly five times the national concentration, with Connecticut and Colorado following — remote federal sites at one end of the spectrum and dense industrial legacy at the other, the two conditions that generate cleanup obligations.

AlaskaConnecticutColorado

U.S. Census Bureau — 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses (firms by state), NAICS 562910. Concentration shown by location quotient.

M&A deal context

Deal activityModerate

Who’s acquiring

  • Environmental-services strategics
  • PE-backed remediation platforms
  • Industrial-services consolidators

What’s driving deals

  • PFAS and emerging-contaminant remediation.
  • Brownfield redevelopment and regulation.
  • Consolidation of specialized contractors.

Verticals in this segment

Find Remediation & Cleanup Services acquisition targets

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