The history of Raba Kistner, an employee-owned professional corporation, was founded by Bunny J. Raba, Carl F. Raba, and Ronald G. Tolson in San Antonio, Texas in 1968 as Raba & Tolson Consulting Engineers, Inc., practicing solely in Geotechnical Engineering.
In 1973, Tolson left and the firm was renamed Raba and Associates Consulting Engineers, Inc. Richard W. Kistner joined the firm in 1974 and led the expansion into the practice of Construction Materials Engineering.
The firm continued to grow and was renamed Raba-Kistner Consultants, Inc. in 1978 to reflect the addition of a new principal and the expansion of our services into major non-engineering areas including Geosciences and Environmental Sciences. Raba-Kistner began practicing Facilities Engineering in 1999.
In 2002, Raba-Kistner Infrastructure was formed to offer QA/QC and Construction Management Services to the transportation industry.
Locations of fully-staffed offices include:
- San Antonio
- Austin (2)
- Brownsville
- Dallas
- El Paso
- Houston
- McAllen
- New Braunfels
- Mexico
- Salt Lake City, Utah
Raba Kistner also has multiple lab and project locations in the Southwestern United States. In addition, our engineering services also extend across the border to meet our clients’ needs in México, through our subsidiary Raba Ingenieros, S. De R.L. De C.V.
In 2012, the firm announced that it was restructuring to support the industry trend-busting growth it was experiencing in many of its service areas. With a doubling of staff (to almost 450) and an almost doubling of billings over the last ten years, the firm has divided itself into a holding company – Raba Kistner, Inc. – with four operating companies to better support projected growth over the next five years and well into the future.
The operating companies are:
- Raba Kistner Consultants (geotechnical and construction materials engineering and testing services)
- Raba Kistner Environmental
- Raba Kistner Facilities
- Raba Kistner Infrastructure