Fifth Fastest Private Company in NH: Nobis Engineering Inc.

Three-Year Avg. Growth: 50%

Rank on Private 100: 76

Headquarters: 18 Chenell Drive, Concord

Product/Service: Engineering, design

and consulting firm

CEO: Nannu Nobis

Founded: 1988

Total Number of Employees: 97

Website: www.nobiseng.com

Cleaning up other people's messes has been lucrative for this employee-owned engineering firm. In 2011, Nobis Engineering was awarded a $20 million, five-year, on-call contract with Sullivan International Group in San Diego to clean up contaminated sites in New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. To support that contract, Nobis opened a New Jersey office earlier this year. Nobis also began work on a $12 million EPA contract last year to clean up groundwater contamination at the Silresim Chemical Superfund Site in Lowell, Mass.

Its stellar growth landed Nobis Engineering on the Zweig Letter Hot Firm List for 2011 (ranked 21st), which recognizes high-performing architecture and engineering firms in the U.S. and Canada. The Concord-based firm, which also has an office in Massachusetts, had a banner start to 2012 as well, opening a fourth office in White River Junction, Vt., and CEO and founder Nannu Nobis was named the NH Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Nobis says several factors fueled the firm's growth coming out of the recession, including a dedicated team of empowered employees who are also owners of the company. It's our employees who have looked for new opportunities in the recession and looked for savings, he says.

The firm continues to grow its revenue this year, but not at the pace it would like, Nobis says. I anticipate 7 to 8 percent revenue growth this year, he says. The firm is exploring opening an office in the mid-Atlantic area to pursue more projects there.