Longtime St. Pete engineering firm, president reinvigorated after acquisition

Griner Engineering Firm has been, well, grinding along since it began as an electrical engineering firm in St. Pete in 1968. 

What started as Best & Associates by Barney P. Best has changed hands and titles several times over the decades. It has also expanded its offerings to include mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection engineering design. Now its ready for its next iteration via an acquisition by Detroit-based OHM Advisors. (Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed.)

Joe Griner is the president of the $2 million firm and mastermind behind the latest move. He joined the firm with Best in 1989 to form Best Griner & Associates Engineers. Best retired in 1997 and eventually the name changed to Griner Engineering, in 2004. After two decades and now in his mid sixties, Griner was looking toward the future and listed the firm with a business broker. OHM was the first company to reach out.

“I looked at OHM Advisors and the opportunities for the company and for the people in the company now in Griner engineering at that time [and] they offered the best opportunities,” says Griner. “They wanted growth. It was a perfect match.”

Jon Kramer, president of OHM Advisors, a 750-employee firm projected to reach $125 million in revenue by the end of the year, holds a similar philosophy. “On behalf of the board, I'm asked to look 10 years out at our vision, and our vision is that we want to grow for the opportunity of our staff and advancing communities,” says Kramer, who has been with the company for three decades.“We just saw some synergies and perfect fits that were there.”

One such perfect fit was Griner’s mechanical, engineering, plumbing and fire protection (MEPF) offerings. Of OHM’s 750 employees, 15 are trained in this area. With Griner’s 15 employees serving in those roles, OHM’s capabilities ‘instantly doubled.' 

Part of OHM’s mission since its founding in 1962 is to better communities via infrastructure. Over the years the firm has made a handful of acquisitions and expanded into Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. (With Griner’s Tennessee office, this now makes five states in its service area.) The board considers each move based on certain criteria. “The areas have to have two things. One is going to be as their growth in the area, and the other is going to be as their infrastructure needs in the area,” Kramer says, “And I think it's fair to say that Florida, [in the] St Pete and Tampa area has both of those. There's a lot of infrastructure, a lot of needs, and there's obviously a lot of growth in the Florida market.”

This observation took place before the 2024 hurricane season; a true test of said infrastructure. 

The merger was set to be official Oct. 1, but with Hurricane Helene landing Sept. 26, the closing date was pushed a week, right into Hurricane Milton. Both camps had anxiety, as equipment had already been shipped to St. Pete and flights had been rescheduled several times. Ultimately though, everyone pulled through. 

“It was really neat to see the resilience and the work ethic of everyone,” Kramer says, citing the Michigan staff similarly powering through heavy snowstorms to get the work done. 

Ditto for Griner. 

“I'm really proud of the staff here. They work through it and around it. We had part of the building here in St Petersburg had roof damage, and so everybody just kind of pulled together,” Griner says, “I don't see any obstacles moving forward that we can't overcome.”

Looking ahead, Griner notes the recent infusion of tech for the team as an exciting addition. “Everyone got all new computers, all new systems to operate much more efficiently, much more technology driven, than we could possibly afford as a small firm. The joining to OHM has been just fantastic for our opportunities, technology wise.” 

For Griner, he now has resources at his disposal, like a new HR team, to take over the more administrative tasks and allow him to focus on the more enjoyable aspects of leading the office in his new role as director of the Florida and Tennessee offices of OHM Advisors. “This is something that's kind of re-energized me," he says. "I'm right here with it. I'm very happy to be here, and I plan on being here for a long time.”