MEP Staffing
Advastar has staffed MEP design and construction teams for owners, contractors and engineering firms
MEP staffing for the teams that have to make three trades fit in one ceiling
Advastar provides MEP staffing for consulting engineering firms, mechanical and electrical contractors, design-build teams and owners running capital projects with significant systems scope. We place MEP design engineers, coordinators, VDC and BIM modelers, project managers, estimators and commissioning specialists, on a direct-hire, contract, contract-to-hire and payrolling basis.
MEP is treated as one word and hired as three, which is the source of most of the friction in these searches. A mechanical designer, an electrical engineer and a plumbing designer have separate training, separate software habits and separate professional identities. What makes an MEP hire valuable is the part that sits between them: knowing that the duct main and the main electrical feeder and the storm leader all want the same six inches above the ceiling, and having been the person who resolved it. We screen for coordination experience explicitly, because it is the skill clients need and the one job descriptions almost never ask for.
Model-based coordination has made that concrete. On any project of size, MEP coordination happens in Navisworks and Revit before it happens on site, and the people who run it – VDC coordinators, BIM modelers with real trade knowledge – are a genuinely scarce group. A modeler who can build geometry is common. One who knows that a plumber cannot install what the model shows is not.
Demand on this desk tracks data centers, healthcare, life sciences and advanced manufacturing, all of which are systems-heavy and none of which tolerate a coordination failure discovered in the field. Advastar has more than 60 years of combined staffing experience across engineering and construction, and we recruit MEP nationally for both the design side and the construction side of the same projects.
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Our MEP talent network
- 14,300 MEP professionals in network
- 3,600 with model-based coordination experience
- 38 states with active MEP placements
- 23days median time from search kickoff to offer
MEP talent categories commonly supported
Commissioning agents and turnover coordinators running functional performance testing across integrated systems, and closing out the documentation an owner will actually rely on.
Power distribution, lighting, fire alarm and low voltage system design, short circuit and coordination studies and the utility interface work that determines a project’s service capacity.
HVAC and mechanical systems design: load calculations, equipment selection, duct and piping layout, energy modeling and construction documents. Screened on building type and system complexity, not years in Revit.
Coordinators and BIM modelers running clash detection and trade coordination in Navisworks and Revit. Valued for trade knowledge as much as modeling skill – knowing what can actually be installed, not just what fits geometrically.
Estimators pricing mechanical, electrical and plumbing scope, including labor unit pricing, equipment procurement lead times and the escalation exposure that has become material on long projects.
Department heads, discipline leads and principals at design firms and operations leadership at MEP contractors, accountable for utilization, technical quality and margin.
Project managers at mechanical and electrical contractors and on design-build teams, owning buyout, coordination, installation sequence and the systems handover at the end.
Domestic water, sanitary, storm and specialty gas systems, plus fire protection design and hydraulic calculations. The discipline most often understaffed and most often the cause of late-stage coordination problems.
Software, systems and credentials we screen for
- AGi32
- ASHRAE Standards
- AutoCAD MEP
- BIM 360 /
ACC - Clash Detection & Trade Coordination
- Commissioning & Functional Testing
- ETAP
- Hydraulic Calculations
- IES Virtual Environment
- LEED Accreditation
- Load Calculation & Energy Modeling
- Navisworks Manage
- NEC Compliance
- PE Licensure
- Prefabrication & Modular Assembly
- Revit MEP
- Short Circuit & Coordination Studies
- SKM PowerTools
- Trace 700 /
TRACE 3D Plus - Trimble Connect
Real-world outcomes: MEP searches we have delivered
- Read Case Study: Design-Build Contractor – Coordination Team for a Data Center Program
Design-build contractor – coordination team for a data center program
- VDC coordinators with genuine trade backgrounds recruited rather than pure modelers
- Mechanical and electrical designers added to support prefabrication packages
- Two coordinators engaged on contract for the peak coordination window only
- Read Case Study: Consulting Engineering Firm – Plumbing Discipline Rebuild
Consulting engineering firm – plumbing discipline rebuild
- Senior plumbing designer recruited with healthcare and lab experience
- Fire protection design capability added to reduce outside consultant reliance
- Billing rates validated for both hires before offers so utilization targets held
- Read Case Study: Mechanical Contractor – Estimating and Project Management
Mechanical contractor – estimating and project management
- MEP estimator recruited with equipment procurement and escalation experience
- Project manager hired with prefabrication and modular assembly background
- Commissioning coordinator added to tighten systems turnover documentation
What hiring managers say about Advastar
Why clients trust Advastar
Forbes 2026Best of Recruiting & Best of Staffing
Advastar was named to Forbes' 2026 Best of Recruiting and Best of Staffing lists, both compiled from independent surveys of the clients and candidates we work with.
Read the AnnouncementGE EnergyStaffing Partner of the Year
GE Energy named Advastar its Staffing Partner of the Year in 2025 through the GE Vernova supplier program.
60+ yearsof combined MEP expertise
Our MEP recruiters bring more than 60 years of combined recruiting experience to every search we run.
Tell us who you need to hire
- Tell us about the role you need to fill
- A recruiter calls you within one business day
- Together we agree on a plan to fill the role
Find your next role
- Tell us what kind of work you want
- A recruiter reviews your details and gets in touch
- We put you forward for jobs that fit
GE Energy Staffing Partner of the Year
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Our MEP recruiting team
David Case
President, Advastar Engineering Services
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Tim Shearer
VP & National Managing Director
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Robert Cornelio
Director of Business Development
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Jaime Summers
Senior Recruiter
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Amanda Martin
Recruiter
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Christen Trent
Recruiter
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Laura Carrillo Barrios
Recruiter
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Lisa Wombwell
Office Manager
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Frequently asked questions about MEP staffing
Mechanical, electrical and plumbing across both design and construction: design engineers in each discipline, MEP coordinators and VDC modelers, project managers and estimators at MEP contractors, commissioning specialists and department and practice leadership.
Three, coordinated as one. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing designers have separate training and separate professional identities. What we screen for on top is coordination experience, which is the part that actually makes an MEP hire valuable and the part job descriptions rarely ask about.
Because it is where projects fail. The duct main, the electrical feeder and the storm leader all want the same space above the ceiling, and someone has to have resolved that before the field discovers it. Candidates who have personally run that resolution are worth considerably more than their titles suggest.
Trade knowledge more than modeling speed. A modeler who can build geometry is common; one who knows a pipefitter cannot install what the model shows is scarce. We ask what they have coordinated and whether they have been in the field to see the result.
HVAC covers mechanical equipment, installation and service as a trade. MEP covers the integrated systems discipline across design and construction, where the value is in coordination between mechanical, electrical and plumbing rather than in one system alone.
Building automation is controls engineering and programming. Low voltage is installation trades for cabling, life safety and security. MEP is the design and construction of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems themselves. They intersect on a project and are separate labor markets.
Yes, and it is consistently the hardest of the three disciplines to hire. It is also the one most often understaffed, which is why it shows up as a late-stage coordination problem. We say up front that these searches take longer.
Both, and frequently for both sides of the same project. Design firms hire against utilization and billable rate; contractors hire against backlog and buyout. The candidate pools overlap more here than in most disciplines, but the screening priorities differ.
Yes. Functional performance testing across integrated systems, and the turnover documentation that follows. Many commissioning roles are contract engagements tied to a specific project phase.
Yes. Peak coordination windows, single projects and leave coverage are commonly staffed on contract or contract-to-hire, and payrolling is available where the person is already identified.
First submittals are usually within a week to ten days. Median from kickoff to accepted offer across our MEP searches is about 23 days, with plumbing and fire protection roles typically running longer.
We recruit nationally across the United States, with active MEP placements in 38 states, including traveling assignments on data center and industrial programs.