Heavy civil, built on safety and discipline.
Zenith Construction & Engineering Services is a Chicago-based civil contractor founded by Pankil Modi in 2024 to deliver concrete, roadway, site work, and traffic control to public agencies and major Chicago general contractors.
How we win and keep the work.
Cost efficiency
Competitive bids without compromising safety or specs — Zenith uses estimating discipline, in-house QC, and crew sizing tuned to scope.
Leadership expertise
International construction-management experience and Johns Hopkins–trained ownership in the trailer on every job.
Speed
Modern project management, certified payroll on Sage 100, and streamlined coordination with inspectors and primes for on-time delivery.
Principal & CEO
Pankil Modi has spent ten years delivering heavy civil and infrastructure work across three countries and two U.S. states. He started in Boston with Walsh Brothers on the MGH expansion, moved into highway design with VHB and Greenman-Pedersen for MassDOT, ran tenant-leased commercial development in Gujarat with Himalaya Buildcon, and most recently led City of Chicago projects as a Project Engineer at Sumit Construction.
In 2024 he founded Zenith to bring that combined estimating, QC, and field-management discipline to a Chicago-focused contractor that can show up either as the prime or as a dependable concrete subcontractor — whichever the client needs.
Where we've been.
- Aug 2024Founded Zenith Construction & Engineering Services LLC
Pankil Modi formed Zenith to bid public-agency concrete and civil scopes as both GC and subcontractor across Chicagoland and Illinois.
- Jan 2025 – CurrentDWM term agreements — Repair & Restoration
Two active sub-tier term agreements with the Chicago Department of Water Management: Street & Parkway Repair ($1.25M) and Street & Parkway Restoration ($1.5M).
- May 2026IDOT Prequalification issued
Illinois DOT Certificate of Eligibility — Contractor #967C, Class 017 Concrete Construction. Work limit $1.5M through April 2027.
- In progressMBE certification
City of Chicago Minority Business Enterprise designation in progress — expands Zenith's public-agency opportunity set.
Project leadership experience Pankil delivered as an employee of other firms before founding Zenith.
- 2023–2024Jackson Park Mobility Improvements (prior experience)
Project Manager under Sumit Construction on a $6.29M CDOT corridor upgrade — 40,000+ SY of PCC, ADA ramps, bridge approach slabs. Pre-Zenith experience, not a Zenith contract.