2008 Revenues of RECORD’s Top 250 Firms

By Charles Linn, FAIA

“Recession? What recession?” If Rip Van Winkle, AIA, awoke today with no knowledge of the near collapse of the economy last year, and he decided to start catching up on news of the profession by checking architectural record’s Top 250 Firms list, he might be skeptical of the rumors that we’re in one. Those architects who have not been sleeping much lately might also think he was delusional unless they just looked at the total architecture revenue for all firms on the list. Last year, it gained nearly 9 percent over 2007, going from a total of $11.5 billion to $12.5 billion. Although in most industries 9 percent growth would cause the spontaneous consumption of copious cases of champagne, the extent that individual architecture firms are unique makes it simplistic to assess the overall health of the profession by just totaling up all revenues across the board.

The trouble is that the recession never hits all firms equally. Those that rely too much on housing, commercial, and hospitality work (if you don’t know who you are, check below) got hit hard in the back of the head this year, and their pain was swift and severe. Headaches for architects who work in the hospital and education markets may have been more psychosomatic than not so far, but few were spared them.

Other misdiagnoses arise from the fact that the profession’s perceptions of how we’re doing have become distorted by year-after-year double-digit growth. Revenues for 2007 were a ridiculous 25 percent higher than they were in 2006. This is obviously unsustainable, and nearly all of the profession’s elder statesmen knew it. They just didn’t know exactly when the party would be over. Now the few who stopped expanding while work was still coming in have gone from being derided as paranoid to lauded as prophetic.

In fact, the worst may not be over, so don’t give all the aspirin to your developer and banker friends just yet. Bad news from the AIA’s Architectural Billings Index has abated only slightly in recent months, and the pressure on firms that do institutional work is building. In these markets, the suffering comes on more like a migraine: The blinding pain builds slowly, gaining relief is quite complicated — and it takes a very long time, too.

 

HOW TO USE THIS TABLE Companies are ranked according to revenue for architectural services performed in 2008 in $ millions. Firms engaged in the business of architectural design that responded to Engineering News-Record’s annual Top 500 Design Firms survey submitted these revenue figures. The McGraw-Hill Companies publishes both Architectural Record and ENR. To participate in the ENR survey, which serves as the basis for this ranking next year, contact Virgilio Mendoza at 212/904-6371. Key to how firms classify themselves: A = Architect AE = Architect-Engineer AEC = Architect-Engineer-Contractor EA = Engineer-Architect Other combinations possible

 

 

Top 250 Firms: 1-50 | 51-100 | 101-150 | 151-200 | 201- 250

 

ARCHITECTURE FIRMS RANKED ACCORDING TO 2008 REVENUE

Rank Firms listed by 2008 architecture revenue as reported to ENR in its Top 500 Design Firms Survey Type of Firm Total Architectural Revenue Domestic Architectural Revenue International Architectural Revenue Percent of Design Revenue from Architecture Total Design Revenue 201 TMP Associates Inc. Bloomfield Hills, Mich. A 9.78 9.78 0.00 54% 18.00 202 CMA Fort Worth, Texas A 9.60 9.60 0.00 76% 12.70 203 Crafton Tull Sparks Rogers, Ark. AE 9.50 9.50 0.00 30% 32.00 204 Middough Inc. Cleveland, Ohio EA 9.50 9.50 0.00 9% 108.00 205 Buchart-Horn Inc./BASCO Associates York, Pa. EA 9.30 5.10 4.20 22% 43.13 206 CASCO Diversified Corp. St. Louis, Mo. AE 9.00 9.00 0.00 48% 18.80 207 CSA Group Miami, Fla. EA 9.00 9.00 0.00 11% 79.35 208 Otak Inc. Lake Oswego, Ore. EA 8.60 5.10 3.50 13% 65.90 209 H2M/Holzmacher McLendon & Murrell Melville, N.Y. EA 8.46 8.46 0.00 24% 35.82 210 Crawford Architects Kansas City, Mo. A 8.30 5.00 3.30 100% 8.30 211 The Korte Co. Highland, Ill. EC 8.17 8.17 0.00 100% 8.17 212 KCBA Architects Hatfield, Pa. AE 8.06 8.06 0.00 100% 8.06 213 Walker Parking Consultants Chicago, Ill. EA 8.00 8.00 0.00 12% 65.08 214 Schmidt Assocs. Indianapolis, Ind. AE 7.90 7.90 0.00 70% 11.29 215 Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon Inc. Nashville, Tenn. EA 7.55 7.55 0.00 13% 58.18 216 Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc. New York, N.Y. EAC 7.45 1.39 6.06 0% 1572.00 217 Powers Brown Architecture Houston, Texas A 7.40 7.40 0.00 100% 7.40 218 Michels Corp. Brownsville, Wis. EC 7.39 7.39 0.00 100% 7.39 219 SEI Design Group Rochester, N.Y. A 7.18 7.18 0.00 100% 7.18 220 PMSM Architects Santa Barbara, Calif. A 7.05 7.05 0.00 100% 7.05 221 Maguire Group Inc. Foxborough, Mass. AEL 6.94 6.63 0.31 29% 24.26 222 Ammann & Whitney New York, N.Y. EA 6.90 6.80 0.10 19% 35.53 223 Woolpert Inc. Dayton, Ohio EAP 6.55 6.55 0.00 5% 129.00 224 The LPA Group Inc. Columbia, S.C. EA 6.54 6.17 0.37 8% 77.76 225 Whitman, Requardt & Associates LLP Baltimore, Md. EA 6.30 6.30 0.00 9% 72.91 226 Woodward Design+Build New Orleans, La. AEC 6.17 6.17 0.00 100% 6.17 227 The Beck Group Dallas, Texas AC 6.00 6.00 0.00 38% 16.00 228 The Scott Partnership Architecture Inc. Orlando, Fla. A 6.00 6.00 0.00 86% 7.00 229 Wink Cos. LLC Baton Rouge, La. EA 6.00 6.00 0.00 6% 93.02 230 DOWL HKM Anchorage, Alaska E 5.94 5.94 0.00 11% 54.10 231 Emc2 Group Architects Planners PC Mesa, Ariz. A 5.52 5.52 0.00 100% 5.52 232 Halff Associates Inc. Richardson, Texas EA 5.20 5.20 0.00 7% 75.17 233 Thompson & Litton Wise, Va. EA 5.17 5.17 0.00 35% 14.78 234 CLC Associates Inc. Denver, Colo. EA 5.00 5.00 0.00 26% 19.10 235 Ninyo & Moore San Diego, Calif. GE 5.00 5.00 0.00 8% 60.00 236 Behar-Ybarra & Associates PSC San Juan, P.R. EA 4.90 0.00 4.90 26% 18.58 237 CRB Kansas City, Mo. EA 4.81 4.50 0.31 7% 70.87 238 Bury+Partners Inc. Austin, Texas E 4.70 4.70 0.00 8% 58.50 239 GRW Engineers Inc. Lexington, Ky. EA 4.70 4.70 0.00 14% 34.20 240 Poggemeyer Design Group Inc. Bowling Green, Ohio EAP 4.70 4.70 0.00 19% 25.08 241 Hatch Mott MacDonald Millburn, N.J. E 4.60 4.60 0.00 2% 280.90 242 Hussey, Gay, Bell & DeYoung - A Bell Co. Savannah, Ga. EA 4.58 4.13 0.45 18% 26.16 243 Sherlock Smith & Adams Montgomery, Ala. AE 4.44 4.26 0.18 37% 12.00 244 Wilson & Co., Engineers & Architects Albuquerque, N.M. EA 4.39 4.39 0.00 6% 68.18 245 Gannett Fleming Harrisburg, Pa. EA 4.38 4.38 0.00 2% 259.20 246 The RBA Group Parsippany, N.J. EA 4.30 4.30 0.00 14% 31.50 247 Farnsworth Group Inc. Bloomington, Ill. EA 4.20 4.20 0.00 11% 39.20 248 Graham Downes Architecture San Diego, Calif. A 4.20 4.20 0.00 79% 5.30 249 Short Elliot Hendrickson Inc. Minneapolis, Minn. EA 4.20 4.20 0.00 5% 87.90 250 Aguirre Roden Inc. Dallas, Texas AEC 4.10 4.10 0.00 59% 7.00

 

 

 

Top 250 Firms: 1-50 | 51-100 | 101-150 | 151-200 | 201- 250

 

 

 

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