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 1 AECOM Technology Corp. Los Angeles, Calif. EA 912.70 643.60 269.10 17% 5215.80 2 Gensler San Francisco, Calif. A 648.29 516.38 131.91 84% 775.46 3 HOK St. Louis, Mo. AE 585.00 358.00 227.00 78% 752.00 4 URS Corp. San Francisco, Calif. EAC 435.40 365.40 70.00 8% 5206.10 5 HKS Inc. Dallas, Texas AE 419.46 379.52 39.94 100% 419.46 6 Perkins+Will Chicago, Ill. A 409.50 325.10 84.40 100% 409.50 7 HDR Omaha, Neb. EA 340.60 281.50 59.10 27% 1280.30 8 Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP New York, N.Y. AE 279.43 133.02 146.41 73% 382.57 9 RMJM New York, N.Y. A 220.32 78.25 142.07 100% 220.32 10 RTKL Associates Inc. Baltimore, Md. AE 216.19 152.11 64.08 78% 278.77 11 NBBJ Seattle, Wash. A 194.80 149.79 45.01 100% 194.89 12 Callison Seattle, Wash. A 185.00 129.50 55.50 100% 185.00 13 Leo A Daly Omaha, Neb. AE 156.83 149.82 7.01 81% 194.28 14 Perkins Eastman New York, N.Y. A 150.50 120.40 30.10 100% 150.50 15 Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLP Portland, Ore. AP 148.77 143.93 4.84 100% 148.77 16 CH2M HILL Englewood, Colo. EAC 144.63 112.98 31.65 4% 3730.65 17 Burt Hill Washington, D.C. AE 117.24 61.93 55.31 70% 167.41 18 SmithGroup Inc. Detroit, Mich. AE 113.00 112.70 0.30 68% 166.10 19 HNTB Cos. Kansas City, Mo. EA 109.98 108.92 1.06 13% 857.74 20 Cannon Design Grand Island, N.Y. AE 106.43 86.36 20.07 75% 141.91 21 Gresham, Smith and Partners Nashville, Tenn. AE 105.80 105.13 0.67 72% 146.45 22 Rafael Vinoly Architects PC New York, N.Y. A 103.61 63.30 40.31 100% 103.61 23 Corgan Associates Inc. Dallas, Texas A 98.96 97.40 1.56 93% 106.19 24 HMC Architects Ontario, Calif. A 95.70 95.11 0.59 100% 95.70 25 Bechtel San Francisco, Calif. EC 94.00 16.00 78.00 4% 2446.00 26 Arquitectonica Miami, Fla. A 93.50 20.10 73.40 100% 93.60 27 WATG (Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo) Irvine, Calif. A 92.46 34.68 57.78 83% 110.89 28 Ellerbe Becket Inc. Minneapolis, Minn. AE 89.64 68.33 21.31 95% 94.34 29 MulvannyG2 Architecture Bellevue, Wash. A 80.20 66.70 13.50 100% 80.20 30 DLR Group Omaha, Neb. AE 77.60 77.60 0.00 69% 112.50 31 SHW Group Plano, Texas AE 72.30 72.30 0.00 91% 79.70 32 PageSoutherlandPage Houston, Texas AE 69.18 55.08 14.10 75% 92.79 33 TranSystems Corp. Kansas City, Mo. EA 67.18 67.18 0.00 30% 225.61 34 STV Group Inc. New York, N.Y. EA 65.77 65.77 0.00 23% 289.08 35 tvsdesign Atlanta, Ga. A 65.40 43.40 22.00 89% 73.40 36 Ingenium International Inc. Detroit, Mich. AE 64.94 1.31 63.63 62% 104.63 37 Cooper Carry Inc. Atlanta, Ga. A 62.86 62.49 0.37 100% 62.86 38 FKP Architects Inc. Houston, Texas A 62.83 62.83 0.00 100% 62.83 39 LPA Inc. Irvine, Calif. A 60.31 60.31 0.00 100% 60.31 40 Kaplan McLaughlin Diaz San Francisco, Calif. A 60.00 49.00 11.00 100% 60.00 41 SchenkelShultz Fort Wayne, Ind. A 59.13 59.13 0.00 100% 59.13 42 Flad Architects Madison, Wis. AE 59.00 56.03 2.97 83% 71.00 43 Hammel Green and Abrahamson Inc. Minneapolis, Minn. AE 59.00 58.61 0.39 55% 107.70 44 Smallwood Reynolds Stewart Stewart & Assoc. Atlanta, Ga. A 57.80 35.50 22.30 100% 57.80 45 TRO Jung|Brannen Boston, Mass. AE 57.52 42.72 14.80 100% 57.52 46 Vanderweil Engineers Boston, Mass. E 56.99 47.02 9.97 73% 78.18 47 LS3P ASSOCIATES LTD. Charleston, S.C. A 56.83 56.83 0.00 100% 56.83 48 Moseley Architects Richmond, Va. AE 56.80 56.80 0.00 93% 60.90 49 BSA LifeStructures Indianapolis, Ind. AE 56.77 56.77 0.00 82% 68.88 50 PBK Architects Houston, Texas AE 56.20 56.20 0.00 100% 56.20

 

 

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

 

 

 

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