Giants 400: Ranking the largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S.

Every spring, the editors of Building Design+Construction survey the nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms to identify the most prominent design and construction firms across 25 building sectors and specialty categories. Dubbed “Giants 400,” the program currently recognizes over 500 AEC Giants, from Gensler and HKS to Kimley-Horn and Turner Construction.

Now in its 48th year, the annual BD+C Giants list serves as the go-to resource for industry professionals to size up the competition. How did your multifamily-focused engineering practice stand up to other firms this year? Does your construction management company do enough healthcare work to rank in the top 115? Revenue figures shared by each respective firm offer a quick glimpse at the building design and construction landscape today.

Interested in submitting your AEC firm to be a BD+C Giant?

Data for our Giants 400 charts is based on information supplied by the respective firms. Firms are asked to verify the accuracy of their data. For more information and helpful tips for filling out the survey, see our instructions for completing the Giants 400 survey below. To view our frequently asked questions, see the FAQ section at the end of this page.

This year's survey submissions are due May 10, 2024.

Here are the steps to participate in the 2024 Giants 400 Report:

Download the 2024 Giants 400 Excel survey form
Carefully review the instructions for completing the Giants 400 survey (this is new and very important)
Review the FAQ section, especially the question that addresses additional opportunities for AEC firms to participate in the Giants 400 Report
Complete the Excel survey in full by the May 10, 2024, deadline. Please submit your firm's survey to both dbarista@sgcmail.com and tkanter@sgcmail.com
Submit any additional Giants 400 Report materials (top innovations, project photos, article ideas) to dbarista@sgcmail.com by the May 10, 2024, deadline (note: these opportunities are addressed at the end of the FAQ section).
Review our 2023 Giants 400 report for an idea of the types of rankings that will be published this year

Instructions for Completing the Giants 400 Survey

Thank you for participating in the 2024 Giants 400 survey. We’re expecting more than 600 AEC firms to submit surveys this year.

Because this survey form covers six disciplines and more than 25 building sectors and speciality categories, we have specific instructions on how to properly complete the excel form. Please follow these instructions carefully to ensure that your firm’s revenues are reported accurately.

Important note for survey functionality: The survey includes five Excel sheets/tabs. If you don't see the tabs at the bottom of the document simply click “view” in the menu bar and select “full screen.”

Important note for all revenue inputs: Please list whole numbers in all revenue boxes (e.g. $10,100,000, not $10.1 million or $10.1). Decimals and shortened numbers may cause erroneous reporting in the final rankings.

Questions 1–3 - Company Information (first tab of the survey)

1. Please be as detailed as possible with your contact information. If possible, provide at least two contacts at your firm. We use this information for outreach purposes, not only for Giants but also ongoing editorial projects.

Question 4A - Building-Type Revenue (second tab of the survey)

1. Please report “net” revenue throughout the survey. Do not include pass-through revenue from work completed by third-party partners. We’re only looking for revenue related to work performed by your staff.

2. We’re only looking for revenue from commercial, institutional, multifamily, and industrial “buildings” work (this applies to the entire survey). Do NOT include revenue from non-buildings work like:

Airport runways
Civil engineering projects that are not part of a building
Hazardous waste projects
Highway/road/bridge projects
Oil or natural gas drilling facilities
Pipelines
Processing plants (but DO include pharmaceutical, chemical, and food manufacturing/processing facilities in the Industrial Buildings category)
Rail or transit lines
Refineries
Single-family homes (note: include all military housing in the Multifamily category)
Utility company generating facilities (but DO include central utility plants that are part of a building project or campus)
Water treatment plants

3. International work may be included in the reported revenue, but only for “commercial buildings” work (i.e., commercial, institutional, industrial, and multifamily buildings) completed by your U.S./Canada-based staff/studios/divisions/teams.

4. Please do not double-dip revenue. In some cases, project revenue could fall into more than one category. For example, a data center in a hospital may be counted under either “Data centers" or “Healthcare – Hospitals” – but not both. You may choose where to allocate the revenue, but please do not allocate the same revenue to multiple categories.

5. Attention architectural and engineering firms: Unless you have an inhouse general contracting or construction management team, please do not list revenue in the “Construction Revenue” column. Again, all reported revenue should be “net” revenue from all qualified “buildings” projects, from work performed by your in-house team.

6. Attention contractors: Unless you have an inhouse architecture and/or engineering team, please do not list revenue in the “Design Revenue” column. Again, all reported revenue should be “net” revenue from all qualified “buildings” projects, from work performed by your in-house team.

7. Avoid listing revenue in the “Other Commercial, Industrial, Institutional, or Multifamily Buildings Revenue not included above” boxes, unless there is zero chance of including it in one of the building-type categories.

8. Please make sure to add up your totals.

Question 4B - Public Sector Revenue (third tab of the survey)

1. Important note: You will be “double dipping” revenue for this tab. That is, based on the revenues reported in the various building-type categories in Question 4A, please report a breakdown of the portion that was for public-sector “buildings” work. For example, if your firm generated $10 million in revenue last year, and 25% of that work was for state governments and 25% was for federal government clients, then you should report $2.5 million in the State Government Buildings box and $2.5 million in the Federal Civilian Government box.

2. Again, all reported revenue should be “net” revenue from all qualified “buildings” projects, from work performed by your in-house team. Please do not include passthrough revenue.

Question 4C - Service-Type Revenue (fourth tab of the survey)

1. Again, all reported revenue should be “net” revenue from all qualified “buildings” projects (see #2), from work performed by your in-house team. Please do not include passthrough revenue, from work performed by third-party partners.

2. We’re only looking for revenue from commercial, institutional, multifamily, and industrial “buildings” work (this applies to the entire survey). Do not include revenue from non-buildings work or from single-family residential work.

3. Important note: The editors use this question to determine your firm type and appropriate ranking. Here is a breakdown of the design discipline rankings for the Giants 400 program. Your firm will be placed into one of these four discipline types:

Architectural Firms (“Top Architects” ranking) — only report revenue in the first box (“Architecture, interior design, interior architecture, master planning/studies”)
Engineering firms (“Top Engineers” ranking) — only report revenue in the second box (“Engineering: civil, MEP, and structural [and engineering studies] directly related to buildings, engineering studies related to buildings”)
Architectural/Engineering Firms (“Top AE Firms” ranking) - report revenue in both boxes, but a larger share of revenue is derived from architectural design work (i.e., the revenue in box one is larger than the revenue in box two)
Engineering/Architectural Firms (“Top EA Firms” ranking) - report revenue in both boxes, but a larger share of revenue is derived from engineering design work (i.e., the revenue in box two is larger than the revenue in box one)

4. Attention contractors: Unless you have an inhouse architecture and/or engineering team, please do not list revenue in 4C. Again, all reported revenue should be “net” revenue from all qualified “buildings” projects, from work performed by your in-house team.

5. International work may be included in the reported revenue, but only for “commercial buildings” work (i.e., commercial, institutional, industrial, and multifamily buildings) completed by your U.S./Canada-based staff/studios/divisions/teams.

6. Please make sure to add up your totals.

Question 4D - Service-Type Revenue (fourth tab of the survey)

1. Important note: This question determines where your firm ranks across four different discipline rankings:

“Top Contractors”
“Top Construction Management Firms”
“Top Design-Build Firms”
“Top Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) Firms”

2. Revenue is reported two different ways, depending on the type of work:

For Fee-based Construction Management + Program Management work (“Top Construction Management Firms” ranking), please provide the dollar value of fees only generated last year, not the value of construction put in place.
For General Contractor, CM at Risk, Design-Build, and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) work (“Top Contractors” “Top Design-Build Firms” and “Top Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) Firms” rankings), please provide the value of total dollars for construction put in place last year.

3. Again, all reported revenue should be “net” revenue from all qualified “buildings” projects (see #4), from work performed by your in-house team. Please do not include passthrough revenue, from work performed by third-party partners.

4. We’re only looking for revenue from commercial, institutional, multifamily, and industrial “buildings” work (this applies to the entire survey). Do not include revenue from non-buildings work or from single-family residential work.

6. Attention architectural and engineering firms: Unless you have an inhouse general contracting or construction management team, please do not list revenue in 4D.

7. Please make sure to add up your totals.

Question 5 - Reconstruction vs. New Construction Breakdown

1. This question is used to create the “Top Reconstruction Firms” ranking

2. Again, all reported revenue should be “net” revenue from all qualified “buildings” projects (see #3), from work performed by your in-house team. Please do not include passthrough revenue, from work performed by third-party partners.

3. We’re only looking for revenue from commercial, institutional, multifamily, and industrial “buildings” work (this applies to the entire survey). Do not include revenue from non-buildings work or from single-family residential work.

4. Note: The total revenue reported in these two boxes (NEW CONSTRUCTION and RECONSTRUCTION) should match the total revenue reported at the bottom of the second tab of the survey (Building-Type Revenue).

Question 6 - Firm Innovations

1. Please be as detailed and thorough as possible, especially with any ROI/results from the innovation.

2. If your submission includes visuals or additional information, please email those files to David Barista, Editorial Director, BD+C, at dbarista@sgcmail.com when you submit the Giants survey.

Question 7 - Firm Innovations

1. Please be as detailed and thorough as possible.

2. If your submission includes visuals or additional information, please email those files to David Barista, Editorial Director, BD+C, at dbarista@sgcmail.com when you submit the Giants survey.

Directions For Submitting Your Giants 400 Survey

1. This survey includes five Excel sheets/tabs. If you don't see the tabs at the bottom of this document simply click “view” in the menu bar and select “full screen.”

2. Please complete all five tabs in full.

3. Only an Excel document will be accepted. Do not send in any other format (no PDFs).

4. Please email your completed Giants survey to both dbarista@sgcmail.com and tkanter@sgcmail.com.

5. DUE DATE: Giants survey submissions are due May 10, 2024

6. Questions about this survey? Contact David Barista at dbarista@sgcmail.com.

Directions For Submitting a Cover Photo for the July/August Giants 400 Issue

1. Note: We’re looking for stunning, dazzling photos of your best projects (must have been completed or first occupied in 2023 or 2024). Your great project(s) could wind up on the cover of the Giants 400 issue, within the issue, and/or on BDCnetwork.com as part of our Giants 400 coverage.

2. Send your photos to David Barista at: dbarista@sgcmail.com by May 10, 2024. For large files sizes, please use Dropbox, Box, WeTransfer, or another file transfer tool.

3. Ideal size for photos: 12 inches wide at 300 dpi jpeg format. For large files sizes, please use Dropbox, Box, WeTransfer, or another file transfer tool.

4. Questions? Contact David Barista at dbarista@sgcmail.com

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - Giants 400 Report

What is the Giants 400 Report?

Building Design+Construction’s annual Giants 400 Report ranks the largest U.S./Canada-based architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms across six discipline categories, three specialty categories, and 42 building sectors/sub-sectors. For a complete list of Giants 400 rankings, please visit the 2023 Giants 400 landing page.

Important note: Participating firms are asked to strictly report their revenue derived from “commercial buildings” work (i.e., commercial, institutional, industrial, and multifamily buildings). Revenue from single-family housing, infrastructure projects, highway/road projects, heavy industrial (e.g., chemical processing plants), and other non-buildings work should not be included in the reported numbers.

International work may be included in the reported revenue, but only for “commercial buildings” work (i.e., commercial, institutional, industrial, and multifamily buildings) completed by your U.S./Canada-based staff/studios/divisions/teams.

How do firms qualify to participate in the Giants 400 survey?

Any firm that is based in the U.S. or Canada that derives revenue from “commercial buildings” work (i.e., commercial, institutional, industrial, and multifamily buildings) is invited to participate in the survey.

Important note: International work may be included in the reported revenue, but only for “commercial buildings” work (i.e., commercial, institutional, industrial, and multifamily buildings) completed by your U.S./Canada-based staff/studios/divisions/teams.

How many AEC firms participate in the Giants 400 survey each year?

More than 500 firms participate each year. For example, 553 firms participated in the 2023 Giants 400 Report.

How can my firm participate in the Giants 400 survey?

Simply complete our Giants 400 Contact Form. We will make sure to reach out when the survey is ready for download and with instructions for completing the survey. Important: Please include more than one contact at your firm.

Is there a fee for participating in the Giants 400 survey?

There is no fee. All we ask is that you complete the survey in full and as accurately as possible.

Do you offer instructions for completing the Giants 400 survey?

Yes, the instructions are posted on this page, above this FAQ section. If you have any questions not addressed in the instructions or this FAQ, please email David Barista, BD+C Editorial Director, at dbarista@sgcmail.com.

When is the Giants 400 survey ready for download?

Generally, in early March. Please complete our Giants 400 Contact Form to make sure you are alerted when the Giants 400 survey is ready for download. Also, as a backup, we recommend that you set a calendar reminder to check our website (BDCnetwork.com “Giants 400 Rankings” menu tab) in early March for the survey.

When is the Giants 400 survey due?

Generally, in mid-May.

When and where will the results be released?

The primary discipline rankings, along with select building sector rankings, will be featured in the July/August issue of Building Design+Construction. The complete set of sector rankings and specialty rankings will be posted throughout the late summer and fall months. Note: There are more than 135 individual rankings in all, therefore, it takes the editorial team several weeks to get the entire package posted.

Do you offer a PDF or Excel with all firm rankings?

We’re planning to create a master Excel spreadsheet with all 135 rankings in late 2024. It will be posted on the main Giants 400 page: BDCnetwork.com “Giants 400 Rankings” menu tab, likely in early December 2024.

Can we use the Giants 400 and BD+C logos to help promote our ranking?

Yes, of course. The Giants 400 logo and BD+C logo are available for download here:

Besides the survey, are there other opportunities for AEC firms to participate in the Giants 400 Report?

Yes, there are three opportunities to get your firm involved with the annual Giants 400 Report, beyond the rankings:

Submit your latest and most prominent firm innovation(s) for consideration for our Giants coverage in the July/August issue of BD+C. To do so, please complete Question 6 in the Giants survey form and email any corresponding visuals and details to David Barista at dbarista@sgcmail.com by the mid-May deadline for the survey. Please be as detailed and thorough as possible, especially with any ROI/results from the innovation.
Submit your latest project photos for consideration for the July/August issue of BD+C, as well as online coverage of the rankings. We’re looking for great project photos for use in the Giants issue, including on the cover, and for online coverage of the rankings. Please email your photo submissions to David Barista at dbarista@sgcmail.com by the mid-May deadline for the survey. Please include a short description of each image, with the project name and location and key Building Team members (owner/client, architect, structural engineer, MEP engineer, and contractor). Important: Please include photo credit information, and confirm that BD+C has permission from the photographer(s) to publish the photo(s) for editorial purposes related to the Giants 400 program.
Submit your article ideas for the Giants editorial coverage. The editors would like to hear from your AEC teams on the latest trends, projects, and innovations across a number of major building sectors that will be covered in the Giants issues. They include healthcare, K-12 schools, higher education, data centers, multifamily, government, reconstruction, office, hospitality/hotels, retail, airport terminals, transit/TOD, military, and science and technology. Please email a short summary (and photos, if applicable) of your trends/innovations/projects for any of these sectors to David Barista at dbarista@sgcmail.com by the mid-May deadline for the survey.

View past Giants 400 reports:

2023 Giants 400 Report

Now 47 years running, Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report rankings the largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. This year a record 552 AEC firms participated in BD+C's Giants 400 report. The final report includes more than 130 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories. Photo: Jason O'Rear, Courtesy Teecom

Read the report.

2022 Giants 400 Report

2022 Giants 400 Rankings .jpeg — Photo: Seth Powers, courtesy SOM

Now 46 years running, Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report rankings the largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. This year a record 519 AEC firms participated in BD+C's Giants 400 report. The final report includes more than 130 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.

Read the report.