Federal, state, and local government construction hasn’t exactly been a steamroller for the past few years, due to the end of stimulus availability and the ongoing effects of budget sequestration.
At press time, the most recent Commerce Department report indicated that government construction spending was up just under 1% in April, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $267 billion, despite overall economic contraction of about 1% in the first quarter. Federal construction spending was the growth leader, rising by 1.9% to a rate of $23.5 billion. State and local projects—a much larger piece of the public pie—were up just 0.7%, to $243.5 billion.
Among non-infrastructure public construction spending categories, healthcare (up 6%) and education (up 2%) appear most promising for this year, according to the Associated Builders and Contractors’ 2014 forecast.
Improving energy performance of existing properties through targeted upgrades—and, sometimes, large-scale reconstruction—continues to be a federal priority. Of 20 projects recently honored by the General Services Administration’s Design Awards program, half were reconstruction jobs, ranging from Beaux Arts courthouses to Modernist offices.
Along with the push for energy efficiency, federal agencies are increasingly exploring telework as an alternative to expanding office space. The bright side? Telecom and AV renovations will be required to help agencies keep off-site staff connected.
Many state and local governments continue to struggle with the sluggish overall economy, causing delays in needed construction. Among the discernible themes among state and local projects submitted to BD+C: new police facilities (designed to reflect changing ideas about community policing), replacement and upgraded courthouses, and mass-transit stations.
Top Government Sector Architecture Firms
| Rank | Company | 2013 Government Revenue |
| 1 | Stantec | $144,299,056 |
| 2 | Heery International | 125,058,364 |
| 3 | HOK | 114,753,666 |
| 4 | SmithGroupJJR | 83,064,158 |
| 5 | HDR | 81,601,164 |
| 6 | Skidmore, Owings & Merrill | 57,835,664 |
| 7 | SHW Group | 56,007,000 |
| 8 | Gensler | 52,272,600 |
| 9 | EYP Architecture & Engineering | 42,800,000 |
| 10 | RS&H | 39,200,000 |
| 11 | Page | 38,704,000 |
| 12 | Moseley Architects | 35,135,469 |
| 13 | Leo A Daly | 29,483,542 |
| 14 | Perkins+will | 28,975,375 |
| 15 | Clark Nexsen | 28,873,388 |
| 16 | ZGF Architects | 27,425,548 |
| 17 | CannonDesign | 27,000,000 |
| 18 | FreemanWhite | 25,941,154 |
| 19 | NBBJ | 19,382,000 |
| 20 | DLR Group | 19,300,000 |
| 21 | Hammel, Green and Abrahamson | 19,167,839 |
| 22 | EwingCole | 17,300,000 |
| 23 | HKS | 17,247,862 |
| 24 | PGAL | 16,097,917 |
| 25 | HNTB Corp. | 15,269,498 |
| 26 | Westlake Reed Leskosky | 15,049,000 |
| 27 | Quattrocchi Kwok Architects | 13,230,000 |
| 28 | Hoefer Wysocki Architecture | 12,860,000 |
| 29 | Fentress Architects | 12,160,971 |
| 30 | BLDD Architects | 11,800,000 |
| 31 | RTKL Associates | 11,469,000 |
| 32 | SchenkelShultz Architecture | 11,278,000 |
| 33 | NORR | 9,792,248 |
| 34 | LS3P | 8,882,375 |
| 35 | Morris Architects | 8,350,000 |
| 36 | Davis Brody Bond | 8,263,108 |
| 37 | LaBella Associates | 8,130,000 |
| 38 | CTA Architects Engineers | 8,014,884 |
| 39 | Beyer Blinder Belle | 7,947,688 |
| 40 | HMC Architects | 6,811,005 |
| 41 | VOA Associates | 6,808,200 |
| 42 | Parkhill, Smith & Cooper | 6,687,000 |
| 43 | Rosser International | 6,652,324 |
| 44 | LMN Architects | 6,388,100 |
| 45 | Sherlock, Smith & Adams | 6,388,000 |
| 46 | Becker Morgan Group | 6,343,277 |
| 47 | Flad Architects | 6,126,870 |
| 48 | KZF Design | 5,887,462 |
| 49 | Epstein | 5,402,000 |
| 50 | IBI Group ? Gruzen Samton | 5,000,000 |
| 51 | Solomon Cordwell Buenz | 4,500,000 |
| 52 | Goodwyn Mills & Cawood | 4,409,249 |
| 53 | Wight & Company | 4,402,093 |
| 54 | RSP Architects | 4,326,000 |
| 55 | Harley Ellis Devereaux | 4,310,000 |
| 56 | Carrier Johnson + Culture | 4,066,891 |
| 57 | BRPH | 3,957,000 |
| 58 | FGM Architects | 3,776,698 |
| 59 | Ennead Architects | 3,729,000 |
| 60 | RNL | 3,418,000 |
| 61 | WDG Architecture | 3,095,000 |
| 62 | Perkins Eastman | 3,000,000 |
| 63 | GWWO | 2,965,804 |
| 64 | Gresham, Smith and Partners | 2,787,930 |
| 65 | Integrus Architecture | 2,705,119 |
| 66 | Hoffmann Architects | 2,654,000 |
| 67 | Swanke Hayden Connell Architects | 2,534,000 |
| 68 | Ratio Architects | 2,462,355 |
| 69 | LPA | 2,205,538 |
| 70 | Emersion Design | 2,183,039 |
| 71 | Array Architects | 2,138,000 |
| 72 | WHR Architects | 2,076,445 |
| 73 | Cooper Carry | 1,987,669 |
| 74 | Little | 1,961,000 |
| 75 | Bergmann Associates | 1,941,360 |
| 76 | OZ Architecture | 1,724,680 |
| 77 | Legat Architects | 1,675,500 |
| 78 | LBL Architects | 1,600,000 |
| 79 | Schrader Group Architecture | 1,573,559 |
| 80 | Symmes Maini & McKee Associates | 1,563,000 |
| 81 | Good Fulton & Farrell | 1,373,500 |
| 82 | H+L Architecture | 1,295,496 |
| 83 | Harvard Jolly Architecture | 1,221,576 |
| 84 | Cambridge Seven Associates | 1,210,000 |
| 85 | FXFOWLE Architects | 1,180,000 |
| 86 | Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates | 1,128,560 |
| 87 | Moody Nolan | 1,083,924 |
| 88 | CO Architects | 1,031,600 |
| 89 | Shepley Bulfinch | 836,000 |
| 90 | Corgan | 762,894 |
| 91 | Cuningham Group Architecture | 742,891 |
| 92 | Lord Aeck Sargent | 742,273 |
| 93 | GBBN Architects | 660,000 |
| 94 | Nadel | 650,000 |
| 95 | Eppstein Uhen Architects | 640,751 |
| 96 | Commonwealth Architects | 599,591 |
| 97 | Hastings+Chivetta Architects | 491,188 |
| 98 | DesignGroup | 433,190 |
| 99 | Baskervill | 391,276 |
| 100 | Payette | 383,755 |
| 101 | Taylor Design | 372,052 |
| 102 | LawKingdon Architecture | 350,000 |
| 103 | Anderson Mikos Architects | 350,000 |
| 104 | NAC|Architecture | 345,476 |
| 105 | Environetics | 341,475 |
| 106 | Kirksey | 323,571 |
| 107 | H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture | 305,903 |
| 108 | Hnedak Bobo Group | 301,000 |
| 109 | TEG Architects | 235,686 |
| 110 | RBB Architects | 215,897 |
| 111 | BBS Architects | 200,030 |
| 112 | DLA Architects | 133,140 |
| 113 | Fanning/Howey Associates | 50,000 |
| 114 | BSA LifeStructures | 41,019 |
| 115 | ai Design Group | 33,048 |
Top Government Sector Engineering Firms
| Rank | Company | 2013 Government Revenue |
| 1 | Fluor Corporation | $2,675,202,710 |
| 2 | URS Corp. | 648,982,536 |
| 3 | AECOM Technology Corp. | 574,020,000 |
| 4 | Jacobs | 287,190,693 |
| 5 | STV | 168,948,000 |
| 6 | Burns & McDonnell | 99,462,332 |
| 7 | Parsons Brinckerhoff | 57,994,366 |
| 8 | Leidos | 55,125,000 |
| 9 | H&A Architects & Engineers | 38,735,000 |
| 10 | Allen & Shariff | 33,964,317 |
| 11 | Dewberry | 26,388,476 |
| 12 | Arup | 23,554,256 |
| 13 | Smith Seckman Reid | 19,741,666 |
| 14 | Simpson Gumpertz & Heger | 19,066,000 |
| 15 | Affiliated Engineers | 15,598,000 |
| 16 | Syska Hennessy Group | 12,155,407 |
| 17 | Thornton Tomasetti | 10,996,123 |
| 18 | Coffman Engineers | 10,676,374 |
| 19 | KPFF Consulting Engineers | 10,500,000 |
| 20 | RMF Engineering | 10,000,000 |
| 21 | Guernsey | 9,680,758 |
| 22 | Shive-Hattery | 9,029,738 |
| 23 | Walker Parking Consultants | 8,925,000 |
| 24 | Bridgers & Paxton Consulting Engineers | 8,780,161 |
| 25 | WSP Group | 8,060,000 |
| 26 | Interface Engineering | 6,809,917 |
| 27 | Glumac | 6,650,738 |
| 28 | Joseph R. Loring & Associates | 6,500,000 |
| 29 | Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates | 5,870,000 |
| 30 | TTG | 5,811,850 |
| 31 | Graef | 5,387,348 |
| 32 | KJWW Engineering Consultants | 5,191,493 |
| 33 | TLC Engineering for Architecture | 5,134,526 |
| 34 | Heapy Engineering | 5,072,001 |
| 35 | Ross & Baruzzini | 4,975,183 |
| 36 | I. C. Thomasson Associates | 4,750,000 |
| 37 | KCI Technologies | 4,600,000 |
| 38 | Vanderweil Engineers | 4,565,800 |
| 39 | Degenkolb Engineers | 4,462,450 |
| 40 | GRW | 3,753,047 |
| 41 | Sparling | 3,690,424 |
| 42 | H.F. Lenz | 3,559,848 |
| 43 | Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon | 3,495,000 |
| 44 | SSOE Group | 3,332,408 |
| 45 | Newcomb & Boyd | 3,140,130 |
| 46 | M/E Engineering | 3,096,775 |
| 47 | Henderson Engineers | 2,989,363 |
| 48 | RDK Engineers | 2,880,000 |
| 49 | Apogee Consulting Group | 2,732,049 |
| 50 | Spectrum Engineers | 2,497,641 |
| 51 | Brinjac Engineering | 2,083,384 |
| 52 | M-E Engineers | 2,000,000 |
| 53 | Davis, Bowen & Friedel | 1,610,242 |
| 54 | Walter P Moore and Associates | 1,441,663 |
| 55 | Rist-Frost-Shumway Engineering | 1,350,000 |
| 56 | CTLGroup | 1,330,000 |
| 57 | GHT Limited | 1,300,000 |
| 58 | French & Parrello Associates | 1,213,200 |
| 59 | Dunham Associates | 1,200,000 |
| 60 | AKF Group | 1,186,000 |
| 61 | Highland Associates | 1,150,000 |
| 62 | Paulus, Sokolowski and Sartor | 1,015,000 |
| 63 | Environmental Systems Design | 920,969 |
| 64 | BR+A Consulting Engineers | 920,000 |
| 65 | Aon Fire Protection Engineering Corp. | 918,914 |
| 66 | CJL Engineering | 870,000 |
| 67 | Mazzetti | 831,363 |
| 68 | Primera Engineers | 775,000 |
| 69 | ThermalTech Engineering | 750,000 |
| 70 | KLH Engineers | 480,951 |
| 71 | OLA Consulting Engineers | 262,000 |
| 72 | Zak Companies | 208,120 |
| 73 | Wick Fisher White | 195,530 |
| 74 | Wallace Engineering | 150,000 |
| 75 | Total Building Commissioning | 122,935 |
| 76 | G&W Engineering Corp. | 109,200 |
| 77 | P2S Engineering | 99,369 |
| 78 | DeSimone Consulting Engineers | 90,000 |
| 79 | Stanley Consultants | 74,747 |
| 80 | Integrated Design Group | 55,650 |
Top Government Sector Construction Firms
| Rank | Company | 2013 Government Revenue |
| 1 | Turner Construction | $2,343,544,729 |
| 2 | Clark Group | 2,342,085,755 |
| 3 | PCL Construction | 1,343,431,142 |
| 4 | Walsh Group, The | 1,188,110,497 |
| 5 | Hensel Phelps | 1,184,760,000 |
| 6 | Balfour Beatty US | 1,145,573,619 |
| 7 | Gilbane | 814,257,000 |
| 8 | Tutor Perini Corp. | 767,580,319 |
| 9 | McCarthy Holdings | 738,000,000 |
| 10 | Lend Lease | 551,622,000 |
| 11 | Skanska USA | 493,318,641 |
| 12 | Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., The | 455,618,872 |
| 13 | Brasfield & Gorrie | 379,267,063 |
| 14 | JE Dunn Construction | 321,764,977 |
| 15 | Hunt Construction Group | 277,300,000 |
| 16 | Mortenson Construction | 178,340,000 |
| 17 | STV | 168,948,000 |
| 18 | Hunt Companies | 154,387,811 |
| 19 | Sundt Construction | 153,006,199 |
| 20 | HITT Contracting | 145,900,000 |
| 21 | O'Neil Industries/W.E. O'Neil | 142,005,318 |
| 22 | CORE Construction Group | 135,900,848 |
| 23 | Manhattan Construction | 126,300,000 |
| 24 | Heery International | 125,058,364 |
| 25 | W. M. Jordan Company | 117,481,667 |
| 26 | Yates Companies, The | 111,200,000 |
| 27 | Holder Construction | 110,063,000 |
| 28 | Flintco | 106,026,635 |
| 29 | Hoffman Construction | 84,474,600 |
| 30 | Messer Construction | 79,799,220 |
| 31 | B. L. Harbert International | 74,365,423 |
| 32 | Consigli Construction | 74,312,383 |
| 33 | James G. Davis Construction | 72,010,706 |
| 34 | Suffolk Construction | 67,717,700 |
| 35 | DPR Construction | 65,709,181 |
| 36 | Coakley & Williams Construction | 61,953,906 |
| 37 | C.W. Driver | 58,850,000 |
| 38 | Parsons Brinckerhoff | 57,994,366 |
| 39 | Ryan Companies US | 57,693,535 |
| 40 | Fortis Construction | 52,585,000 |
| 41 | Shawmut Design and Construction | 49,000,000 |
| 42 | Leopardo Companies | 47,786,003 |
| 43 | Bernards | 46,000,000 |
| 44 | Swinerton Builders | 45,394,000 |
| 45 | Walbridge | 41,300,000 |
| 46 | Hill International | 41,000,000 |
| 47 | Power Construction | 39,000,000 |
| 48 | Kitchell Corp. | 38,162,513 |
| 49 | KBE Building Corp. | 37,661,458 |
| 50 | Beck Group, The | 36,300,176 |
| 51 | Allen & Shariff | 33,964,317 |
| 52 | Barton Malow | 33,108,673 |
| 53 | Wight & Company | 32,543,000 |
| 54 | Haselden Construction | 32,300,743 |
| 55 | Absher Construction | 31,202,850 |
| 56 | Structure Tone | 29,981,000 |
| 57 | Hoar Construction | 29,474,000 |
| 58 | Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction | 29,000,000 |
| 59 | New South Construction | 28,999,000 |
| 60 | Haskell | 28,573,183 |
| 61 | S. M. Wilson & Co. | 28,521,558 |
| 62 | Robins & Morton | 28,415,079 |
| 63 | Harkins Builders | 28,400,000 |
| 64 | EMJ Corp. | 21,000,000 |
| 65 | LeChase Construction Services | 19,680,000 |
| 66 | Bomel Construction | 19,327,000 |
| 67 | Layton Construction | 17,900,000 |
| 68 | Adolfson & Peterson Construction | 17,884,760 |
| 69 | McShane Companies, The | 17,672,043 |
| 70 | BlueScope Construction | 14,554,879 |
| 71 | Juneau Construction | 11,405,546 |
| 72 | Hill & Wilkinson | 10,864,000 |
| 73 | E.W. Howell | 9,541,000 |
| 74 | James McHugh Construction | 8,334,048 |
| 75 | Choate Construction | 7,670,062 |
| 76 | Weitz Company, The | 6,600,000 |
| 77 | JLL | 6,000,000 |
| 78 | Stalco Construction | 5,620,500 |
| 79 | LPCiminelli | 4,790,613 |
| 80 | Kraus-Anderson Construction | 3,000,000 |
| 81 | Bette Companies, The | 2,697,000 |
| 82 | Astorino | 2,384,468 |
| 83 | Batson-Cook | 1,390,120 |
| 84 | Graycor | 1,152,668 |
| 85 | Alberici Constructors | 1,080,320 |
| 86 | Paric Corp. | 1,000,000 |
| 87 | IMC Construction | 75,000 |
Read BD+C's full 2014 Giants 300 Report
Related Stories
| Feb 10, 2014
Architecture Design Collaborative announces firm opening in Southern California
Today, Architecture Design Collaborative officially announces the launch of its firm providing a full range of architecture and interior design services nationwide. Architecture Design Collaborative offers architectural design services, comprehensive interior design services, developer collaboration, direct tenant improvement, repositioning and site planning.
| Feb 10, 2014
Ball State to host Geothermal Conference on design, drilling and equipment - April 10, 2014
To best serve the industry, Ball State University has organized a single day conference in which participants will be able to exchange technical notes, develop understandings and share experiences with design, drilling, and equipment issues related to geothermal ground source heat pump technology.
| Feb 7, 2014
DOE, Autodesk team to overhaul the EnergyPlus simulation program
The update will allow a larger ecosystem of developers to contribute updates to the code in order to improve performance and decrease the time required to run energy model simulations.
| Feb 7, 2014
Meet the new Fellows: AIA elevates 143 to College of Fellows
The AIA College of Fellows is an honor awarded to members who have made significant contributions to the architectural profession.
| Feb 7, 2014
Bernards announces executive leadership realignment
Changes reflect long-term growth plans as builder enters its fifth decade.
| Feb 7, 2014
Zaha Hadid's 'white crystal' petroleum research center taking shape in the desert [slideshow]
Like a crystalline form still in the state of expansion, the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center will rise from the desert in dramatic fashion, with a network of bright-white, six-sided cells combining to form an angular, shell-like façade.
| Feb 6, 2014
First look: Gensler ups the ante on airport design with new SFO boarding area
The new terminal features a yoga room, award-winning arts program, and an interactive play area for kids.
| Feb 6, 2014
End of the open workplace?
If you’ve been following news about workplace design in the popular media, you might believe that the open workplace has run its course. While there’s no shortage of bad open-plan workplaces, there are two big flaws with the now common claim that openness is bad.
| Feb 6, 2014
New Hampshire metal building awes visitors
Visitors to the Keene Family YMCA in New Hampshire are often surprised by what they encounter. Liz Coppola calls it the “wow factor.” “Literally, there’s jaw dropping,” says Coppola, director of financial and program development for the Keene Family YMCA.
| Feb 5, 2014
M&A activity down in 2013 among architecture, engineering firms: Report
In 2013, consultant Morrissey Goodale observed 168 sales of U.S.-based architecture and engineering (“A/E”) firms – down nearly 7% from the record 180 sales of U.S.-based A/E firms in 2012.
