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
| Mar 11, 2011
Community sports center in Nashville features NCAA-grade training facility
A multisport community facility in Nashville featuring a training facility that will meet NCAA Division I standards is being constructed by St. Louis-based Clayco and Chicago-based Pinnacle.
| Mar 11, 2011
Slam dunk for the University of Nebraska’s basketball arena
The University of Nebraska men’s and women’s basketball programs will have a new home beginning in 2013. Designed by the DLR Group, the $344 million West Haymarket Civic Arena in Lincoln, Neb., will have 16,000 seats, suites, club amenities, loge, dedicated locker rooms, training rooms, and support space for game operations.
| Mar 10, 2011
Steel Joists Clean Up a Car Wash’s Carbon Footprint
Open-web bowstring trusses and steel joists give a Utah car wash architectural interest, reduce its construction costs, and help green a building type with a reputation for being wasteful.
| Mar 10, 2011
How AEC Professionals Are Using Social Media
You like LinkedIn. You’re not too sure about blogs. For many AEC professionals, it’s still wait-and-see when it comes to social media.
| Mar 9, 2011
Hoping to win over a community, Facebook scraps its fortress architecture
Facebook is moving from its tony Palo Alto, Calif., locale to blue-collar Belle Haven, and the social network want to woo residents with community-oriented design.
| Mar 9, 2011
Winners of the 2011 eVolo Skyscraper Competition
Winners of the eVolo 2011 Skyscraper Competition include a high-rise recycling center in New Delhi, India, a dome-like horizontal skyscraper in France that harvests solar energy and collects rainwater, and the Hoover Dam reimagined as an inhabitable skyscraper.
| Mar 9, 2011
Igor Krnajski, SVP with Denihan Hospitality Group, on hotel construction and understanding the industry
Igor Krnajski, SVP for Design and Construction with Denihan Hospitality Group, New York, N.Y., on the state of hotel construction, understanding the hotel operators’ mindset, and where the work is.
| Mar 3, 2011
HDR acquires healthcare design-build firm Cooper Medical
HDR, a global architecture, engineering and consulting firm, acquired Cooper Medical, a firm providing integrated design and construction services for healthcare facilities throughout the U.S. The new alliance, HDR Cooper Medical, will provide a full service design and construction delivery model to healthcare clients.
| Mar 2, 2011
Design professionals grow leery of green promises
Legal claims over sustainability promises vs. performance of certified green buildings are beginning to mount—and so are warnings to A/E/P and environmental consulting firms, according to a ZweigWhite report.
| Mar 2, 2011
Cities of the sky
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Silk Road of the future—from Dubai to Chongqing to Honduras—is taking shape in urban developments based on airport hubs. Welcome to the world of the 'aerotropolis.'
