Burns & McDonnell, which ranked third among Engineering/Architecture firms on BD+C’s 2018 Giants list, is launching an ambitious growth campaign that includes hiring at least 1,000 employees annually “for the foreseeable future,” and increasing the size of its World Headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., by 22%.
By year’s end, Burns & McDonnell expects to have 6,650 employees, more than half of whom will be working outside of Kansas City. The company has 11 regional offices in North America, and seven offices scattered across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
A 142,000-sf addition to its headquarters, which the firm is designing and building, is scheduled for completion by the summer of 2020. The company’s existing four-story 310,000-sf headquarters building opened in 2016 on a 34-acre campus in South Kansas City.
The $42 million new construction project is expected to commence in a week or two, beginning with a 550-slot parking garage, according to Brittany Swartz, a project manager in the firm’s Commercial Architecture group. The headquarters expansion will include 42 conference rooms, two large training rooms, and 780 work spaces.
Burns & McDonnell reported nearly $3 billion in revenue generated in 2017, of which $290.2 million derived from services provided for nonresidential building in several sectors that include commercial, retail, institutional, aviation, military, and manufacturing.
The firm is expanding to provide “full service solutions” for project owners that are seeking greater scheduling and budgeting certainty. Ray Kowalik, a 31-year company veteran who was named its CEO and chairman last year, adds that Burns & McDonnell had been growing and a 10-12% annual clip, which he believes can be boosted to 15%.
He cites four trends that are driving growth:
•A robust economy, favorable corporate tax law changes, and low energy prices, all of which are spurring investments in the U.S., especially in the chemicals market which is one of the firm’s largest sectors;
•The shift toward natural gas and renewable energy production that’s creating opportunities in the transmission, distribution, and generation markets;
•Greater government investment in resilience to secure and modernize aging facilities; and
•Mushrooming airport passenger traffic, and the need to find new ways to alleviate congestion at domestic and foreign terminals.
Burns & McDonnell shouldn’t have too much trouble meeting its hiring goals: it receives about 80,000 resumes per year, and the company has already hired 1,000 people in 2018, as of today’s announcement. It expects its hiring number to top out at 1,400 this year. “We’re a company that a lot of people want to work for,” says Kowalik. (In prior years, the company would typically offer employment to between 300 and 400 people, with 90% of applicants accepting.)
Kowalik says Burns & McDonnell already has a pretty good system in place for assimilating new hires, which includes extensive training and mentoring. (He said the company’s attrition rate is about 5% annually.)
While the power, gas, oil, and chemicals sectors are among the markets driving growth, Kowalik says his company is also expanding its nonresidential building activities, notably in the areas of office and multitenant apartment construction. “We’re extremely busy in Kansas City,” he says, having recently completed a new office building there for Creative Planning, a local wealth-management firm.
Kowalik adds that new tax policy is sparking “multibillion-dollar projects” in the chemicals industry, which are likely to trigger new commercial construction that supports that business. He expects a similar “trickle down” effect from oil and gas.
Historically, Burns & McDonnell has grown organically, “one employee at a time,” says Kowalik. But in recent years it has bolstered its presence on the construction side with acquisitions of two contractors, AZCO Inc. in Wisconsin and Ref-Chem in Texas.
Kowalik says that it’s possible that his company might seek out joint-venture construction partners. But he hedged about future acquisitions. “The minute I say ‘we’re interested,’ we get 20 calls.”
He is concerned, though, about the skilled-labor shortage, and thinks the AEC industry needs to take a more active role in outreach and training.
Related Stories
Codes and Standards | Jul 22, 2022
Hurricane-resistant construction may be greatly undervalued
New research led by an MIT graduate student at the school’s Concrete Sustainability Hub suggests that the value of buildings constructed to resist wind damage in hurricanes may be significantly underestimated.
School Construction | Jul 22, 2022
School integrating conventional medicine with holistic principles blends building and landscape
Design of the new Alice L. Walton School of Medicine in Bentonville, Ark., aims to blend the building and landscape, creating connections with the surrounding woodlands and the Ozark Mountains.
Market Data | Jul 21, 2022
Architecture Billings Index continues to stabilize but remains healthy
Architecture firms reported increasing demand for design services in June, according to a new report today from The American Institute of Architects (AIA).
Market Data | Jul 21, 2022
Despite deteriorating economic conditions, nonresidential construction spending projected to increase through 2023
Construction spending on buildings is projected to increase just over nine percent this year and another six percent in 2023, according to a new report from the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
Mixed-Use | Jul 21, 2022
Former Los Angeles Macy’s store converted to mixed-use commercial space
Work to convert the former Westside Pavilion Macy's department store in West Los Angeles to a mixed-use commercial campus recently completed.
Building Team | Jul 20, 2022
San Francisco overtakes Tokyo as the world’s most expensive city for construction
San Francisco has overtaken Tokyo as the world’s most expensive city for construction, according to a new report from Turner & Townsend.
Libraries | Jul 20, 2022
Canada to open one of the world’s largest library and archive facilities
When it opens in 2026, Ādisōke is expected to be one of the largest library and archive facilities in the world.
Energy-Efficient Design | Jul 19, 2022
All is not lost: 3 ways architects can respond to the Supreme Court’s EPA ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from power plants dealt a significant blow to our ability to fight the climate crisis with federal policy.
Office Buildings | Jul 19, 2022
Austin adaptive reuse project transforms warehouse site into indoor-outdoor creative office building
Fifth and Tillery, an adaptive reuse project, has revitalized a post-industrial site in East Austin, Texas.
Women in Design+Construction | Jul 18, 2022
Registration is open for BD+C's 2022 Women in Design+Construction Conference
Join your AEC industry peers in Chicago, September 26-28, 2022, for the 7th annual Women in Design+Construction Conference, hosted by the BD+C editorial team and the 35-person WIDC Advisory Board.
