Engineering firms and engineering/architecture firms—those that earn more than 50% of their revenues from engineering—have their sights set on foreign shores. Many are jumping headfirst into international waters.
“Instead of overseeing projects from New York, our firm has established offices in Mumbai, Moscow, and other cities outside North America, aiming to overcome the challenge of navigating the local landscape or hiring practices, tax law, and business practices,” says Thomas Z. Scarangello, PE, CEO and Chairman of EA Giant Thornton Tomasetti.
Other firms are just dipping their toes into foreign waters, still looking for international business but choosing not to establish additional offices. Brad Harmsen, AIA, Chairman/CEO of BRPH, says that although his firm is actively working in locales across the globe, they’re partnering with domestic firms to do so, partly because of “the learning curve that comes when working with different currencies and legalities.”
SCROLL DOWN FOR GIANTS 300 ENGINEERING & ENGINEERING/ARCHITECTURE FIRM RANKINGS
Shanghai and Dubai are hot spots for E and EA Giants these days. Glumac, Magnusson Klemencic Associates, and Syska Hennessy Group have opened or expanded their offices in Shanghai. KJWW and Syska Hennessy opened new offices in Dubai. Thornton Tomasetti bucked the trend and opened offices in Beijing and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, while Arup Americas opened new offices in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, just in time for soccer’s World Cup in 2014.
Establishing an office abroad is one thing; getting the business is something entirely different. Referring specifically to the Middle East, Paul VanDuyne, PE, president of KJWW, says, “It takes approximately two years to develop the appropriate relationships, name recognition, and reputation to be successful in obtaining projects in this region.”
Despite the difficulties, an increasingly large share of engineering Giants’ yearly revenue is coming from international projects. Magnusson Klemencic President Ron Klemencic, PE, SE, says that 20-30% of MKA’s gross revenue comes from international business, while KJWW anticipates that 10% of its 2013 revenue will come from international projects. Syska Hennessy Group’s goal is to beef up its international activity by 25% over the next five years.
KEY ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY
Beyond establishing an international presence, technology is also a crucial differentiator for E and EA Giants firms.
Syska Hennessy Group’s new Information and Communications Technology group is offering an expanded scope of services for organizations looking to upgrade their IT platforms with the latest technologies. “Our new offerings include tools and expertise to apply virtualization of existing client environments, data center relocation management, disaster recovery and IT security services, and network and Internet/intranet design and implementation,” said Co-CEO/Co-president Cyrus J. Izzo, PE.
Thornton Tomasetti launched a new Building Sustainability practice in January and now offers LEED consulting and administration, energy and daylight modeling, and sustainable business strategies. The firm also has an advanced computational modeling team; it leverages new technologies by developing custom digital tools that utilize generative and parametric modeling, which enables its engineers to collaborate more effectively with architects in the early phases of design.
HELPING CLIENTS FIND THE MONEY FOR PROJECTS
New financing solutions are also playing a part in E/EA Giants’ business strategies. With the U.S. construction market still in recovery, alternative financing methods are being sought out to help clients put together the dollars they need to complete projects.
At Syska Hennessy Group, public-private partnerships are on the radar. “We are observing an increase in P3 projects across geographies and market sectors,” said Syska Hennessy Group’s Izzo. “The first building being delivered as a true P3 is the Long Beach courthouse in California, which will top out this summer.”
Others are bringing on experts to find the money. Graef hired an economic development specialist, Ronald Van Straten, who has more than 25 years’ experience in helping mostly municipal clients seek grants, low-cost loans, and other funding streams for their capital projects, including tax increment financing.
HEAVY CONCENTRATION AT THE TOP 10 FIRMS
As is true of most of the categories in our Giants 300 rankings, there is a great deal of concentration at the highest level in the E and EA markets. The top 10 engineering firms generated 47% of total revenue for the category, while the top 10 engineering/architecture Giants generated a hefty 85% of the dollars in their group. +
ENGINEERING FIRMS
Rank | Company | 2011 Total Revenue ($) |
1 | Fluor Corp. | 220,674,900 |
2 | Arup | 140,324,134 |
3 | WSP USA | 98,900,000 |
4 | Syska Hennessy Group | 98,744,701 |
5 | Affiliated Engineers | 92,815,000 |
6 | KPFF Consulting Engineers | 89,000,000 |
7 | Henderson Engineers | 61,266,000 |
8 | AKF Group | 58,100,000 |
9 | TTG/TMAD Taylor & Gaines | 56,820,300 |
10 | Smith Seckman Reid | 53,497,000 |
11 | R.G. Vanderweil Engineers | 49,823,500 |
12 | KJWW Engineering Consultants | 43,784,892 |
13 | Bard, Rao + Athanas Consulting Engineers | 40,100,000 |
14 | Coffman Engineers | 37,200,000 |
15 | TLC Engineering for Architecture | 36,387,033 |
16 | Degenkolb Engineers | 35,398,917 |
17 | Sebesta Blomberg | 35,120,000 |
18 | ESD/Environmental Systems Design | 34,465,000 |
19 | Rolf Jensen & Associates | 34,300,000 |
20 | Walter P Moore | 34,231,775 |
21 | RMF Engineering | 34,005,000 |
22 | Glumac | 33,010,927 |
23 | Magnusson Klemencic Associates | 32,306,973 |
24 | RDK Engineers | 30,882,000 |
25 | Mazzetti Nash Lipsey Burch | 28,836,967 |
26 | Aon Fire Protection Engineering | 28,200,000 |
27 | Birdsall Services Group | 27,500,000 |
28 | Interface Engineering | 25,938,485 |
29 | M/E Engineering | 25,915,000 |
30 | ccrd partners | 24,100,000 |
31 | H.F. Lenz Co. | 22,799,000 |
32 | Heapy Engineering | 21,402,816 |
33 | Sparling | 20,589,847 |
34 | ThermalTech Engineering | 19,890,000 |
35 | KCI Technologies | 19,761,000 |
36 | Newcomb & Boyd | 18,454,021 |
37 | Henneman Engineering | 18,000,000 |
38 | Bridgers & Paxton Consulting Eng. | 17,650,492 |
39 | GHT Limited | 17,363,705 |
40 | Eaton Energy Solutions | 16,694,769 |
41 | Rutherford & Chekene | 16,538,000 |
42 | Dunham Associates | 15,500,000 |
43 | Joseph R. Loring & Associates | 15,000,000 |
44 | Wallace Engineering | 13,780,000 |
45 | James Posey Associates | 13,500,000 |
46 | KLH Engineers | 12,559,382 |
47 | Lilker Associates Consulting Engineers | 12,500,000 |
48 | Karpinski Engineering | 12,343,996 |
49 | P2S Engineering | 11,896,229 |
50 | RMH Group, The | 11,864,683 |
51 | Peter Basso Associates | 10,400,000 |
52 | Rist-Frost-Shumway Engineering | 10,039,000 |
53 | French & Parrello Associates | 9,782,762 |
54 | Bala Consulting Engineers | 9,360,000 |
55 | Allen & Shariff | 8,610,036 |
56 | Wick Fisher White | 7,821,928 |
57 | Brinjac Engineering | 7,342,166 |
58 | CTLGroup | 6,030,000 |
59 | O’Dea, Lynch, Abbattista Consulting Engineers | 5,900,000 |
60 | FBA Engineering | 4,000,000 |
61 | Kamm Consulting | 3,681,775 |
62 | Apogee Consulting Group | 2,485,000 |
63 | G&W Engineering | 2,058,000 |
ENGINEERING/ARCHITECTURE FIRMS
Rank | Company | 2011 Total Revenue ($) |
1 | Jacobs | 2,699,100,000 |
2 | AECOM Technology Corp. | 1,487,000,000 |
3 | M+W U.S. | 1,015,199,252 |
4 | Stantec | 463,300,000 |
5 | Parsons Brinckerhoff | 311,300,000 |
6 | URS Corp. | 294,100,000 |
7 | exp | 205,000,000 |
8 | Science Applications International Corp. | 185,390,000 |
9 | Merrick & Co. | 111,000,000 |
10 | Day & Zimmermann | 109,909,604 |
11 | SSOE Group | 107,819,740 |
12 | STV | 104,876,000 |
13 | Thornton Tomasetti | 98,017,214 |
14 | Burns & McDonnell | 94,711,826 |
15 | Dewberry | 89,282,766 |
16 | Michael Baker Jr., Inc. | 80,730,000 |
17 | Middough | 75,750,000 |
18 | Clark Nexsen | 68,424,208 |
19 | Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates | 64,080,000 |
20 | Simpson Gumpertz & Heger | 59,170,000 |
21 | AKF Group | 58,100,000 |
22 | H&A Architects & Engineers | 39,064,020 |
23 | Walker Parking Consultants | 34,422,898 |
24 | BRPH | 31,500,000 |
25 | Bergmann Associates | 30,700,000 |
26 | Shive-Hattery | 28,192,943 |
27 | Atkins North America | 23,620,537 |
28 | Ross & Baruzzini | 20,377,769 |
29 | Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon | 20,100,000 |
30 | Paulus, Sokolowski and Sartor | 18,300,000 |
31 | Guernsey | 18,293,701 |
32 | L.R. Kimball | 17,759,000 |
33 | GRAEF-USA | 16,770,180 |
34 | Zak Companies | 12,335,494 |
35 | CJL Engineering | 12,228,000 |
36 | Stanley Consultants | 10,892,000 |
37 | Spectrum Engineers | 8,828,890 |
38 | GRW | 6,290,216 |
39 | Davis, Bowen & Friedel | 4,680,714 |
40 | Vintage Archonics | 1,972,220 |
Related Stories
| Nov 27, 2013
Exclusive survey: Revenues increased at nearly half of AEC firms in 2013
Forty-six percent of the respondents to an exclusive BD+C survey of AEC professionals reported that revenues had increased this year compared to 2012, with another 24.2% saying cash flow had stayed the same.
| Nov 27, 2013
Wonder walls: 13 choices for the building envelope
BD+C editors present a roundup of the latest technologies and applications in exterior wall systems, from a tapered metal wall installation in Oklahoma to a textured precast concrete solution in North Carolina.
| Nov 27, 2013
University reconstruction projects: The 5 keys to success
This AIA CES Discovery course discusses the environmental, economic, and market pressures affecting facility planning for universities and colleges, and outlines current approaches to renovations for critical academic spaces.
| Nov 26, 2013
7 ways to make your firm more successful
Like all professional services businesses, AEC firms are challenged to effectively manage people. And even though people can be rather unpredictable, a firm’s success doesn’t have to be. Here are seven ways to make your firm more successful in the face of market variability and uncertainty.
| Nov 26, 2013
Design-build downsized: Applying the design-build method in an era of smaller projects
Any project can benefit from the collaborative spirit and cooperative relationships embodied by design-build. But is there a point of diminishing return where the design-build project delivery model just doesn't make sense for small projects? Design-build expert Lisa Cooley debates the issue.
| Nov 25, 2013
Electronic plan review: Coming soon to a city near you?
With all the effort AEC professionals put into leveraging technology to communicate digitally on projects, it is a shame that there is often one major road block that becomes the paper in their otherwise “paperless” project: the local city planning and permitting department.
| Nov 22, 2013
Kieran Timberlake, PE International develop BIM tool for green building life cycle assessment
Kieran Timberlake and PE International have developed Tally, an analysis tool to help BIM users keep better score of their projects’ complete environmental footprints.
| Nov 20, 2013
Architecture Billings Index slows in October; project inquiries stay strong
Following three months of accelerating demand for design services, the Architecture Billings Index reflected a somewhat slower pace of growth in October. The October ABI score was 51.6, down from a mark of 54.3 in September.
| Nov 19, 2013
Pediatric design in an adult hospital setting
Freestanding pediatric facilities have operational and physical characteristics that differ from those of adult facilities.
| Nov 18, 2013
6 checkpoints when designing a pediatric healthcare unit
As more time and money is devoted to neonatal and pediatric research, evidence-based design is playing an increasingly crucial role in the development of healthcare facilities for children. Here are six important factors AEC firms should consider when designing pediatric healthcare facilities.