Top 500 Design Firms: Maser's Focus Is Laser-Sharp
At No. 214 on ENR's list of the Top 500 Design Firms, Maser Consulting P.A., Red Bank, N.J., is embracing new technology to maintain a leadership role in land surveying, its biggest niche, and to boost its edge in newer telecommunications and transportation markets.
The firm oversees deployment of Amberg Technologies' trolley-based survey system to measure track alignment on New York City MTA's East Side Access rail-tunnel project.
The system "vigilantly measures aboveground railway track movement to one-sixteenth of an inch," says Leo Ponzio, Maser chief administrative officer and survey services director. "Forty-eight inches between the upper crust of the tunnel and ground level lies a complex, existing rail system that supports hundreds of service trains daily. Even slight shifting of these rails could compromise the track and endanger commuters and under- ground work crews," he adds.
The firm is applying a similar focus to its bottom line, which, at $49.1 million in revenue, propelled its rise on the Top 500 from No. 261 on last year's list.
CEO Richard M. Maser expects revenue to grow to $60 million this year, thanks to transportation capability acquired in 2012 and expansions into telecom and energy.
Despite the firm's location in Superstorm Sandy's impact zone, Maser says hurricane restoration has not been a big revenue source.
But the firm will redesign elements of New Jersey's largest brownfield redevelopment in Sayreville because of storm-generated flood-zone mapping changes.
Maser Consulting also is awaiting a finalized contract for an estimated $600-million design-build flood-control project in Ghana, which is being financed by a U.S. loan to the country. The firm is teamed with contractor Conti Group.
This year, the consultant will emphasize organic growth over acquisitions, with "a focus on strategic hires," Maser says.
