The entrepreneurial "enterprise within an enterprise" approach that Cary, N.C.-based Kimley-Horn first implemented more than 40 years ago is proving to be a perfect fit for today's business environment. Built around the idea of "practice builders"—specialists in various design disciplines who are given greater freedom to cultivate their own niche markets and service areas—the concept is contributing to the firm's growing share of the current market's crop of increasingly complex projects. It is winning over owners who demand a higher level of engagement and innovation from their design consultants.
While the Southeast's A/E firms as a whole posted gains in 2014, Kimley-Horn's revenue in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida rose 16%, or nearly $24 million, to $173.53 million. An increase of that magnitude is usually reserved for firms that have acquired one or more existing competitors.