With the Gulf Coast reaping the benefits of fracking and oil exploration and production activity, refineries are benefiting greatly, Saucier notes. That, in turn, strengthens the region and creates more opportunities for contractors in all areas.

"It looks like Lake Charles is going to be the epicenter of these [energy-related] expansions," Saucier adds. "You have people coming into the Geismar area and New Orleans making expansions and additions."

He points to the decline in coal as a fuel for power generation. "We feel like gas is going to be the favorite fuel. As a result, we're looking forward to a bloom of power houses being built out there," Saucier says. "We definitely feel it's a market that's going to be really, really good for us in the coming years."

Heading toward 2015, TDI is focusing on "growing its engineering capacity, investing in lean-culture training, getting more involved in [integrated project delivery] and pushing toward a world class safety culture with a goal of achieving zero incidents," Kotubey says.

The firm is working to finish three "premier projects," including an ExxonMobil project in Houston, the Colorado Tower in Austin and the William P. Clements Hospital in Dallas, Kotubey says. "We were recently awarded Raytheon's Intelligence, Information and Services National Headquarters Facility on a design-build basis—a first for Raytheon in the region."

MMR also has several projects on the horizon, including the $20-billion-plus Sasol project in Lake Charles.

"They're going to begin with about a $69-million piece, and it looks like they've got their wetlands permit and it's going to go forward. We're penciled in to do the electrical work on the project, so that's exciting to us," Saucier says. "There are a lot of LNG [liquid natural gas] plants that are planned and being done. There are three of them that are licensed, with several more in line." Chemical plants in the region are also expanding, he adds.

"I think the hard part for us is going to be to choose the right opportunities," he says. "Not just to bid everything out there and try to get it all, but to really focus on the projects that we can do well and do efficiently."