...clients in order to secure the services, the contract, than we ever have before,” he says. “It’s easily three or four times the number of meetings with potential clients.” In some instances, untimely government decisions have compounded market troubles. In New Jersey, a regulation recently added fees to most non-residential development projects in an effort to bolster an affordable housing project fund. The change was later revoked after signs it was stifling projects. “The timing of that unfortunately coincided with the rest of the economic downturn, so New Jersey was hit doubly,” says Stacey Ruhle Kliesch, president of the New Jersey chapter of AIA, and principal of her namesake practice in Ridgewood, N.J.
In Connecticut, budget wrangling has stalled new state-funded work and stunted planning, say AIA’s Harp Jones and ACEC’s Brady. And even in transportation, the state faces challenges because of delays in the reauthorization of the federal transportation bill and a looming deficit in a dedicated state transportation fund, Brady says. “It really puts a crimp on Connecticut’s transportation projects,” he adds.
Firms React Firms have been adjusting for months, with many resorting to layoffs. They have not been deep, most partners say, but appear widespread.
Roslyn says firms of all sizes are assessing who are effective contributors and paring the less productive. They are also asking those left to pick up the slack, he adds.
Larger firms have made cuts, though Geier says reductions at FXFowle should be taken in the context of a staff that doubled in size in the four years prior. Brand says Mueser also had a “minor correction,” but overall has been able to reassign employees to busier sectors.
Brady says there appears to be an avoidance of deep cuts. “[Firms] have been reluctant to shed skilled people, so they’re sort of bleeding a bit waiting for the recovery to happen,” he says. “I don’t think they are letting as many people go as they would have in the last recession because they had such a hard time staffing up immediately before this.”
Smaller firms in some cases are keeping employees by “loaning” them to outside partners that are still busy, says AIA New Jersey’s Ruhle Kliesch.
Smaller firms may be at a disadvantage because they can’t shift to new sectors as easily as a larger, multi-discipline firm, Ruhle Kliesch says. But Roslyn and Tikku both say smaller practices can be nimbler reacting to market changes than large organizations.
Meanwhile, some large firms are reintroducing a tactic from past recessions of asking employees to work four-day weeks at 80% pay, Bell says. And their business development people are swamped, he adds. “They’re hustling more than ever,” he says.
Firms are also casting wider nets, some seeking projects farther afield. D’Orazio says his seven-person practice, mostly focused on the New York region, is scouting other markets, including South Carolina and Minnesota.
Some firms are stretching into other disciplines such as construction management. D’Orazio and Roslyn say they’ve gone that route. And Brady says he sees engineers continuing a move into construction consulting.
Other firms are refocusing on tasks clients currently need. Geier says FXFowle is handling more feasibility studies for developers.
And various firms have spread across sectors and opened new offices in order to diversify. Brand says Mueser has long supported both building construction and infrastructure. And FXFowle expanded from commercial developer-driven work into higher education, public sector, and transportation in advance of the downturn, Geier says. Geier also says FXFowle is relying on newer offices in Abu Dhabi and Washington, D.C., to soften the impact of the slowdown here.
The downturn even presents opportunity for firms to strategically regroup. “It has allowed us to really take a step back and focus on what our business development plans are and the sectors that we’re doing well and what we’re not doing well in,” says David Williams, partner at Davis Brody Bond Aedas of New York. “We want to find those sectors that are ‘recession-proof’ and pursue them in order to try and avoid the cycles that the profession is known for, to try to level it out.”
Williams says the chance for assessment and improvement extends to individuals as well, an option less available during boom periods. “When you have [project] deadlines, and you’re pressed to get work out on time, you...
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