The downturn in the private nonresidential building market that started in 2001 hit the construction industry hard in 2002 and nobody felt it more than specialty contractors. In a statistical rarity, more than half of ENRs Top 600 specialty contractors saw revenue decline last year. On average, revenue for the group fell 10.3% in 2002 after slipping 0.6% the previous year. By comparison, the Top 600 reported a 24% increase in revenue during 2000, the last year of constructions decade-long expansion.
The downturn in nonresidential building construction was particularly troublesome for subcontractors. ENRs Top 600 firms derived 53% of their annual revenue from that market last year. Another 24% of the groups revenue was tied to the even more devastated industrial, manufacturing and power markets.