As the nation struggles to cope with the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, construction firms of all types have been thrown off balance. Firms delivering professional services to the industry have been just as affected. But there is one major difference with this group when compared to designers and contractors. Clients increasingly are calling on professional services firms with the pressing question: “What do we do now?”
Owners had already been steadily increasing the use of professional services firms to help plan and deliver projects in the most efficient and cost-effective way possible. The growing interest can be seen in the results of this year’s ENR Top 100 Construction Management-for-Fee and Top 50 Program Management Firms list. Revenue for the CM-PM group was up 2.7%, to $24.43 billion in 2019 from $23.78 billion in 2018. Domestic revenue from their work was stronger, rising 3.8%, to $18.88 billion; but CM-PM revenue from projects and programs abroad fell 0.6%, to $5.54 billion in 2019.