Despite pandemic-prompted shutdowns and project pauses in spring 2020, some top design firms in the Southeast saw bright spots mixed in with the gloomy market conditions. Overall, many firms held steady or saw slight dips in revenue, while others improved in 2020 as work picked up throughout the year. Collectively, the 135 engineering and architectural firms included in this year’s survey reported a combined $7.3 billion in revenue, compared with $6.8 billion from the 125 firms in last year’s listings.
“On balance, last year we ended up in a much better place than any of us really expected in terms of being able to weather the storm of ups and downs in the marketplace,” says Tory Winn, principal and managing partner at Gensler, which reported Southeast revenue of $103.9 million in 2020, down from $108.9 million in 2019.