The 51 firms that participated in this year’s survey reported $10.34 billion in revenue in 13 states, down from the $11.28 billion that was tallied in 2024 by 53 firms in 11 states. ENR Midwest has added North Dakota and South Dakota this year to its original coverage area of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Ohio, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

Chart by ENR

Key Sectors Drive Business

Brian Helm, CEO and president of Helm Group, based in Freeport, Ill., says the busiest sectors for his company are mission critical, health care and solar.

“Business has been very strong for us,” he says. “We have been busy in most areas, although there is definitely some softening in some of our smaller markets. It’s a great time to be focused on infrastructure.”

Courteney L. McInerney, executive vice president of Motor City Electric in Detroit, says her firm has also had a active year, especially with large projects such as handling design-build and design-assist for General Motors’ Lake Orion Assembly Plant in Orion, Mich.

“This job has been interesting because the scope keeps growing and changing,” she says. “We’ve had to stay flexible and keep working closely with GM to meet new goals as they come up.”

Union partners have provided an adequate labor supply, Helm Group reports.
Photo courtesy of Helm Group

The firm also is providing engineering, procurement and construction for a battery storage project that has a capacity of 100 megawatts of power and 400 megawatt-hours of energy storage for Tibbits Energy Storage/Jupiter Power in Coldwater, Mich.

“The size of this job makes it a good challenge,” she says. “We’re coordinating closely with partners to make sure everything runs smoothly.”

While Helm and McInerney are upbeat about the status of their respective businesses, they are coping with many challenges, including rising costs. “Across the board, our costs are increasing, which puts increased pressure on us and our customers,” Helm says. “Some projects that previously had a positive ROI have been put on hold. Fortunately, the broader economy remains strong enough to keep most projects on track, and our company is diversified in enough sectors to find good work.”

McInerney notes that higher tariffs are impacting the cost and supply of materials.

“We deal with it by planning ahead, working closely with suppliers, locking in prices when we can and adjusting schedules if needed to avoid big cost jumps,” she says.

Helm takes a similar approach.

“The threat of tariffs has forced us to communicate much better with both customers and suppliers about procurement needs,” he says. “Customers have realized that early involvement of specialty contractors is critical to controlling material costs.”

The ongoing labor shortage is another issue for many specialty contractors.

“We’re working on [the labor shortage] by hiring and training new people and helping current workers grow their skills so they want to stay with us long term,” McInerney says. The firm has expanded its team and added more specialized groups to keep up with demand, especially in large-scale construction projects.

Helm Group managed installation of medium-voltage overhead and underground systems, switchgear, AC and DC cabling, fiber optic cabling and terminations for Kish Solar.
Photo courtesy of Helm Group

“It helps us handle more jobs and take on bigger, more complex work without slowing down,” she says.

“Our union labor partners have actually been able to do a good job of supplying labor for our projects,” Helm notes. “For us, the anticipated labor challenge that was on everyone’s radar for the past few years has not been nearly as bad as expected.”

Looking forward into 2025 and beyond, McInerney has a positive outlook.

“We see more growth ahead,” she says. “Data centers are a big focus right now, and we’ve got a good start in the battery storage market too.”

Helm’s firm is planning for growth by chasing work in relatively new areas, including central Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri and Kansas.

Chart by ENR

“We’re not necessarily adding new offices, but we’re working with customers to complete large projects in these areas. We’re also shipping fabricated pipe, duct and modular racks farther than we had previously,” Helm says. “Our national account work is taking us to regions that weren’t on our radar prior to a few years ago, and we are planning to help our customers expand even more.”