EDITOR's NOTE: Since this blog was originally posted, one firm, Tecta America, made us aware that there was a typo in the data they provided for the ranking. Their revenue information has since been corrected. Tecta America was previously ranked 20th on this list; with the corrected information, Mona Electric Group is now in the 20th position. The entire Top Specialty Contractors ranking, complete with state-by-state and specialty category breakout rankings, will be published in Mid-Atlantic Construction's Fall Issue, due out in September. It will include this latest corrected data. 

Mid-Atlantic Construction's annual ranking of the region's Top Specialty Contractors will be published in its complete form later in the fall. For now, we're providing a quick sneak preview of this year's top 20 firms -- see list below -- based upon the total amount of 2009 revenue that each firm reported from projects located in the magazine's coverage area of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Eastern Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.

Of course, 2009 was anything but a good year for the construction industry as a whole, specialty contractors included. Based upon an early review of this year's data, many of the Mid-Atlantic's specialty firms definitely felt the downturn. For starters, fewer firms participated in this year's survey/ranking, and that's always a sign of declining fortunes. Also, the roughly 80 firms that took part this year reported a collective $5.3 billion in regional revenue. That's down from the nearly $5.9 billion reported from last year's top 80 specialty firms.

That said, some Mid-Atlantic specialty contracting firms showed improvement over the previous year, or else hung steady. This year's top 20, for example, featured several that experienced improving fortunes during 2009, including, most prominently, the new top-ranked company, M.C. Dean.

The Dulles, Va.-based electrical contractor shot to the top of this ranking, with roughly $642.5 million in 2009 regional revenue. That's well ahead of the $400 million that the company reported in our previous ranking. (Mid-Atlantic Construction will provide more insight on M.C. Dean's recent surge in business in our upcoming Fall issue.) But M.C. Dean wasn't the only firm in the top 20 to show improving or steady revenue figures, compared to the preceding ranking.

Truland Systems Corp. of Reston, Va., grew its regional revenue total to just over $348 million, up from the nearly $304 million of a year ago. ColonialWebb Contractors of Richmond, Va., saw its revenue improve slightly, from $192 million to $203 million. Beltsville, Md.-based W.E. Bowers' regional revenue improved to $196.5 million from the $189.5 million of last year. Southland Industries of Dulles also experienced year-over-year growth, with its revenue up from $133.9 million of a year ago to the current total of $187.7 million. And 10th-ranked Gill-Simpson of Baltimore reported 2009 regional revenue of roughly $135 million -- more than double the $64 million that the contractor reported for last year's ranking.

In the lower half of this year's top 20, five firms reported increased revenues. Pipersville, Pa.-based Worth & Co.'s regional revenue improved from $116 million to $134.2 million. Pierce Associates of Alexandria, Va., saw its revenue jump from last year's $82.6 million to this year's $114 million. Lanham, Md.-based Limbach Co.'s revenue improved from $65.5 million to $84.5 million. Singleton Electric Co. of Gaithersburg, Md., experienced an increase, from $71.4 million to this year's $80.2 million. And .

We'll have more analysis of the numbers in the upcoming print edition. For now, here's your sneak preview of the top 20 firms in this year's Top Specialty Contractors ranking.

Editor's Note: The dollar figures reported here are in millions, and represent each firm's combined 2009 revenue from projects located in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Eastern Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. Firms that reported fiscal-year data are marked with an asterisk. To be included in the ranking, firms had to respond to the magazine's online survey. If your firm was not included in this year's ranking, and would like to take part in future rankings, please email our survey manager, Richard Mui, at Richard_Mui@mcgraw-hill.com. Firms can also email me at Scott_Judy@mcgraw-hill.com.

 1. M.C. Dean, Inc.                             642.52
 2. EMCOR Group, Inc.                       432.10
 3. Truland Systems Corp. *                 348.06
 4. Miller & Long Co., Inc.                    212.37
 5. ColonialWebb Contractors               203.14
 6. W.E. Bowers *                               196.50
 7. Southland Industries                       187.69
 8. Henkels & McCoy, Inc. *                 183.41
 9. IES Commercial, Inc. *                    155.36
10. Gill-Simpson                                  135.07
11. Worth & Co., Inc.                           134.18
12. AES Electrical Inc.                         125.50
13. Pierce Associates, Inc.                   114.00
14. Atlantic Constructors, Inc.               100.00
15. S.B. Ballard Construction Co.            91.00
16. Limbach Co.                                    84.53
17. VSC Fire & Security, Inc.                  82.24
18. Shapiro & Duncan, Inc. *                   80.42
19. Singleton Electric Co., Inc.                80.16
20. Mona Electric Group                         70.00

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