In 2019, the Southeast construction market was continuing to keep contractors from Miami to Nashville busy, both building current projects and chasing new contracts. The robustness of last year’s construction market will be shown in our upcoming Top Contractors ranking, which will show a sizeable increase in collective revenue reported from Southeast firms.

One of the ranked firms showing the greatest percentage increase in 2019 revenue was Delray Beach, Fla.-based Kaufman Lynn Construction, which ENR editors have selected as the Southeast Contractor of the Year.

Kaufman Lynn reported a roughly 73% year-over-year jump in its 2019 Southeast revenue, from the $253.5 million it reported for 2018, to the latest figure of $480.8 million earned in 2019.

The big increase was obviously due in part to major projects, such as the ongoing, $169-million JM Family Corporate Campus project in Deerfield Beach, Fla. According to the company, though, the growth was also the result of a strategic plan implemented in 2016 that outlined goals for organic growth and expansion of the firm's geographic footprint into North Carolina and Texas. Last year, the contractor earned roughly $47 million in revenue from North Carolina.

Also notable for 2019 was the decision by CEO Michael Kaufman—who founded the firm in 1989 with three employees—to sell his shares in the company to all roughly 250 employees with the establishment of an employee stock ownership plan.

ENR Southeast will provide readers with much more information about this year’s Contractor of the Year, Kaufman Lynn Construction, in our upcoming June print edition.