Obviously, the year 2020 challenged contractors and other construction industry firms in ways like no other. That included challenges on the financial front, as contractors faced pandemic-induced setbacks, such as project delays—or outright cancellations—and issues related to project budgets, schedules and workforce safety as well as the problem of prices and availability of materials.

As a result, many—but not all—firms responding to ENR Southeast’s 2021 Top Contractor survey have understandably reported revenue declines of varying degrees for the past year. In a year of recession, it’s practically the norm. However, there was one firm that reported an especially significant revenue increase: Brasfield & Gorrie.

A nearly perennial #1 in ENR Southeast’s annual Top Contractor ranking—including 10 of the past 12 years—the Birmingham, Ala.-based contractor notched a roughly 15% increase in Southeast revenue during 2020, compared to the prior year, when it was also atop our ranking.

Certainly a degree of good fortune and good timing contributes to a construction firm’s business success in any year. But it’s also evident that Brasfield & Gorrie delivered when it mattered in 2020.

For instance, when the pandemic began, Brasfield & Gorrie’s project team was able to further accelerate completion of a Piedmont Healthcare project in Atlanta in order to deliver needed beds to the project owner. The contractor, which was already roughly three months ahead of its original schedule, further accelerated completion by another month—from May to April—when the owner pressed the firm to provide beds for COVID-19 patients.

Brasfield & Gorrie also is working on four projects included on ENR Southeast’s ranking of the region's 2020 Top Starts, including the $187-million 760 Ralph McGill Office Towers project in Atlanta, pictured above.

For these and other reasons, ENR Southeast announces Brasfield & Gorrie as its 2021 Contractor of the Year. We’ll have more information and details about the contractor’s achievements and responses to the tumultuous year of 2020 in the June 28 print edition.

Congratulations to Brasfield & Gorrie!