PrintPrintEmailEmail

Government Report: Steady cashflow keeps the government sector strong

Jim Haughey, Director, Research and Analytics, Reed Construction Data

Construction spending for government buildings—excluding housing, education, and healthcare—expanded 14% in the fiscal year ending in June 2007. This is acceleration from the 4% growth in the prior fiscal year.

Spending for public safety buildings has been growing the fastest, but is projected to grow somewhat slower in the coming months. Still, spending will remain significantly higher than project cost inflation.

Government buildings are constructed when the cash for contract or bond payments is available, and cash is currently abundant. The 2006-07 fiscal year began with aggregate state government budget reserves equal to more than 9% of annual expenditures, nearly equal to the 10%-plus peak five years earlier. Budget reserves had fallen to 2-3% of spending just past the end of the last recession.

Sub-par economic growth over the last year will drop budget reserves in many states, but not by enough to cancel or delay projects already started or committed.

Top 20 government design firms
(2006 billings in $ millions)


Firm Billings
Source: 2007 Giants 300 survey
Note: This ranking is based on firms that made the Giants 300 list.
1. Jacobs Engineering Group 212.51
2. URS Corp. 152.00
3. CH2M HILL 135.35
4. HOK 126.90
5. Carter & Burgess 109.18
6. Parsons Brinckerhoff 94.87
7. HNTB Architecture 76.26
8. DMJM H&N 74.75
9. Burns & McDonnell 70.77
10. STV Group 57.60
11. Merrick & Co. 40.18
12. CUH2A 37.64
13. Hayes, Seay, Mattern & Mattern 30.63
14. Heery International 27.87
15. Mead & Hunt 27.07
16. Teng Affiliated Cos. 25.93
17. HDR Architecture 24.23
18. KlingStubbins 24.18
19. Baker and Associates 22.90
20. Syska Hennessy Group 21.72

Top 20 government contractors
(2006 revenue in $ millions)


Firm Revenue
Source: 2007 Giants 300 survey
Note: This ranking is based on firms that made the Giants 300 list.
1. Fluor Corp. 1,754.82
2. Clark Group 1,527.04
3. The Turner Corp. 1,489.32
4. Perini Corp. 813.39
5. PCL Construction Enterprises 774.30
6. Jacobs Engineering Group 680.32
7. Balfour Beatty Construction 611.55
8. Hoffman Construction 510.57
9. Hensel Phelps Construction 468.81
10. Gilbane Building Co. 370.77
11. Skanska USA Building 342.00
12. Hunt Building Co. 312.26
13. M. A. Mortenson Co. 309.39
14. JE Dunn Construction Group 256.20
15. Dick Corp. 228.90
16. The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. 223.93
17. Manhattan Construction 204.15
18. Walbridge Aldinger 198.00
19. Bovis Lend Lease 185.56
20. Coakley & Williams Construction 184.11

         

Top Articles

AIA CONTINUING EDUCATION: Reroofing primer, in-depth advice from the experts
Building owners must plan ahead for roof replacement to avoid emergency leak rem
Building owners must plan ahead for roof replacement to avoid emergency leak rem
No building owner wants to be caught unprepared by catastrophic roof failure. Emergency roof replacements tend to be more expensive than planned ones, and damage to interiors may mean unrecovered costs and detrimental...
Read More
AIA Course: New Developments in Concrete Construction
AIA: New Developments in Concrete Construction
AIA: New Developments in Concrete Construction
Concrete has long been a reliable building material for commercial and institutional projects. Yet recent trends, including the growth in hospitality and urban rental project starts, as well as mixed-use towers and transit-...
Read More
Energy Performance Starts at the Building Envelope
AIA Rainscreens BD+C DEcember 2011
AIA Rainscreens BD+C DEcember 2011
Until recently, it has been lighting, mechanical, and control system upgrades which have received the most attention in the green building movement. At long last, the industry is now recognizing building enclosures as a long...
Read More
AIA: Engineered Brick + Masonry for Commercial Buildings
Brick and stone masonry have served as reliable and valuable elements of commercial building projects for centuries, gracing urban and rural landscapes since time immemorial. Building Teams have trusted clay brick to bring...
Read More
AIA CONTINUING EDUCATION: Optimizing Moisture Protection and Air Barrier Systems
Buildings Teams have long sought to keep water out of buildings, to prevent corrosion, rot, and other damage and to keep building occupants comfortable and dry. Yet only recently has air infiltration also been seen as a...
Read More
Construction waste management
Learning Objectives After completing this course, you will be able to:
Read More
Enhanced acoustical design
Ambient noise levels in some facility types are trending up and becoming a barrier to clear communication between building occupants. A 2005 study conducted by Ilene Busch-Vishniac, PhD, a dean and professor of mechanical...
Read More
2011 Zero and Net-Zero Energy Buildings + Homes
Download Complete White Paper Download Introduction Download Chapters 1-4Defining Net-Zero Energy Buildings
Read More
2009 White Paper: Green Buildings + Water Performance
Our seventh White Paper on Green Buildings focuses on the role of water in sustainable design and construction. The editors conclude with a set of 21 detailed recommendations for the consideration of the Building Teams, home...
Read More
BD+C's 2008 White Paper: Green Buildings + Climate Change
Click here to read BD+C's 2008 White Paper: Green Buildings + Climate Change
Read More
BD+C's 2007 Green Buildings Research White Paper: Where Building Owners, End Users and AEC Professionals Stand on Sustainability and Green Building
Click here to read BD+C's 2007 Green Buildings Research White Paper: Where Building Owners, End Users and AEC Professionals Stand on Sustainability and Green Building
Read More
BD+C White Paper 2006: Green Buildings and the Bottom Line The ‘New Reality’ of Green Building From Environmental Cause to Financial Opportunity
Click here to read BD+C White Paper 2006: Green Buildings and the Bottom Line The ‘New Reality’ of Green Building From Environmental Cause to Financial Opportunity
Read More
BD+C's Life Cycle Assessment and Sustainability White Paper 2005
Click here to read BD+C's Life Cycle Assessment and Sustainability White Paper 2005
Read More
Improving the performance of existing commercial buildings: the chemistry of sustainable construction
It’s time to raise the performance of our existing commercial buildings. To reduce energy consumption. To increase durability. To lessen environmental impact and lifecycle cost. The 4.8 million existing commercial buildings...
Read More
From Wired Glass to Clear Solutions: Designing with Fire Rated Glass Today
Wired glass was the only fire rated glass (FRG) product available for over 100 years. In traditional wired glass, the embedded wires hold annealed glass in place during the fire test to achieve a fire rating. While the wires...
Read More
The Right Platform for IPD
Building project teams involved in design- build and other forms of integrated project delivery (IPD) face new and fast-moving chal- lenges in project team organization, software and hardware, networking, file sharing and...
Read More
Future-proofing BIM: A White Paper presented by Dell and BD+C
To benefit from new building design and construction technologies as well as novel project management approaches, leading AEC organizations of all sizes and scales are deploying building information modeling (BIM). While the...
Read More

Top Rated Articles

more

AWARDS

Award Winners
View BD+C’s award-winning projects and people, including our ‘40 Under 40’ superstars, top projects from our Building Team Awards and Reconstruction Awards programs, and the Best AEC Firms to Work For.