Architectural Services Industry Profile

The US architecture industry includes about 30,000 establishments (single-location companies and units of multi-location companies) with combined annual revenue of about $30 billion. Prominent firms include Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, HDR Inc, Heery International, Gensler, and HKS. The industry is highly fragmented: the 50 largest firms account for less than 20 percent of revenue.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand for architects' services depends heavily on the volume of residential and commercial construction. Because most costs are fixed, profitability depends on a constant inflow of work. Architectural firms are often small because there are few economies of scale in the industry: architectural design costs for a large company are typically greater than for a small company.

PRODUCTS, OPERATIONS & TECHNOLOGY

Architects prepare detailed plans that can be used by construction companies to build or modify various types of structures. Most architectural work has both an aesthetic and an engineering component. About 65 percent of typical firm billings are for nonresidential architect design work; over 15 percent comes from residential work, and the rest comes from landscape architectural services and other construction phase services. For many projects, the architect's responsibility (and the work contract) extends from the initial design work through to the end of construction, a process that may span several years. On most projects, architects work closely with engineering and construction companies. A typical small firm has three licensed partners, four professional design assistants, and three administrative staff.

The broad categories ...