The Southeast’s Top Design-Builders

Inaugural Ranking of Region’s Top Design-Builders Includes 110 Firms and More Than $4.1 Billion in Related Revenue

In this latest ranking from Southeast Construction, the magazine lists the top firms utilizing design-build in the four-state region of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

By Scott Judy

In our continuing effort to document and provide insights about the regional construction industry, Southeast Construction presents its latest ranking, Top Design-Builders. It’s the largest and most comprehensive inaugural ranking the magazine has published to date.

There’s a reason for that, however. The Top Design-Builders ranking is actually derived from the Top Contractors survey, and utilizes data and other information provided by the ranked firms at that time.

This ranking is based solely on the amount of revenue that each of these firms estimates it generated through its design-build projects, as supplied through the magazine’s annual Top Contractors survey conducted earlier this year. In that survey, Southeast Construction asked firms to provide information about the percentage of revenue derived not only from design-build projects, but also construction management, general contracting and other alternative project delivery methods.

It should be noted that this list reflects only those companies that chose to participate in our Top Contractors survey earlier this year, and submitted their revenue information.

At the Top

The Top Design-Builders ranking is based upon each firm’s 2007 design-build revenue generated from projects within the four-state region only. As is the case with the magazine’s other major Top lists, this ranking also includes more extensive information about each of the firms, including address and phone number, Web site address, year established, number of regional employees, the top regional officer and their biggest project to start construction during 2007. (The largest project listed here is not necessarily a design-build contract.)

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Taking the top spot in this inaugural ranking was Clark Construction Group of Tampa, which reported about $455.9 million in design-build revenue from its Southeast operations for 2007. That’s based on the firm’s estimate that 90% of its Southeast ’07 revenue was design-build.

Placing second was a firm that is recognized nationally as one of the leaders of the decades-long design-build movement, the Haskell Co. of Jacksonville, Fla. Haskell reported that 84% of its ’07 revenue came from its design-build contracts, or about $370.4 million.

Opus South Corp., also of Tampa, ranked third overall, with nearly $256.9 million in design-build revenue from the four-state region during 2007.

Skanska took fourth place in this ranking of design-builders, reporting approximately $209.9 million in design-build-related revenue during last year. According to Skanska’s figures, that equals roughly 22% of the construction giant’s Southeast ’07 revenue.

Rounding out the top five was another Jacksonville, Fla.-based design-builder, Stellar. The firm, which works around the nation as a design-build specialist, often in the industrial market segment, reported approximately 80% of its revenue came from this delivery method, for a total of about $163.4 million.

Total design-build revenue represented by this ranking equals roughly $4.1 billion, or about 12% of the approximately $33.1 billion in cumulative regional revenue represented by the most recent Top Contractors ranking, published in April.

Design-Build Changing

Of course, design-build is one of the most well-known alternative project delivery methods. It’s been utilized across the nation and in the Southeast for years, and seems more commonplace every year. However, it continues to evolve and change, especially as it relates to what owners understand and expect from the process, and from the design-builders themselves, says Bob Renaud, director of public affairs for Jacksonville-based Haskell.

“Our clients more and more want us to learn their business and then handle as much of the project as we can,” Renaud says. “Industrial clients want us to perform supply-chain analysis and help (them) find a site” for their next facility, he adds.

“Clients in 2008 are more sophisticated about design-build, and they realize how they can expand the definition of design-build to all of the business that’s involved in a given project.”

And while Haskell boasts clients in numerous businesses, in both the public and private sectors, Renaud admits that it’s a continual process to convince owners and developers of the merits of design-build.

He says that design-build contractors continue to fight the perception that this delivery method is only for “simpler” projects, such as parking garages or industrial facilities, and not for more technically complex projects such as health-care facilities.

The challenge, Renaud says, is “that resistance to allow a design-builder to do a highly specialized and technical facility.”

Jessie Brewer, vice president with Pirtle Construction Co. in Davie, Fla., concurs about the main hurdle to design-build’s further industry adoption.

“The biggest challenge ... is convincing owners to use that delivery system,” Brewer says. “I don’t believe owners are seeing the added value design-build offers or they believe it’s only suited for certain project types.”

Working on the Highways

One sector where owner expertise in design-build has been accumulating for several years now is highway and infrastructure construction. The Florida Department of Transportation has been a national leader in the use of design-build, and other transportation agencies in the Southeast region have started following along.

Paul K. Newman, business development manager for Longmont, Colo.-based Flatiron Constructors – a firm active on several prominent design-build projects, such as the Cooper River Bridge in Charleston, S.C. – definitely sees an evolution in owner attitudes when it comes to design-build.

“Owners are becoming more experienced in their approach to design-build and utilizing it to deliver projects with less direct control of the process,” Newman said via email. “They are also making the decision to go with the design-build method earlier in the process.”

Tom Boyle, a project executive with highway contractor Granite Construction Co. of Tampa, sees the design-build process as continuing to be refined.

“Responsive owners have refined the Request For Proposal process from lessons learned over the years,” Boyle said in an email statement. “For example, the Florida Department of Transportation has a task group which meets periodically to address issues. In addition, contractors and engineering firms have a much better understanding of not only the design-build process, but of each other’s business and what is important to each.”

At the same time, Newman adds, “control” remains an issue.

A main challenge is “getting the owners to let go of the belief that they need total control of the design and construction process,” he says.

In some ways, despite its difference from more standard delivery methods, the bottom line remains the same as for all construction, says Granite’s Tom Boyle.

“The biggest challenge is identifying risk and managing the process,” he says.

The proliferation of design-build in the highway and infrastructure sectors is evident elsewhere in this issue. Another editorial topic this month is Infrastructure. As readers will see, all three of the major infrastructure projects highlighted in this issue are being built via the design-build delivery method.

That’s merely a coincidence – or, rather, a sign of the times – as these projects were chosen for editorial coverage because of their overall significance, and not their delivery methods.

Granite Construction’s Jewfish Creek Bridge project in the Keys boasts historical significance, attention to disaster preparedness, major safety improvements and a unique attention to the surrounding environment.

The Washington Bypass project in North Carolina, being built by a joint venture of Flatiron and United Contractors, utilizes a patent-pending process to build a 2.8-mi-long bridge across a major wetlands area.

And Archer Western’s contract at the Johns Creek Environmental Campus in Roswell, Ga., is aiming for nothing less than becoming a national model for how to build a community-friendly wastewater treatment plant.

From these three examples, it’s plain to see that at least some owners involved in the highway and civil sectors believe design-build can be an apt approach for even complicated projects.