The Southeast’s Top Contractors

Regional Firms Report Nearly $31.9 Billion in 2008 Revenue

By Scott Judy

Southeast Construction presents its ninth annual Top Contractors ranking. This year, the ranking is deeper, with 175 Top Contractors, compared to 160 from a year ago. Despite the growth in list size, the cumulative Southeast regional revenue total is lower, dipping from last year’s record $33.1 billion to the current total of nearly $31.9 billion.

Before offering some analysis, first an explanation of how Southeast Construction constructs the Top Contractors ranking. To obtain the revenue information listed here, the magazine solicited information from both last year’s respondents as well as many other firms included in our database. The survey was conducted online, from a link at www.southeast.construction.com, where any qualifying firm could input its information directly.

The information provided here is based upon the submissions provided by each firm through this online process.

This current list ranks the top general contracting and construction management firms in the Southeast. As in past years, the list includes building contractors, heavy/highway firms and all general contracting firms in between.

It should be noted that this list reflects only those companies that chose to participate by filling out the magazine’s survey form and submitting their revenue information.

At the Top

Our main Top Contractors ranking is based upon each firm’s 2008 revenue generated from projects within the four-state region only. Within the main ranking we also include more extensive information about each of the firms, including address and phone number, Web site address, year established, the top officer for the area, breakdown of the contractor’s focus of work and their biggest project to start construction during 2008.

(Photo courtesy Hensel-Phelps Construction Co.)

At the number-one spot again this year – for the third year in a row, in fact – is Brasfield & Gorrie, which has its main Southeast-area offices in Kennesaw, Ga. This year, the contractor reported more Southeast regional revenue than ever before – $1.4 billion. That’s a slight uptick from the $1.3 billion the company reported last year

As it was last year, the company’s regional total was spread out among the four states, and included the following: Florida – nearly $482.7 million; Georgia – $771.4 million; North Carolina – nearly $119.3 million; and South Carolina – $48.1 million.

The top 10 contractors on this year’s ranking bear a remarkable resemblance to last year’s – with one exception. The top five is made up of the usual suspects. For instance, Skanska USA Building finished second this year, up from fifth. Balfour Beatty Construction and Bovis Lend Lease repeated in third and fourth place, respectively. And Turner Construction fell three spots from last year to place fifth this year.

The next four firms all moved up one spot from their positions on last year’s ranking. BE&K of Charlotte moved up from seventh last year to sixth. Archer Western Contractors of Atlanta climbed a notch to finish in seventh place. Choate Construction Co. of Atlanta finished in eight, and Hardin Construction finished ninth.

Coastal Construction Group of Miami, however, shot up 11 spots from last year’s ranking, where it placed 21st overall, to break into the top 10.

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Beyond the top 10, there are other notable shakeups. Barnhill Contracting Co. of Tarboro, N.C., also shot up the chart, moving from 23rd on last year’s ranking to placing 11th this time around. M.B. Kahn Construction of Columbia, S.C., moved up 12 spots to place 22nd this year.

Other notable firms showed some declines. Moss & Associates of Fort Lauderdale dropped eight spots to 20th. Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. of Atlanta, meanwhile, fell 10 spots to place 25th overall. Others experienced more significant declines. Pavarini’s $149 million in 2008 revenues earned it 66th place this year, 36 spots down from last year’s ranking, where it reported $320 million in revenue.

Of course, with so much upheaval in certain markets – such as residential – it’s not surprising to see some movement up and down the rankings. Moving forward, it’s hard to see how the revenues of most firms won’t be impacted in next year’s ranking.

Survey Findings

Here are some other findings from this year’s ranking:

• As was the case last year, Florida revenue makes up the biggest part of the cumulative revenue total. This year, 142 firms reported revenue from the Sunshine State for a cumulative total of nearly $16.8 billion in revenue. That dollar amount is down from the $19.6 billion in Florida revenue reported on last year’s ranking.
• The cumulative total of revenue reported from Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina tallied roughly $15.1 billion, up from last year’s $13.6 billion total. On a state-by-state basis, the amount of revenue reported included: Georgia – approximately $7.5 billion, up from last year’s $6.2 billion; North Carolina – roughly $5.8 billion up from $5.4 billion; and South Carolina – nearly $1.9 billion, down from the previous year’s $2 billion.
• The average revenue number reported on the ranking equaled approximately $182.3 million, down from last year’s $205.6 million average.

Contractor Consolidation

As many people have probably noticed, there has been a significant number of mergers and acquisitions in the last year or two. As Debra Wood reports in “The Never-Ending Shakeup,” elsewhere in this issue, more than a dozen top contracting firms active in the Southeast have been involved in one of these deals, either as buyer or seller.

As the story indicates, there is suspicion that this trend may be slowing overall, due to the declining state of the world’s capital markets, and for other reasons, such as the value of the dollar versus the Euro.

Just before the issue went to press, however, came the major announcement from Balfour Beatty Construction that it was planning to acquire Charlotte, N.C.-based RT Dooley Construction Co. (See Carolina News for more information.) Apparently UK-based Balfour Beatty isn’t being impacted by the credit crunch. This acquisition announcement comes more than a year after the firm bought Dallas-based Centex, and then later Atlanta-based Heery International.

As we write in the “Never-Ending Shakeup,” contractor consolidation is a long-term trend that’s been accentuated by the current downturn. But the trend will continue, even though the pace of change may slow.

Of course, as the current downturn continues to impact contractors of all types, it’s not hard to predict that future Top Contractor rankings will certainly reflect the present market turmoil. With that in mind, best of luck to all Southeast contractors as 2009 continues to reveal itself.