The Top Design-Builders ranking is based upon the ‘08 regional revenue that each firm estimated came from design-build projects within the four-state region of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. The ranking also includes more information about each firm, including the location of its main regional office, phone number and Web site address.

Taking the top spot was San Antonio, Texas-based Zachry, which estimated $379 million in design-build revenue from its Southeast operations. Zachry moved up five spots from its sixth-place ranking last year. (A feature story on Zachry’s success with Florida power projects follows.)

Jacksonville, Fla.-based Haskell repeated in second place, with an estimated $309.8 million in 2008 design-build revenue.

Choate Construction Co. of Atlanta ranks third on this year’s list of design-builders, with an estimated $214.8 million in regional design-build revenue from 2008. That’s an improvement from last year, when Choate ranked seventh overall with an approximately $139.5-million total.

Following in fourth is last year’s top firm, Clark Construction Group of Tampa. For 2008, Clark estimates that design-build projects provided $203.6 million in revenue.

BE&K of Charlotte rounded out the top five, with $174.1 million in design-build revenue from 2008.

Total design-build revenue represented by this ranking equals roughly $4.4 billion, up from the $4.1 billion included within the inaugural ranking of a year ago. That equates to about 13.8% of the $31.9-billion overall revenue total reported by these firms on the most recent Top Contractors ranking.