Gains on the ENR New York and New England regional Top Contractor rankings are minimal compared with the growth that listed firms showed in the two years following the COVID-19 outbreak. But if another economic slowdown is ahead, executives from companies on both lists say lessons learned during the pandemic can help them ride out potential hurdles.
“During construction slowdowns, reputation and quality of service become more important than ever,” says Lance Franklin, co-CEO of New York City-based Triton Construction Co. “Clients will choose the added safety of stronger, better-run companies as they attempt to mitigate risk during the leaner times.”
The 50 firms from New York and New Jersey ranked on that region’s Top Contractors list reported a total of $28.2 billion in revenue in 2023, edging up from $27.3 billion in 2022. That total was a 7.1% increase from the previous year, when the top 50 had $25.5 billion in 2021 revenue. But the data still showed lingering impacts from the pandemic since the leading 50 firms on the 2020 survey reported about $27.1 billion in 2019 revenue.
Chart by ENR
Triton, ENR New York’s 2023 Contractor of the Year, had a strong showing on this year’s ranking. Ranked No. 20, the firm’s $445.74 million in revenue was 12.43% above the $396.46 million reported on last year’s survey.
But Franklin still says his firm is “concerned in the short term,” adding that the private construction market “has been a steady and powerful economic engine in New York for a long time. Replacing it with something else will not be easy.”
He says that “until there are adjustments in interest rates and/or reductions in land pricing to jump-start real estate investment, we do not expect significant improvements in new large-scale private sector opportunities.”
Shawmut Design and Construction, ranked No. 31 among New York regional contractors and No. 4 on the New England ranking, is building the St. John’s University St. Vincent Health Sciences Center in Jamaica, Queens.
Photo courtesy Shawmut Design and Construction
New England Forecast
The 31 firms participating in the New England regional ranking logged a combined $15.7 billion in 2023 revenue for work completed in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. The 34 firms ranked last year had $15.5 billion in revenue, just a 0.19% increase from the previous year’s survey when the top 34 reported about $15.5 billion in total 2021 revenue. That was up 27% compared with the $12.2 billion reported by the same number of firms on the prior year’s ranking. The top 35 firms on the 2020 New England ranking, based on 2019 data, posted $12.4 billion in revenue.
Kevin Sullivan, New England region executive vice president at Boston-based Shawmut Design and Construction, says the firm anticipates “a steady pipeline of projects through 2025, reflecting the current market stability in New England.”
ARCO Design/Build Industrial, No. 19 on the ENR New York Top Contractors ranking, was architect and contractor for the Bronx Logistics Center.
Photo by JJC Drones
The region’s education sector “continues to present significant opportunities,” he says. Both higher education institutions and public K-12 schools “have recognized the profound impact that modernized facilities can have on student well-being, academic performance and community engagement.”
Shawmut was No. 4 on the New England ranking with $969.57 million in revenue, up 30% from $745.66 million reported last year. In the New York region, Shawmut’s $225.90 million in revenue put it at No. 31. Last year when Shawmut ranked No. 30, the firm reported $191.43 million in regional revenue. The firm attributes its growth in New York and New Jersey to larger projects and expansion into commercial, life sciences, education, cultural and health care sectors. Shawmut previously worked mostly on hotel, restaurant and retail projects in the region.
Other firms working in the New York region are bullish on its resilience. Rob Steigerwald, CEO of ARCO Design/Build, is “optimistic about the market outlook for the next several years.”
Chart by ENR
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has taken heat for indefinitely pausing a planned congestion pricing program that would have added tolls for vehicles in a wide swath of Manhattan—leaving in question about $15 billion that was set to fund transit projects. Still, Steigerwald likes her “proactive stance on job growth and economic development.”
On this year’s New York survey, ARCO was No. 19 with $528.22 million in revenue after it surged to No. 11 on last year’s list with $680.82 million in revenue. The firm had been ranked also at No. 18 the year before that with $395.51 million in regional revenue.
“The types of projects anticipated in this environment require a contractor [to] foresee and manage complexities early in the process,” says Steigerwald, whose firm specialized in building light industrial projects during the pandemic’s e-commerce boom. “We are poised to continue our 30-year legacy in light industrial and manufacturing to support and drive regional growth aligning with the state’s vision for economic expansion.”
