Even as they fight the headwinds of higher interest rates, labor shortages and inflation, many firms on the 2024 ENR Midwest Top Specialty Contractors list are driving business by taking on mammoth projects, expanding their workforces and focusing on the nitty-gritty of such items as billing and collections.

The 53 companies that participated in this year’s survey reported $11.73 billion in revenue, which is up from the $8.03 billion that the 51 firms on last year’s list reported from the 11 states that are included in the ENR Midwest region: Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Ohio, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

Large projects have been the bread and butter for many specialty contractors over the past year, a group that includes Helm Group, which is headquartered in Freeport, Ill.

Chart by ENR

“The project sizes we are seeing are much larger than in the past, and our work in hand is as high as ever,” says Brian Helm, CEO and president. “We’ve been busy over the past year.”

Some of that work will not get underway until next year. “A lot of our effort in 2024 was performing virtual design and construction of mega jobs that will start in 2025,” he says.

The busiest sectors for his company have been health care and data centers.

Helm Group, like other specialty contractors, has been coping with high interest rates, which have increased costs and prompted realistic conversations with customers, Helm points out. “Interest expense is definitely a cost of business that we price into our jobs,” he says. “Showing that cost in our proposals can be eye-opening for some end users.”

Helm Group is also spending more time than ever on billing and collections, but according to its CEO/president, there is some positive news related to soaring costs.

“Cost increases have become more predictable, so it’s easier to anticipate escalation in our budgeting,” he notes.

Courteney McInerney, senior vice president of Motor City Electric, which does electrical construction, says business “has been robust over the past year, driven by major projects.”

One of its large projects is for a joint venture between automaker Stellantis and battery manufacturer Samsung SDI, which is investing more than $2.5 billion in a 3.3-million-sq-ft electric vehicle battery plant in Kokomo, Ind.

Other large projects for the company include the Gordie Howe Bridge construction and the redevelopment of the former Hudson’s Department store in Detroit into a new development that will include a hotel, offices, event space, meeting rooms, restaurants and residential space.

To be ready to tackle large projects, Motor City is adding to its workforce.

Motor City Electric is helping transform the former Hudson’s department store site in Detroit.
Photo courtesy of Motor City Electric

“We’ve expanded our workforce and added specialized teams to meet the growing demand in sectors like electric vehicle infrastructure and large-scale construction,” McInerney says. “It is enhancing our capacity to handle complex projects efficiently.”

In contrast, PCL Construction Enterprises, which has been building for more than 46 years in the Midwest, is focusing on smaller projects in its Minneapolis office where its special projects division provides small contractor services to clients in building, civil and industrial sectors.

“We leverage innovation and technologies that allow us to offer our clients the strength of PCL’s brand and resources scaled for efficient and cost-effective delivery of smaller-scale projects ranging from $10,000 to $15 million,” says Chris Tauscheck, special projects manager.

That bigger-is-not-necessarily-better approach toward projects is paying off. “In Minneapolis, we are on track to double our size in the next two to three years, driven by an expanding market and surge in project volume,” he says.

Chart by ENR

PCL’s work has increased in various sectors including clean manufacturing, where the firm is focused on building clean rooms for medical device production, as well as in higher education and hospitality, including several hotel remodels driven by post-pandemic changes and delayed improvements. It is also working on mission-critical data center projects through partnerships with colocation providers, he says.

Looking ahead, Tauscheck says PCL anticipates continued growth and will seek to expand its talent pool in the special projects division.

Motor City also is preparing for a continued robust market. “We anticipate continued growth,” McInerney says. “Our focus will be on leveraging our expertise to secure and execute large-scale, innovative projects.”

Helm says a much anticipated cut in interest rates by the Federal Reserve will spur growth.

“I think that when the Fed cuts rates, we will see smaller private developers start new projects and hopefully the industry will be able to keep up,” he says. “We are very optimistic about 2025 and 2026 and see a lot of opportunity.”