In 2020, construction industry firms across the Southeast experienced a variety of impacts from the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As reported via ENR Southeast’s 2021 Top Design Firms and Top Contractors rankings published earlier this year, some of those firms were nevertheless able to achieve considerable growth during 2020, while others saw declines.

Arguably, specialty contractors experienced the challenges of 2020 more intensely than any other construction industry group, as they dealt most directly with workforce and supply-chain issues. And, indeed, some of those issues challenged many Southeast specialty firms.

Jacksonville, Fla.-based Miller Electric Co., however, was able to rise above the challenges of 2020, recording Southeast revenue of $318 million, up from the $308 million that the firm reported in 2019. Those figures were just part of the reasons that ENR editors have voted to name Miller Electric Co. as the 2021 Southeast Specialty Contractor of the Year.

Via this year’s Southeast Top Specialty Contractors survey that it submitted, Miller Electric boasted a .49 EMR rate, and reported revenue from its home state of Florida, as well as from Alabama, the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee. Also of note was the firm’s biggest project start of 2020, which was a $149-million office project for FIS in Jacksonville, where Miller holds a $10.8-million contract.

Miller Electric also noted via this year’s Top Specialty Contractors survey that it made a $1-million donation to the United Way in 2020 with the hopes of helping to address social injustice. Stated the firm’s survey submission: “We made a commitment in 2020 that our company would not stand idly by as we watched our nation and communities suffer from social injustice. With a $1 million donation to the United Way, we are looking to take a committed, long-term approach for significant change. Community is one of our core values, and reinvesting in the communities where we work is part of our mission.”

We’ll have more information and details about the firm’s achievements during 2020—and how they're moving forward in 2021—in ENR Southeast’s Sept. 6 print edition. Congratulations to Miller Electric Co.!