Billings Up 30% at Largest Firms; IT Corp. Again No. 1
Orange County environmental firms enjoyed a strong 1999, with billings up among all but a handful of the 30 largest companies and 16% higher overall, according to the Business Journal’s list.
Employment at the 30 firms on this year’s list also rose sharply: 11% from last year.
Company officials say factors such as an increased attention to environmental issues, a boom in construction of new homes, commercial buildings and public works, and expanding the scope of industries served have contributed to a hike in billing numbers.
“Our growth is directly related to the construction industry,both public and private,” said Les Card, CEO of LSA Associates Inc, No. 18 on the list. LSA saw a 28% increase in billings last year.
No. 1 on the list once again is IT Corp., whose $82 million in OC billings was up 4% from 1998. The firm, whose local operation is based in Irvine and whose corporate headquarters are in Pittsburgh, Pa., added 13 employees, a 5% gain, for a total of 263. The international unit, which is supported out of the Irvine office, has been growing. Government projects, however, are declining (the firm did not win the rebid for a Navy project), and the company is looking to increase commercial projects, said Mike Wolff, business line manager for commercial projects at the Irvine office.
“Our program is really to diversify, especially in Southern California,” Wolff said. “Our strategy has been to build back the presence IT once had in the commercial marketplace.”
Leaping into No. 2 is URS Corp., Santa Ana, whose billings more than doubled, going from $28 million to $56.4 million, thanks to its acquisition of Dames & Moore. In 1998, the firms were No. 3 and tied for No. 4, respectively, in local billings.
The URS/Dames & Moore combination created a company that by one standard,total employees,is No. 1 in the county. The San Francisco-headquartered firm’s local workforce soared 67% to 310.
Falling from No. 2 last year to No. 3 was the Santa Ana-based branch of venerable industry leader CH2M Hill. The fall occurred despite a 9% increase in local billings, to $45.5 million.
There is a sharp drop in billings and workforce size from the No. 3 to the No. 4 spot, partly because Fluor Daniel Corp., which tied for No. 4 last year, moved its environmental units to Richland, Wash. The operation in Washington has been renamed Fluor Federal Services (previously it was Fluor Daniel Federal Operation).
“(The move) allows us to better to manage our government business,” said Masoud Yousefi, director of business and finance for Fluor Federal Services.
The new No. 4 is TRC of Irvine, which had $19.5 million in local billings, up 32% from last year. The firm, whose national headquarters is in Windsor, Conn., specializes in work for private clients, unlike the three largest firms on the list, which have a more even split between public and private customers.
In the No. 5 slot is GE/Energy & Environmental of Irvine, whose billings are a Business Journal estimate because the company declined to supply its numbers.
Thanks to such public-sector clients as LAX and the Orange County Water District, No. 6 Camp Dresser & McKee Inc. had a 40% jump in billings. The firm, based locally in Irvine and nationally in Cambridge, Mass., went from $10.6 million to $14.8 million, while going from 43 to 48 employees.
No. 8 P & D; Consultants, which has its national headquarters in Orange, saw billings climb 8%, from $13 million to $14 million. The firm was the only one on the list to have a substantial hike in its number of employees without a commensurate gain in billings. P & D; reported 120 employees, up from 100 the year before.
Nos. 7 and 9 on the list posted similar solid gains. Harding Lawson Associates saw billings jump 13%, from $12.5 million to $14.1 million. Tait Environmental Management’s billings were up 9%, from $11 million to $12 million.
No. 10 Clayton Group Services had the biggest percentage fall in billings and employees among the 10 largest firms. The Santa Ana branch of the Michigan company took in $10.5 million, down from $13 million in 1998. Employees went from 60 to 45.
The top third of the list was fairly stable: all but one of the firms is within two spots of their rankings on last year’s list.
Besides Fluor Daniel and Dames & Moore, three other companies exited the list: Secor International Inc. of Huntington Beach (No. 26 last year), ENSR of Irvine (No. 30 last year) and ERM-West Inc. of Irvine. ERM-West declined to provide billing numbers for this year’s list; last year, it was No. 14.
Besides No. 4 TRC, other newcomers to the list were No. 27 Spintek Systems of Huntington Beach, No. 29 Delta Environmental Consultants of Aliso Viejo and No. 30 Golder Associates of Irvine. n
