The boom in housing, commercial development and school construction yielded big gains for Orange County’s largest architectural firms in the past year.
The 30 largest architectural firms on this year’s Business Journal list reported $359.6 million in OC billings for the 12 months ended June 30. That’s 22% more than they billed in the prior year and marks the third consecutive year of billings growth.
The figure for one firm,Carter & Burgess Inc.,is a Business Journal estimate.
“We’re enjoying good times right now,” said Art Danielian, president of Danielian Associates Inc. in Irvine.
Danielian said so-called mixed-use projects, which combine office, housing and retail space, are driving demand, as are urban infill developments.
The demand for architectural services also spurred employment growth. Firms bolstered their number of licensed architects by 6% to 500. Overall employment, including administrative staff, increased 13% to 2,158.
Among the 29 firms that reported billings, 23 saw increases,one more than last year,while one had no change and five had decreases.
Twenty-one firms added staff, six dropped workers and two had no change.
In the race for rankings, nine of last year’s firms retained top 10 positions on the list.
KTGY Group Inc. anchored itself more firmly in the No. 1 spot on the list with a 58% increase in OC billings to $54.4 million on the strength of its residential design and mixed-use work.
KTGY Chief Executive Jim Thomas said high-rise residential building in OC has played well for the firm.
“We’ve also made a big push in mixed-use and retail in the past year,” Thomas said. “That helped a lot with some of the developments.”
No. 2 LPA Inc. posted 43% growth in billings to $39.9 million. The firm counts clients in the education, corporate and city government areas.
“We saw growth in every sector and it looks like that’s going to continue,” said President Dan Heinfeld.
McLarand, Vasquez, Emsiek & Partners Inc. retained the No. 3 spot with 31% growth to $36 million.
“We’ve continued to diversify in the past year,” said partner Rick Emsiek.
He said the firm’s institutional business has grown as school bond issues opened pocketbooks for new school construction. High-rise projects and large-scale mixed-use developments also contributed.
One company falling out of the top 10 was Newport Beach-based gkkworks, which posted a 33% decline in billings to $6.6 million. Gkkworks fell to No. 21 from No. 7 a year ago.
Chief Executive Praful Kulkami said the firm saw architectural work slow last year, but grew its construction management business.
Now things have picked up.
“We forecast a 40% increase in architecture business this year,” he said.
Thomas P. Cox Architects Inc., Irvine, moved up four spots to No. 9 on a 36% increase in billings to $10.3 million.
The biggest percentage gain in billings was at No. 26 KKE Architects Inc., Newport Beach, which posted a 400% increase through its acquisition of
Nevada-based Howard F. Thompson Associates in January. The two firms
previously teamed up on work in Las Vegas.
In all, 13 firms posted billings growth of 20% or more. Three firms, including KKE Architects, posted increases of 60% or more.
The other two: No. 17 Carrier Johnson, which grew 63%, based on revised figures for last year, and Costa Mesa-based Perkowitz + Ruth Architects Inc., which moved up to No. 20 from No. 27 last
year on the strength of a 60% gain in billings.
“Our Orange County office is the fastest-growing in the company,” said Perkowitz principal Todd Stoutenborough.
P+R moved to a 22,000-square-foot space at Plaza Tower in Costa Mesa in July. The firm works on entertainment-related projects as well as mall renovations and development such as the Tustin Marine base, hospitality and mixed-use projects.
Two newcomers joined the list this year: Tustin-based Westberg + White Inc., which debuted at No. 18 with $7.1 million in billings, and the Irvine office of International Parking Design Inc., which debuted at No. 28 with $4.8 million in billings.
Westberg + White, which also has operations in San Diego, Santa Maria and Riverside, plans to open another office in San Luis Obispo in the near future. Westberg + White works mainly with public school districts.
“We have more work than architects right now,” said managing partner Paul Westberg.
Looking ahead, most firms expressed optimism, given the development boom in OC and other parts of the Southwest.
