Orange County’s architecture firms combined for a 1.6% increase in local billings, modest growth after last year’s 13% surge.
The 36 largest firms with headquarters or significant operations in the county generated $417 million in billings through their local offices for the 12 months through June. That compared with $413.5 million a year earlier, according to this week’s Business Journal list, which is ranked by billings.
Employee counts at the firms remained relatively flat, dropping less than 1% to 2,249 workers. The number of licensed architects went up 11% to about 450.
Eleven firms said their local billings dropped, 16 reported increases, and one firm—Costa Mesa-based Newman Garrison + Partners Inc.—secured a triple-digit gain. The Business Journal estimated figures for the 9 remaining companies.
Not much changed at the top of the list.
• Irvine-based LPA Inc. kept the No. 1 spot, even with a 5% decline in OC billings to $44 million. The firm reported having 39 licensed architects on its staff—three fewer than a year earlier. Its total number of local employees dropped 5.5% to 156 as of August.
LPA provides design and planning services to the education, civic and corporate sectors. Its projects over the past year include upgrades to Storm and Nasatir Halls at San Diego State University that were completed in March.
The firm also expanded east in June by acquiring OCO Architects in San Antonio, landing its first office outside of California.
• MVE Group in Irvine retained the No. 2 spot with $39.8 million in local billings, a 10.3% decline. The firm reduced its headcount by four to 100. About a quarter of its employees—26—are now licensed architects, an 18.2% increase over last year. Its repeat clients include Cupertino-based Sobrato Organization and the Irvine Company in Newport Beach. The firm celebrated its 40th anniversary this year—a “momentous occasion,” as President, Partner and Chief Operating Officer Rick Emsiek put it.
“Several of us have been here a number of those years,” he said. “But we are more interested in the next 40 years than we are in the last 40, and why I say that is because we have every intention for the company to not just survive but to prosper in the future.
“And how does that happen? The basic philosophical tenets of our firm are to constantly evolve and constantly respond and hopefully foresee markets, opportunities and challenges. We are not the kind of firm that says, ‘This is what we do.’ We’d rather ask the question, ‘Why not?’ instead of ‘Why?’ ”
• Ware Malcomb in Irvine reported a 10.3% uptick in billings to $31.3 million. The firm, which placed No. 5, also increased its number of licensed architects from nine to 13, a 44.4% jump. It hired 18 workers during the past year, boosting its employee count to 114.
• Architects Orange kept its rank as the third largest architecture firm in the county. It had $37.4 million in local billings during the year, a 6.7% increase from a year ago. Its staff rose 15.6% to 200, of whom 45 are licensed architects.
• TCA Architects Inc. in Irvine moved up four spots to No. 6 as its local billings grew 36.4% to $21.5 million. The company has 40 licensed architects and a total of 65 staff members in its OC office. It also operates out of Los Angeles and Oakland.
• Jeffrey Rome & Associates Inc. in Irvine moved up three spots to No. 9, boosted by a 79.8% increase in local billings to $18 million, (see related story, page 19). The company, which employs 65, moved four months ago from Newport Beach to 131 Innovation Drive.
The list includes two new names:
• Humphreys & Partners Architects LP in Newport Beach, which debuted at No. 23 with $4.7 million in local billings. That was up 17.5% from last year. The Dallas-based company employs 26 in Orange County, of whom 12 are licensed architects.
• J.R. Miller & Associates Inc. placed No. 31 with $3.4 million in billings, a 7.1% increase from a year earlier. The firm also boosted its number of licensed architects from four to six. A total of 36 work out of its office in Brea.
