January 1, 2011

2011 Giants: The Mix Masters


It’s hard to tell what brings on more fatigue, the economy or the media reports on it. With so much static, can we tell if we’re better off than before? Or worse? In a word: Yes. The 2010 trends for the firms on

Interior Design

‘s top 100 Giants list were a classic mixed bag. At the bottom of that bag, however, there could be a prize. Read on.

Design fees remained flat at $2.2 billion, but total square footage exploded 22 percent, to 677 million. This cuts to the heart of the biggest challenge the Giants face: convincing clients to pay an appropriate price for work. Everyone loves a bargain, and tight times give more confidence to those with dollars to spend. As a result, the 2011 fee forecast inched down to $2.1 billion—although it’s worth noting that the Giants beat their previous forecast by $190 million.

Fees naturally affect employment. The good news: Interior design staff numbers rose 7 percent, and total employees popped 65 percent, from 79,000 to 130,000. The bad: Salaries fell an average of 5 percent. Those extra hires could also explain why the average designer generated $216,000 last year, off almost 6 percent. The hiring trend s

Giants 2011

hould continue, though, as the Giants expect to take on a median of five additional designers in 2011. HBA/Hirsch Bedner Associates, the number six firm, plans to hire 100 design staffers, due to foreign expansion.

Therein lies another theme: Go where the work is. Revenue from outside the U.S. has more than doubled since 2005. Back then, firms made less than 10 percent of their cash overseas. It’s now over 21 percent, thanks mostly to emerging markets continuing to emerge. China is by far the country with the most predicted growth—no real surprise there—and 73 of the Giants booked work in Asia and the Pacific Rim last year. Although the number doing business in the Middle East dropped 15 percent, it remains a good source of business for nearly half the Giants. Making a comeback of sorts could be the United Arab Emirates, 47 of the Giants say.

Growth may also come closer to home. The Giants see the most potential in the U.S. South and Northeast, but don’t overlook Canada. Compared to the previous year, 10 percent more firms did work there.

Now that we know where the work is, what categories does it fall into? Offices, up 7 percent, and hospitality, up 11, remain rainmakers, while health care and assisted living dropped 21 percent. But the real story is residential work, which rose a whopping 47 percent. The ratio of new construction to renovation remained unchanged at 57-to-43, but urban residences rose 9 percent, and suburban projects jumped—wait for it—63 percent. Though we shouldn’t declare victory over the housing crisis yet, some folks have clearly found a little extra cash. If there can be such a thing as a permanent trend, it has to be sustainability. The number of firms that said yes, when asked if “green” is one of their disciplines, hit 92. Nearly 40 cents of every dollar earned comes from sustainable design. Square footage has risen 46 percent in two years, and 85 of the Giants report that project volume either grew or stayed the same. To paraphrase an overused movie line, green is good.

A mixed bag indeed. And the prize at the bottom looks like…a coin. Last January, coming off the worst of these particular times, 71 of the Giants reported a decline in fees. Now “only” 49 do. That’s a legit comeback, and there’s still more to savor if you break down the growth. For the 2010 Giants reporting the greatest growth in fees, that was 7 to 33 percent. This time? Between 30 and 256 percent. Saving the best for last, 93 of the Giants believe that 2011 will be better for their businesses.

So, is this coin made of copper or gold? We can’t tell yet. But a coin it is.


2011 Rank


Firm, Headquarters,


Website


ID Fees


$ Value Installed


Sq Ft Installed


ID Staff


2010 Rank

1

Gensler

San Francisco, CA


gensler.com
$323.000

NR

58.00

820

1

2

HOK

St. Louis, MO


hok.com
$96.000

$3,100.00

36.00

291

3

3

Perkins+Will

Chicago, IL


perkinswill.com
$94.722

$2,059.00

29.40

260

2

4

Leo A Daly

Omaha, NE


leoadaly.com
$77.280

NR

NR

90

8

5

Jacobs

Pasadena, CA


jacobs.com
$71.937

$1,305.00

14.50

300

5

6

HBA/Hirsch Bedner Associates

Santa Monica, CA


HBA.com
$69.001

$4,071.05

38.77

475

9

7

Cannon Design

Chicago, IL


cannondesign.com
$60.100

NR

29.30

207

6

8

Stantec Architecture

Winnipeg, Canada


stantec.com
$58.775

$4,604.01

47.00

165

9

NELSON

Philadelphia, PA


nelsononline.com
$52.000

$1,310.00

31.80

152

4

10

IA Interior Architects

San Francisco, CA


interiorarchitects.com
$43.883

$746.00

18.70

218

14

11

Wilson Associates

Dallas, TX


wilsonassoc.com
$42.000

$3,000.00

NR

286

10

12

SmithGroup

Detroit, MI


smithgroup.com
$40.964

NR

NR

160

15

13

NBBJ

Seattle, WA


nbbj.com
$40.200

NR

NR

218

18

14

Callison

Seattle, WA


callison.com
$40.000

NR

NR

150

7

15

KlingStubbins

Philadelphia, PA


klingstubbins.com
$38.000

$1,500.00

15.00

129

17

16

Perkins Eastman

New York, NY


perkinseastman.com
$37.400

$771.13

4.41

172

12

17

PageSoutherlandPage

Houston, TX


pspaec.com
$34.020

NR

NR

118

13

18

HDR Architecture

Omaha, NE


hdrarchitecture.com
$33.000

$10,000.00

32.00

282

11

19

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

New York, NY


SOM.com
$32.652

$1,017.23

4.33

115

16

20

HGA Architects and Engineers

Minneapolis, MN


hga.com
$30.680

NR

NR

37

20

21

AECOM

Los Angeles, CA


aecom.com
$27.688

$270.00

6.75

125

22

M Moser Associates

Quarry Bay, Hong Kong


mmoser.com
$27.194

$152.69

4.43

397

23

23

DLR Group

Omaha, NE


dlrgroup.com
$26.680

$2,000.00

7.70

33

24

EwingCole

Philadelphia, PA


ewingcole.com
$24.720

$500.00

3.00

130

27

25

Flad Architects

Madison, WI


flad.com
$23.175

$990.60

8.26

82

19

26

RTKL Associates

Baltimore, MD


RTKL.com
$22.809

NR

NR

76

21

27

Bilkey Llinas Design Associates

Palm Beach Gardens, FL


bilkeyllinas.com
$22.748

NR

NR

122

25

28

TPG Architecture

New York, NY


tpgarchitecture.com

$22.630

NR

NR

114

34

29

HLW

New York, NY


hlw.com
$22.400

$700.00

NR

67

22

30

STUDIOS architecture

Washington, DC


studiosarchitecture.com
$22.000

$1,178.50

6.85

155

26

31

Ted Moudis Associates

New York, NY


tedmoudis.com
$20.500

$400.00

7.55

75

32

32

Space Matrix

Singapore


spacematrix.com
$20.143

$227.50

5.00

306

33

Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects

Portland, OR


zgf.com
$20.000

$900.00

4.52

65

30

34

Rockwell Group

New York, NY


rockwellgroup.com
$19.502

NR

NR

94

24

35

Peter Marino Architect

New York, NY


petermarinoarchitect.com
$18.600

$350.00

3.50

77

29

36

Vocon

Cleveland, OH


vocon.com
$16.380

$265.00

2.94

61

43

37

Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott

Boston, MA


shepleybulfinch.com
$14.797

$179.50

0.89

10

39

38

Little

Charlotte, NC


littleonline.com
$14.400

$225.00

6.15

50

33

39

Daroff Design Inc + DDI Architects

Philadelphia, PA


daroffdesign.com
$14.288

$180.00

5.16

42

35

40

FRCH Design Worldwide

Cincinnati, OH


frch.com
$14.250

NR

NR

95

40

41

VOA Associates

Chicago, IL


voa.com
$14.000

NR

NR

91

31

42

Roger Ferris + Partners

Westport, CT


ferrisarch.com
$13.500

$430.00

1.10

34

36

43

DBI Architects

Washington, DC


dbia.com
$13.200

$200.00

3.00

45

47

44

Marc-Michaels Interior Design

Winter Park, FL


marc-michaels.com
$12.300

$15.00

NR

29

41

45

WHR Architects

Houston, TX


whrarchitects.com
$11.453

$506.34

2.37

19

45

46

ASD

Atlanta, GA


asdnet.com
$11.440

NR

NR

76

42

47

RMW architecture & interiors

San Francisco,  CA


rmw.com
$10.976

$318.25

2.20

49

44

48

Harley Ellis Devereaux

Southfield, MI


hedev.com
$10.860

$158.00

1.98

91

49

49

DiLeonardo International

Warwick, RI


DiLeonardo.com
$10.600

NR

NR

81

47

50

CBT

Boston, MA


cbtarchitects.com
$10.350

$370.00

3.70

30

63

51

Mancini-Duffy

New York, NY


manciniduffy.com
$10.100

$250.00

2.00

63

38

52

Steelman Partners

Las Vegas, NV


steelmanpartners.com
$10.000

$10.80

0.23

60

53

HKS

Dallas, TX


hksinc.com
$9.500

NR

20.00

58

37

54

Shlemmer Algaze Associates Interiors & Architecture

Culver City, CA


saaia.com
$9.400

$375.00

2.00

61

55

Francis Cauffman

Philadelphia, PA


franciscauffman.com
$8.800

$230.00

5.90

52

48

56

Robert A.M. Stern Architects

New York, NY


ramsa.com
$8.456

$84.00

1.73

22

46

57

HMC Architects

Los Angeles, CA


hmcarchitects.com
$8.300

NR

7.10

21

128

58

Lawrence Group

St. Louis, MO


thelawrencegroup.com
$8.219

$187.00

2.47

61

52

59

The H. Chambers Company

Baltimore, MD


chambersusa.com
$8.100

$75.00

0.70

13

61

60

Corgan Associates

Dallas, TX


corgan.com
$8.000

NR

10.00

45

130

61

OTJ Architects

Washington, DC


otj.com
$7.916

$182.00

4.00

46

84

62

Staffelbach

Dallas, TX


staffelbach.com
$7.900

$160.00

0.97

52

57

63

tvsdesign

Atlanta, GA


tvsdesign.com
$7.770

$75.00

1.18

44

81

64

Ware Malcomb

Irvine, CA


waremalcomb.com
$7.600

$285.00

3.80

20

64

65

POLLACK architecture

San Francisco, CA


PollackArch.com
$7.300

$91.00

1.30

41

97

66

Swanke Hayden Connell Architects

New York, NY


shca.com
$7.300

NR

2.10

50

50

67

JRS Architect

Mineola, NY


jrsarchitect.com
$7.200

$65.00

0.78

34

53

68

Planning Design Research Corporation

Houston, TX


pdrcorp.com
$7.200

$12.00

0.85

28

70

69

BraytonHughes Design Studios

San Francisco, CA


bhdstudios.com
$7.200

NR

NR

40

101

70

Milo Kleinberg Design Associates

New York, NY


mkda.com
$7.150

NR

0.90

25

78

71

Kasian

Vancouver, Canada


kasian.com
$7.130

$55.00

12.00

46

69

72

Spector Group

New York, NY


spectorgroup.com
$7.100

$265.00

3.32

33

76

73

Huntsman Architectural Group

San Francisco, CA


huntsmanag.com
$7.091

$425.00

1.10

62

75

74

LS3P Associates

Charleston, SC


ls3p.com
$7.000

$417.00

8.90

36

58

75

JPC Architects

Bellevue, WA


jpcarchitects.com
$7.000

$122.10

1.85

34

88

76

Gettys

Chicago, IL


gettys.com
$7.000

$75.00

NR

45

59

77

Anderson Mikos Architects

Oakbrook Terrace, IL


andersonmikos.com
$6.875

$59.60

1.27

16

56

78

Gresham, Smith and Partners

Nashville, TN


gspnet.com
$6.850

$1,330.00

7.60

38

55

79

Baskervill

Richmond, VA


baskervill.com
$6.850

$625.00

6.00

17

54

80

JGA

Southfield, MI


jga.com
$6.800

$62.00

0.49

30

73

81

KZF Design

Cincinnati, OH


kzf.com
$6.741

$492.33

7.13

28

71

82

VeenendaalCave

Atlanta, GA


vcave.com
$6.663

$17.45

4.60

56

91

83

The Switzer Group

New York, NY


theswitzergroup.com
$6.600

$200.00

2.00

30

62

84

KNA Design

Los Angeles, CA


knadesign.com
$6.582

$322.50

2.00

24

82

85

BBG-BBGM

New York, NY


bbg-bbgm.com
$6.500

NR

NR

52

74

86

TSC Design Associates

New York, NY


tscdesign.com
$6.300

$80.00

3.00

46

72

87

Aedifica

Montreal, Canada


aedifica.com
$6.214

NR

NR

107

88

Ronald Schmidt & Associates

Englewood, NJ


RSAaia.com
$6.200

$19.00

3.10

32

86

89

Design Duncan Miller Ullmann

Dallas, TX


DesignDMU.com
$6.120

$250.00

NR

60

104

90

Chute Gerdeman Retail

Columbus, OH


chutegerdeman.com
$6.100

NR

0.60

35

102

91

OPX

Washington, DC


opxglobal.com
$6.000

NR

1.50

34

79

92

Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates

Atlanta, GA


srssa.com
$5.970

NR

NR

25

51

93

Wolcott Architecture Interiors

Culver City, CA


wolcottai.com
$5.900

$95.00

2.00

33

90

94

INTERPRISE

Addison, TX


InterpriseDesign.com
$5.900

$50.00

3.70

28

113

95

RNL

Denver, CO


rnldesign.com
$5.800

$160.50

3.00

25

142

96

Davis, Carter, Scott

McLean, VA


dcsdesign.com
$5.790

NR

NR

18

117

97

Gary Lee Partners

Chicago, IL


garyleepartners.com
$5.727

$81.00

1.00

16

96

98

FXFOWLE Architects

New York, NY


fxfowle.com
$5.600

$115.00

0.60

16

87

99

Partners by DESIGN

Chicago, IL


pbdinc.com
$5.500

$72.16

1.13

35

100

Ziegler Cooper Architects

Houston, TX


zieglercooper.com
$5.500

NR

3.00

35

65

ID Fee, Dollar Value and Square Footage numbers are in millions.

NR – not reported


Top 10 in Office Design


Firm


ID Fee


Rank

Gensler

$161,500,000

1

NELSON

$50,440,000

9

HOK

$47,040,000

2

Perkins+Will

$37,888,800

3

IA Interior Architects

$35,984,060

10

KlingStubbins

$32,300,000

15

M Moser Associates

$27,194,000

22

Stantec Architecture

$19,395,602

8

TPG Architecture

$19,235,184

28

Ted Moudis Associates

$18,450,000

31


Top 10 in Hospitality Design


Firm


ID Fee


Rank

HBA/Hirsch Bedner Associates

$69,000,759

6

Wilson Associates

$41,580,000

11

Gensler

$35,530,000

1

Bilkey Llinas Design Associates

$22,748,000

27

Leo A Daly

$20,865,600

4

Rockwell Group

$16,576,700

34

Daroff Design Inc + DDI Architects

$13,287,840

39

DiLeonardo International

$9,858,000

49

Steelman Partners

$9,000,000

52

Callison

$8,000,000

14


Top 10 in Retail Design


Firm


ID Fee


Rank

Gensler

$32,300,000

1

Jacobs

$20,005,590

5

Callison

$16,000,000

14

Peter Marino Architect

$11,718,000

35

FRCH Design Worldwide

$7,125,000

40

JGA

$6,800,000

80

Stantec

$5,289,710

8

Aedifica

$4,691,381

87

Vocon

$4,586,400

36

Chute Gerdeman Retail

$4,270,000

90


Top 10 in Government Design


Firm


ID Fee


Rank

Gensler

$48,450,000

1

Jacobs

$35,989,919

5

Leo A Daly

$19,320,000

4

HOK

$12,480,000

2

AECOM

$12,459,702

21

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

$9,795,450

19

HGA Architects and Engineers

$6,136,000

20

NBBJ

$6,030,000

13

Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects

$6,000,000

33

Stantec Architecture

$5,877,455

8


Top 10 in Healthcare/Assisted Living Design


Firm


ID Fee


Rank

Perkins+Will

$37,888,800

3

Cannon Design

$31,853,000

7

HDR Architecture

$23,100,000

18

Perkins Eastman

$21,692,000

16

PageSoutherlandPage

$18,711,000

17

Stantec Architecture

$18,220,111

8

Leo A Daly

$17,774,400

4

NBBJ

$16,080,000

13

SmithGroup

$14,337,400

12

HOK

$13,440,000

2


Top 10 in Educational Design


Firm


ID Fee


Rank

Gensler

$22,610,000

1

Cannon Design

$19,232,000

7

DLR Group

$14,674,000

23

Perkins+Will

$9,472,200

3

HOK

$8,640,000

2

Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott

$7,102,560

37

Stantec Architecture

$7,052,946

8

Leo A Daly

$6,955,200

4

IA Interior Architects

$6,582,450

10

SmithGroup

$6,554,240

12


Top 10 in Residential Design


Firm


ID Fee


Rank

Marc-Michaels Interior Design

$12,300,000

44

Peter Marino Architect

$6,324,000

35

Robert A.M. Stern Architects

$4,735,578

56

CBT

$2,587,500

50

Roger Ferris + Partners

$2,025,000

42

Callison

$2,000,000

14

Gary Lee Partners

$1,889,871

97

Perkins Eastman

$1,870,000

16

Rockwell Group

$1,755,180

34

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

$1,632,575

19


Top 10 in Cultural Design


Firm


ID Fee


Rank

Gensler

$6,460,000

1

Perkins+Will

$4,736,100

3

HGA Architects and Engineers

$3,068,000

20

EwingCole

$2,966,400

24

STUDIOS architecture

$2,200,000

30

SmithGroup

$1,638,560

12

Leo A Daly

$1,545,600

4

Roger Ferris + Partners

$1,350,000

42

FRCH Design Worldwide

$1,140,000

40

HDR Architecture

$990,000

18


Top 5 in Transportation Design


Firm


Id Fee


Rank

Gensler

$12,920,000

1

HOK

$8,640,000

2

Leo A Daly

$6,955,200

4

Jacobs

$3,467,348

5

Corgan Associates

$3,131,200

60


Top 10 Fastest Growing Firms (By Percent Change)


Firm


2010 ID Fee


2010 ID Fee


% Change


Rank

DLR Group

$26,680,000

$7,500,000

256%

23

HMC Architects

$8,300,000

$3,234,769

157%

57

Corgan Associates

$8,000,000

$3,230,000

148%

60

RNL

$5,800,000

$2,992,000

94%

95

Davis, Carter, Scott

$5,790,000

$3,948,000

47%

96

BraytonHughes Design Studios

$7,200,000

$5,115,000

41%

69

INTERPRISE

$5,900,000

$4,214,000

40%

94

POLLACK architecture

$7,300,000

$5,250,000

39%

65

Leo A Daly

$77,280,000

$56,000,000

38%

4

TPG Architecture

$22,629,628

$17,424,304

30%

28


Top 10 Firms with Most International Projects


Firm


% of International Projects


2011 Rank

DiLeonardo International

98%

49

Bilkey Llinas Design Associates

97%

27

HBA/Hirsch Bedner Associates

95%

6

M Moser Associates

93%

22

Wilson Associates

88%

11

KNA Design

85%

84

Space Matrix

80%

32

Steelman Partners

80%

52

Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates

76%

92

Design Duncan Miller Ullmann

68%

89


Firms new to the 2011 Top 100 Ranking


Firm


Rank

Stantec Architecture

8

AECOM

21

DLR Group

23

Space Matrix

32

Steelman Partners

52

Shlemmer Algaze Associates

54

HMC Architects

57

Corgan Associates

60

BraytonHughes Design Studios

69

Aedifica

87

Design Duncan Miller Ullmann

89

Chute Gerdeman Retail

90

INTERPRISE

94

RNL

95

Davis, Carter, Scott

96

Partners by DESIGN

99


Three most admired interior design firms (voted by 2011 Top 100 Giants)

1.       Gensler

2.       HOK

3.       Yabu Pushelberg

Median Annual Salaries

Principals/Partners

$140,000

Project Managers

$97,000

Designers

$64,662

Other ID Staff

$50,000

Median Hourly Rates

Principals/Partners

$200

Project Managers

$157

Designers

$115

Other ID Staff

$93


% of Fees by Project Types



2010 Actual Fees


% of Fees

Office

$859,563,143

39.0%

Hospitality

$374,681,370

17.0%

Healthcare/Assisted Living

$284,317,040

12.9%

Government

$167,504,613

7.6%

Educational

$160,892,588

7.3%

Retail

$154,280,564

7.0%

Residential

$88,160,322

4.0%

Cultural

$28,652,105

1.3%

Transportation

$19,836,073

0.9%

Other

$66,120,242

3.0%

Total:


$2,204,008,060



% of Fees by Project Types


2011 Forecasted Fees


% of Fees

Office

$853,697,434

39.9%

Hospitality

$380,847,477

17.8%

Healthcare/Assisted Living

$276,007,441

12.9%

Government

$149,771,480

7.0%

Educational

$145,492,294

6.8%

Retail

$121,956,776

5.7%

Residential

$100,560,851

4.7%

Cultural

$32,093,888

1.5%

Transportation

$17,116,741

0.8%

Other

$62,048,184

2.9%

Total:


$2,139,592,566


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