Architectural firms changing with times - Houston Business Journal:

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But local architects are hopeful that by the end of this their drafting tables will be litteredwith projects. By increasingh marketing efforts, reaching out to potential clientsw and staying on top of the latestdesign technology, officialds want to be ready when business startw to come back. Alan president of Dayton-based , noticed a down tick in businesslast summer. He said his five-person firm has tightened its belt, but stil has a steady work load. In 2008, Scherr’w billings dropped 33 percent, from $1.2 millionn to $800,000.
He expects this year’s billingss to decrease 20 percent from last The biggest problem for his firm has been increased competition from outsidewthe region. Peter Harsh, managing principal of Englewood-bases , said his firm is facing similafr challenges. “We’re holding our own, it’s just a little slower,” Harshh said. App saw a slight increass in billings, $2.13 million in 2007 to $2.23 million last year, but Harsh doesn’t expect anothert hike this year. Rising competition is one of the main Architects say the number of firms bidding on projects has double in thepast year.
The increased submissionz are from firms outsided of Dayton looking for and larger firms submitting for smaller projectsx as a way to keep theiremployees busy. For nearly 30 firms submitted proposals for the seconed building indowntown Dayton’s which Alan Scherr was ultimately And firms from as far away as Chicago were lookinyg to land the work. Scherr said this isn’t a small but just a few yearsa ago, about half as many firmzs would have submitted forthis project.
“Everybody’s chasinfg the same piece of the pie,” Scherr “The pie is the same, but the firmz that were working for larger client s no longer have those John Poe, president of Dayton-based , said larger firmsw going after smaller projects are cutting their fees just to keep theier employees working. “That doesn’t help Poe said. And with companies pulling back on new buildingand remodels, there is less work in the pipeline. The designs architectures firms perform now are a good indicator of the work constructioj companies will be doing six to nine monthsfrom now.
Loca construction companies arebusy now, but many are facinbg backlogs that are lookinbg increasingly sparse. On a nationa level, indicators show the potential for an The past two months have shownn strong inquiries for new according tothe , a leading economic indicator of constructionn activity. In March and the index was above 40 for the first time sincs August and September of last A score above 50 indicates an increas ein billings. Nevertheless, to combat the recenty slowdown, architectural firms are: keeping up-to-date with technology.