Despite some market challenges, major companies continued to see a boom in turnover last year. The top 25 companies on ENR Southeast’s prime contractor list totaled $41.5 billion last year, up from $33.1 billion in 2022, a 25 percent increase. The 101 companies that responded to this year’s survey reported combined revenue of $62.99 billion. By comparison, the 106 companies on the 2023 list earned a total of $52.2 billion in revenue.
Graph by ENR
Manufacturing success
Walbridge, which rose to No. 2 on the list this year from No. 6 last year, has raised revenue to $2.94 billion in 2023, nearly double its 2022 total.
The company continues to bet on the manufacturing and industrial markets. A major contributor to the company’s growth in recent years has been the rise of the battery manufacturing market, and it “shows no signs of slowing down,” says Mike Bedell, general manager and vice president of Walbridge Southeast.
“With new battery technologies and the demand for better batteries, it’s brought a lot of these facilities to the Southeast,” he says.
“Finding the right talent was a challenge with overheated markets and a lack of active talent looking for new opportunities.”
—Mike Bedell, CEO and Vice President of Walbridge
Like all contractors, Walbridge has been challenged in recent years to maintain growth in the face of limited labor availability. As part of an effort to attract and retain employees, Bedell says the company is working to improve work-life balance for its staff. He says the company’s “process-centric mindset” helps create an environment where employees can be highly productive and keep personal commitments.
Bedell says that strategy paid off in 2023. “In 2022, our increased revenue forced us to add team members,” he says. “However, finding the right talent was a challenge with overheated markets and a lack of talent actively seeking new opportunities. Internally, we made sure we had a people-first mentality. We were able to show new members of The Walbridge team is focused on successfully supporting our customers [and that] we work on projects without overburdening our project team so that team members can achieve work-life integration.”
A strong talent bank may soon be needed because Walbridge expects the manufacturing industry to remain strong for years to come.
“For Walbridge, our people are our most important resource, and some of our current team members are approaching retirement age,” says Bedell. “We are focused on developing younger leaders to help them gain the experience needed to provide our legacy customers with the same service they have always received from Walbridge.”
The NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars tapped Haskell for the 18-acre Miller Electric Center, the team’s performance headquarters, completed in time for the 2023 season.
Photo courtesy of Haskell
Renew the focus on recruitment
DPR Construction’s turnover remained relatively flat in the region last year as some markets improved and others struggled. The company’s revenue softened to $2.08 billion last year from $2.14 billion in 2022, falling to No. 5 in this year’s rankings from No. 2 last year . For DPR, activity increased on larger capital projects, particularly in Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas, says Nick Ertmer, DPR’s Southeast regional leader. Data centers and advanced manufacturing facilities in particular are booming and remain healthy markets, he says.
“The continued growth of the cloud, the continued growth of AI, and the focused effort to bring manufacturing back to America are driving a lot of work and competing for a lot of the workforce,” he says.
Healthcare also remains a resilient market. Ertmer says that with many health care systems returning to “thin but positive margins,” his clients are making more investments in ambulatory care centers, specialty care centers like cancer hospitals and behavioral health centers.
DPR’s pharmaceutical and life sciences customers continue to grow, particularly in large-scale manufacturing. “It’s not the work bonanza of a few years ago, but new therapeutics and cutting-edge research keep demand high,” he adds.
Graph by ENR
Like its competitors, DPR has found it has had to get more creative with its recruiting efforts. Last year, the company launched benefits for its craft employees that, according to Ertmer, “have helped move the needle on expectations in our industry. We believe that combining efforts to diversify the way we hire with construction of psychological safety for people on project sites will help create a more sustainable workforce in the long term.”
Haskell, which ranked No. 24 this year, down from No. 20 last year, posted record sales worldwide last year, but the company’s activity remained fairly flat in the South -est during this period. In 2023, it posted revenue of $790.7 million, down from $809.9 million in 2022.
The company continues to focus on manufacturing, and John Paul Saenz, Haskell’s chief operating officer, says the water and wastewater markets, which serve both municipal and industrial customers, have seen considerable growth in the region. “Cities in the southeastern United States continue to be one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas, and aging infrastructure must keep up with demand,” he says. “While our industrial water customers are often motivated by federal regulations, we’ve seen a genuine commitment to sustainability across all manufacturing sectors.”
Saenz says the company’s sales pipeline and sales pipeline suggest Haskell will continue to see significant growth in the coming years. However, “interest rates and an election year are always a concern, but discerning customers know it’s essential [capital expenditures] today will be less expensive than tomorrow.”
