The Long Economic Winter Begins

摘要

For large architectural and engineering firms, 2008 was the last hurrah for the boom market and the beginning of recession. ENR's Top 500 Design Firms generated design revenue of $90.58 billion in 2008, up 12.36% from 2007's mark of $80.62 billion. But many of the Top 500 began to feel the recession's chill early. Of the 474 firms on this year's list that returned a survey last year, only 304 showed revenue gains over 2007, while 166 saw their revenue decline, with four firms unchanged. This compares with last year when there were 3 82 gainers and 77 firms with lower revenue.