giants 127
mark l. baughman
The second 100 Interior Design Giantsgrossed $273,298,310 in 2009. That’s a plunge of 40 percent, more than twice the drop experienced by the top 100 Giants and 39 percent worse than was forecast. Dollar figures have not been this low since 2003. Now the good news. By growing between 2.8 and a whopping 376 percent, 13 firms bucked this trend; that top number was followed by 207 percent, 179 percent, and 91 percent. Losses re ported by others in the group never even approached those magnitudes. And the cream of the top 100 Giants crop reported nowhere near such gains, as published in January. The economy may have forced clientsof the second 100 Giants to postpone or abandon 38,078,650 square feet of interior design work, worth $155,433,594, but what the financial upheaval took away with one hand the other hand generously returned: 65,279,531 square feet, worth $188,648,832. In addition, in a mini survey conducted several months after the main Giants study, a sizable number of firms claimed that projects postponed last year are now back in play. A significant segment of those
surveyed reported impressive growth in government work, education, and health care or assisted living. The government sector, while not huge, was especially robust. Fully half of the second 100 Giants operating in that area experienced improvement, while another 42 percent reported no impact from an otherwise diffi cult economy. More than a third of those working in education saw growth in that sector, and 30 per cent saw no change. The greatest percentage boost was in transpor tation, but only a few firms culti vated that particular field. A variety of strategies helped the second 100 Giants keep doors open. A few firms sacrificed profit in order to land jobs, while other firms kept a tighter rein on operat ing expenses. However, the largest number, 43 firms, intensified mar keting and explored techniques not previously tried. The next most pop ular approach involved diversifica tion in services offered, project types handled, and geographical locations covered. For one firm, an unprece dented investment in education and training paid off many times over, thanks to just one new proj ect, a research center. More than
The Washington office of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America is by SKB Architecture and Design.
stayin’ alive 20 firms managed to avoid layoffs; 36 were actually able to hire. Discussing relationships with vendors, the top 100 Giants had expressed a wish to speed things up—on the understanding that time is money. The second 100 Giantsseem to prefer the notion that knowledge is power. They’ve been requesting more product in formation, notably life-cycle and return-on-investment data, even factory tours. The number of the second 100 Giants with mission statements that cite environmental responsi bility shot up 40 percent to a total of 70, just six shy of the top 100
Giants.127 And the proportion of LEEDaccredited staff at firms in the sec ond 100 rose from 20 to 29 percent, about double what it was just two years ago. The greatest opportunities fore seen by the second 100 Giants lie in overseas work, followed by ren ovations, among them the reposi tioning and reorganizing of client properties. Our favorite comment came from the survey participant who reported that opportunities are “too many to mention.” With that attitude, eventual recovery seems assured. —Judith Davidsen
giants200 work Installed
Firm (headquarters | web site) Braytonhughes Design Studios (san francisco | bhdstudios.com) Chute Gerdeman Retail (columbus, ohio | chutegerdeman.com) Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo (irvine, california | watg.com) Design Duncan Miller Ullmann (dallas | designdmu.com) Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects (new york | gwathmey-siegel.com) Cooper Carry (atlanta | coopercarry.com) Tricarico Architecture and Design (wayne, new jersey | tricarico.com) Karlsberger (columbus, ohio | karlsberger.com) Ismael Leyva Architects (new york | ilarch.com) DES Architects + Engineers (redwood city, california | des-ae.com) Carrier Johnson + Culture (san diego | carrierjohnson.com) DMR Architects (hasbrouck heights, new jersey | dmrarchitects.com) Interprise (addison, texas | interprisedesign.com) Symmes Maini & McKee Associates (cambridge, massachusetts | smma.com) J Brice Design International (boston | jbricedesign.com) Joi-Design (hamburg, germany | joi-design.com) Davis, Carter, Scott (mclean, virginia | dcsdesign.com) Looney & Associates (dallas | looney-associates.com) H. Hendy Associates (newport beach, california | hhendy.com) Slifer Designs (edwards, colorado | sliferdesigns.com) SFA Design (santa barbara, california | sfadesign.com) TRO Jung/Brannen (boston | trojungbrannen.com) MSA Planning and Design Consultants (san francisco | msasf.com) Whitney (oak brook, illinois | whitneydesign.com) Style Interior Design (irvine, california | style-interiors.com) Legat Architects (chicago | legat.com) SKB Architecture and Design (washington | skbarch.com) HMC Architects (los angeles | hmcarchitects.com) Epstein (chicago | epsteinglobal.com) Corgan Associates (dallas | corgan.com) Morris Architects (houston | morrisarchitects.com) AAI Design (san jose, california | aaidesign.com) HFS Concepts 4 (long beach, california | hfsc4.com) Entos Design (dallas | entosdesign.com) Kay Lang + Associates (los angeles | kaylangassocs.com) Hendrick (atlanta | hendrickinc.com) Goettsch Partners (chicago | gpchicago.com) Westar Architects (las vegas | wagnarchitects.com) J. Banks Design Group (hilton head island, south carolina | jbanksdesign.com) ABA Design Studio (las vegas | abalv.com) Burkettdesign (denver | burkettdesign.com) RNL (denver | rnldesign.com) Core (washington | coredc.com) Carson Design Associates (carmel, indiana | carsondesign.com) Reel Grobman & Associates (san jose, california | reelgrobman.com)
design Fees
Value
Sq. Ft.
(millions)
(millions)
(millions)
$5.115 $5.000 $5.000 $4.800 $4.750 $4.600 $4.500 $4.500 $4.500 $4.500 $4.238 $4.229 $4.214 $4.180 $4.160 $4.100 $3.948 $3.900 $3.900 $3.766 $3.704 $3.700 $3.639 $3.604 $3.593 $3.400 $3.240 $3.235 $3.230 $3.230 $3.205 $3.200 $3.200 $3.200 $3.200 $3.150 $3.150 $3.120 $3.118 $3.100 $3.097 $2.992 $2.978 $2.970 $2.950
NR NR NR $250.00 $250.00 $57.50 $60.00 $4.71 NR NR $270.90 $94.28 $50.00 $55.00 $200.00 $41.00 NR $505.00 $40.00 $9.95 $85.00 $160.00 $4.88 $52.00 $42.50 $48.12 $42.00 NR $525.00 $200.00 $29.50 $200.00 $50.00 NR NR $78.75 $77.14 $45.00 $11.50 $200.00 $117.72 NR NR $5.00 $75.00
NR 0.60 NR 2.30 0.90 0.95 1.07 2.94 1.55 NR 3.01 0.72 2.90 1.93 2.32 NR NR 4.50 1.80 NR 0.35 0.64 1.23 2.20 2.20 2.50 0.60 NR 15.00 4.00 0.95 3.00 NR 1.20 NR 3.94 0.42 0.55 0.90 NR 1.96 NR NR 1.20 1.20
design Staff 31 32 46 57 25 17 43 4 NR 10 14 15 29 19 20 28 17 21 24 18 27 27 16 24 8 4 16 14 22 42 20 23 26 15 16 23 12 13 20 15 25 26 14 28 22
Rank 2009 75 128 69 81 94 62 91 59 -145 116 -129 167 121 131 141 106 127 79 125 80 -135 143 144 164 -102 --136 111 -152 123 153 146 171 156 163 -158 161 165
Rees Associates is in Atlanta.
152
john clemmer
Rank 2010 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145
giants200 Rank 2010 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 104
Firm (headquarters | web site) Dyer Brown & Associates (boston | dyerbrown.com) Lauckgroup (dallas | lauckgroup.com) Design Development (agoura hills, california | designdevelopment-group.com) Biber Partnership (summit, new jersey | tbpaia.com) Stephen B. Jacobs Group/Andi Pepper Interior Design (new york | sbjgroup.com) Heitz Parsons Sadek (west palm beach, florida | heitz-parsons-sadek.com) Rees Associates (oklahoma city | rees.com) Rowland Design (indianapolis | rowlanddesign.com) Orsini Design Associates (new york | orsinidesignassociates.com) EDG (san rafael, california | edgdesign.com) RD Jones & Associates (baltimore | rdjones.com) Mojo Stumer Associates (greenvale, new york | mojostumer.com) RLF (winter park, florida | rlfae.com) Simeone Deary Design Group (chicago | simeonedeary.com) Phillips Architecture (raleigh, north carolina | phillipsarch.com) Hopping Kovach Grinnell (vancouver, british columbia | hkgdesign.com) Cuningham Group Architecture (minneapolis | cuningham.com) Maregatti Interiors (indianapolis | maregattiinteriors.com) Partridge Architects (philadelphia | partridgearch.com) Cheryl Rowley Design (los angeles | cherylrowleydesign.com) Oz Architecture (boulder, colorado | ozarch.com) Design Directions International (marietta, georgia | ddi.cc) Graham Downes Architecture (san diego | grahamdownes.com) Idea/Span (atlanta | idea-span.com) DAS Architects (philadelphia | dasarchitects.com) LB Architects (new york | lbarch.com) IEI Group (philadelphia | ieigroup.com) Hatch Design Group (costa mesa, california | hatchdesign.com) Klawiter and Associates (los angeles | klawiter.com) Meyer Design (ardmore, pennsylvania | meyerdesigninc.com) Indidesign (los angeles | indidesign.com) Inarch (new york | inarch.net) Hixson (cincinnati | hixson-inc.com) Puccini Group (san francisco | puccinigroup.com) Spacesmith (new york | spacesmith.net) Shea (minneapolis | shealink.com) Montgomery Roth (houston | montgomeryroth.com) Floss Barber (philadelphia | flossbarber.com) RDH & Associates (addison, texas | rdhassociates.net) GBD Architects (portland, oregon | gbdarchitects.com) FME Architecture + Design (san francisco | fme-arch.com) Omniplan (dallas | omniplan.com) DiGuiseppe Architect (new york | diguiseppe.com) Ricca Newmark Design (greenwood village, colorado | riccanewmark.com) Fourth Dimension Designs (dallas | 4thdd.com) GH2 Architects (tulsa, oklahoma | gh2.com) Marvin Stein & Associates (seattle | marvinstein.com) Judd Brown Designs (pawtucket, rhode island | jbd.cc) Gray Design Group (st. louis | graydesigngroup.com) Interform Commercial Interiors (san ramon, california | interform.com) Adache Group Architects (fort lauderdale, florida | adache.com) Faulkner Design Group (dallas | faulknerdesign.com) RSA (los angeles | rsala.com) SOSH Architects (atlantic city | sosharch.com) Thomas Hamilton & Associates (richmond, virginia | thomashamiltonassociates.com)
interiordesign.net july.10
work Installed
design Fees
Value
Sq. Ft.
(millions)
(millions)
(millions)
$34.00 $48.00 $40.00 $60.00 $250.00 $38.00 $7.43 NR $25.00 $47.00 NR $35.00 $377.20 $1.20 $5.00 $35.00 NR $110.00 $12.00 NR NR $11.25 $35.00 $50.00 $31.05 $75.00 $50.00 $48.80 $34.20 NR $400.00 $21.00 NR $27.00 $25.00 $22.00 NR $85.00 NR $18.00 $1.18 NR $25.00 $30.00 $13.00 NR $40.00 $31.00 $108.67 $51.75 $32.00 $6.30 $65.05 $20.00 $26.27
1.28 0.70 0.50 1.10 0.43 1.11 0.73 NR NR 0.31 NR 0.20 4.20 0.03 1.50 0.84 0.65 5.20 0.31 NR NR 1.88 1.00 1.00 NR 0.70 2.00 0.14 0.38 NR 1.20 0.12 NR NR 0.20 0.22 NR 0.30 NR 1.50 NR NR 0.10 0.60 NR 1.29 0.65 0.20 1.36 1.04 1.20 0.24 0.72 2.00 0.44
$2.900 $2.800 $2.800 $2.760 $2.550 $2.520 $2.468 $2.460 $2.423 $2.365 $2.350 $2.340 $2.301 $2.300 $2.281 $2.250 $2.250 $2.200 $2.185 $2.170 $2.139 $2.125 $2.100 $2.014 $2.003 $2.000 $1.980 $1.980 $1.928 $1.850 $1.850 $1.800 $1.700 $1.650 $1.615 $1.600 $1.600 $1.500 $1.500 $1.479 $1.470 $1.440 $1.400 $1.378 $1.353 $1.350 $1.300 $1.294 $1.243 $1.242 $1.200 $1.200 $1.100 $1.100 $1.036
design Staff 17 23 14 17 14 24 24 22 7 15 12 18 15 14 18 8 166 15 18 12 15 9 11 14 12 15 13 11 10 NR 11 12 15 18 13 15 10 9 8 16 19 4 4 7 9 22 14 18 7 7 11 13 11 14 7
Rank 2009 160 187 168 159 183 157 140 178 190 175 174 147 -194 166 -162 181 188 -142 169 139 173 -179 186 176 185 154 -196 -155 189 177 192 -151 149 193 148 ------199 --191 -117 --
giants200 median annual salary $130,000 $84,800 $60,000 $45,000
median hourly rate $200 $145 $110 $90
Principal/Partner Project Manager Designer Other Design Staff
128 180 From top: HMC Architects designed Frontier Project in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Spacesmith’s MTV Networks is in New York.
% of fees by project types 2010 forecast fees $94,903,179 (33%)
Hospitality
$89,380,554 (33%)
$86,003,987 (30%)
Office
$82,188,354 (30%)
$26,427,588 (9%)
Residential
$26,914,553 (10%)
$28,073,195 (10%)
Health Care/ Assisted Living
$25,564,559 (9%)
$19,288,330 (7%)
Educational
$18,096,090 (7%)
$11,946,553 (4%)
Retail
$14,919,462 (5%)
$11,509,108 (4%)
Government
$7,166,453 (3%)
$2,134,908 (1%)
Cultural
$2,067,860 (1%)
$658,220 (0.02%) Transportation $7,956,580 (3%)
Other
$752,415 (0.08%) $6,248,012 (2%)
from top: ryan beck; chris goodney
2009 actual fees
issues most affecting design firms PRACTICE ISSUES Creating new business/diversifying into new services or segments
81% 43%
Marketing the firm’s capabilities Offering staff an appropriate pay scale and benefits
27% 20%
Training staff
16%
Recruiting qualified staff
14%
Keeping track of profits and expenses 8%
Retaining qualified staff
110 From top: DES Architects + Engineers designedthe Moffet Towers Club in Sunnyvale, California. San Diego’s North American headquarters for the Sony Corporation is by Carrier Johnson + Culture.
BUSINESS ISSUES
Downturn in economy 87% Earning appropriate fees 68% Managing vendors 5% Managing the growing needs for sustainable design
9%
9%
Creating cutting-edge design solutions
16%
Handling increased interference from clients’ consultants
Dealing with clients’ increasing demands 46%
111 CLIENT ISSUES Finding new clients
74%
Clients’ willingness to pay the project’s worth
57%
Getting clients to understand design value
48%
108
giants200
interiordesign.net july.10
16%
Managing clients’ expectations
15%
Retaining clients
15%
Handling micromanaging clients
from top: ken gutmaker; cris costea
Clients’ willingness to take design risks
22%
giants200 new to the second 100 giants firm 2010 Rank Ismael Leyva Architects 109 DMR Architects 112 MSA Planning and Design Consultants 123 HMC Architects 128 Corgan Associates 130 Morris Architects 131 Entos Design 134 RNL 142 RLF 158 Hopping Kovach Grinnell Design Consultants 161 Cheryl Rowley Design 165 DAS Architects 170 Indidesign 176 Hixson 178 Floss Barber 183 DiGuiseppe Architect 188 Ricca Newmark Design 189 Fourth Dimension Designs 190 GH2 Architects 191 Marvin Stein & Associates 192 Judd Brown Designs 193 Interform Commercial Interiors 195 Adache Group Architects 196 RSA 198 Thomas Hamilton & Associates 200
198 RSA designed Farmers Financial Solutions in Agoura Hills, California.
the second 100 largest firms ranked by interior design fees for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2009. The first 100 Giants firm ranking was published in January. Interior design fees include those attributed to: 1. All types of interiors work, including commercial office, hospitality, retail, health care, and residential. 2. All aspects of a firm’s interior design practice, from strategic planning and programming to design and project management. 3. Fees paid to a firm for work performed by employees and independent contractors who are full-time staff equivalent. Interior design fees do not include revenues paid to a firm and remitted to subcontractors who are not considered full-time staff equivalent. For example, certain firms attract work that is subcontracted to a local firm. The originating firm may collect all the fees and retain a management or generation fee, paying the remainder to the performing firm. Amounts paid to the latter are not included in fees of the collecting firm when determining its ranking. The data was compiled and analyzed by the Interior Design market-research staff in New York: Laura Girmscheid, research manager, and Wing Leung, research director. Judith Davidsen is a frequent contributor to Interior Design.
james wong
Methodology The second installment of the two-part annual business survey of Interior Design Giants comprises