w. It right no stry feels 00 Rising u d in D 1 A& r Design how the ts e Interio ? That’s ese Gian ip th th f tr f o r o a y t c e n v y e r ir u rc a s e h 3 p a 1 e 20 an 75 after us in th more th relaxes ince st year, bers tell eel grip a h L m : u -w e n g n e ercent s in entire to up 35 p Or so th ur steer . e r, o d y a 971 th a e s e y a ts f h f e o ad a ne s cast $ f relie on this sense o 013 fore 24 milli g open ro 00. One stat alo 2 t 9 26 in $ a e e p : h e th u b t s t m re u ow fees a e top 1 t are. llars, b es to cli n firms are n o th u t e d f ig You kn n u s o rc n ti b e e o n , ls D p li o e e e he ly 42 f a bil nue c igher. d, next asty rid tal reve st shy o year, on ars—an figure h ping at th o e ju e is T y was a n ip . s h th e n a T ts v s g . w n fi y in e t in e ush nom g Gia venu the firm yee hav e highes keeps p t the eco the Risin when re Giants— million illion—th . Fees per emplo there’s good ed abou ss is for f 2007, e m o rn e in 6 ts c s 7 h n u 3 o b ig $ to n he , but illion were c at how percent 62,000 $422 m recessio ners. e a look 00 to $1 s expect eady pre h ,0 Let’s tak rm 7 ore desig e fi 6 m 1 th r, t $ t s a a e m ju t y , o o fr n rk o y e e’r ss w slightl 2010. W re isn’t le dropped tat: The s t a th news in
g n i ris p u g n i look
162 ricardo briones
PDT International designed Ágora Mall in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
risinggiants The Rising Giants added 531 design staffers last year (an average of more than five per firm) to handle increased workloads, bringing total staff to 2,444. Firms anticipate hiring another 277 designers this year. In fact, 54 percent of firms were concerned with hiring qualified employees, up from 43 percent last year. Conversely, work is plentiful enough that only 46 percent of firms worry about finding new clients, down from 58 percent last year. However, both salaries and billable-hour fees remain stagnant from last year. Designers pull in $62,000 at roughly $113 per hour, while managers and job captains earn $85,000 at $153 per hour. Employees have become even more efficient. Last year 83 percent of a designer’s time was billable, up from 79 percent in past years. Total square footage for the Rising Giants reached a peak of 192 million in 2007, dropped to 123 million in 2011, and rose again to 135 million in 2012. Next year, firms expect 161 million square feet and a 12 percent bump in design fees. Corporate work space and hospitality continue to dominate—62 percent of all design fees, with corporate rising 40 percent, and hospitality rising 32 percent. The biggest drop, 28 percent, came from the health-care/assisted-living sector. Government work is still a rainmaker, with 54 percent of the Rising Giants snagging taxpayer-funded projects; growth areas are office, up 15 percent, and libraries, with double the number of firms working on them. Half the firms do educational facilities, though twice as many work on universities versus K-12 buildings. Another growth area: for-profit schools. Two years ago, 23 percent of firms did them; today, it’s 31 percent. As for residential, there has been a 10 percent increase in the number of firms doing that work, driven by mixed-use/condominium jobs.
Markley Group in Boston is by ADD.
Product specification involves even bigger numbers. In 2012, the Rising Giants installed $9.6 billion worth of furnishings, fixtures, and construction products ($6.6 billion going to the latter)—a 20 percent bump from last year’s $8 billion. Firms expect that number to balloon to $10.6 billion next year. The number of Rising Giants working overseas dropped from 14 percent to 12 percent. They expect most growth in the U.S.— the northeast and south, in particular—and Canada. Global growth areas are the Caribbean, Central/South America, and Europe, while previous hotspots—the Middle East and Asia—have fallen off, although China is always a factor. Trends affecting the nature of each design job come down to one word: sustainability. The Rising Giants now employ 701 LEED-certified designers, the most ever, up from 561 last year. That’s 29 percent of all current design staff. Seven out of 10 firms practice sustainability analysis. As a percentage of total fees, green hovers around 30 percent ($87.5 million last year). Each firm specified approximately $56 million in sustainable products last year, up from $40 million in 2011. Green square footage jumped to 52.5 million from 40 million two years ago. We saved some even more optimistic stats for last: 34 percent of firms reported no gain in fees last year, which sounds bad, but that’s the lowest number since 2009. The average loss, 12 percent, was the lowest since 2007. And while 52 firms reported positive growth (up from seven in 2009), the total gain was $34.5 million—the biggest in five years. Is that a collective sigh of relief we hear? We say yes. —Mike Zimmerman
trent bell
105
200 risinggiants Rank 2013 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150
Firm (headquarters | web site) Gary Lee Partners (chicago | garyleepartners.com) JGA (southfield, mi | jga.com) KZF Design (cincinnati | kzf.com) HFS Concepts 4 (long beach, ca | thehfsgroup.com) ADD (boston | addinc.com) Ronald Schmidt & Associates (englewood, nj | rsaaia.com) ForrestPerkins (dallas | forrestperkins.com) OPX (washington | opxglobal.com) TVSdesign (atlanta | tvsa.com) DES Architects + Engineers (redwood city, ca | des-ae.com) Sargenti Architects (paramus, nj | sargarch.com) Fox Architects (mclean, va | fox-architects.com) Wolcott Architecture Interiors (culver city, ca | wolcottai.com) Anderson Mikos Architects (oakbrook terrace, il | andersonmikos.com) Whitney (oak brook, il | whitney-architects.com) Hendrick (atlanta | hendrickinc.com) Dyer Brown & Associates (boston | dyerbrown.com) BBG-BBGM (new york | bbg-bbgm.com) SKB Architecture and Design (washington dc | skbarch.com) Chute Gerdeman (columbus, oh | chutegerdeman.com) Margulies Perruzzi Architects (boston | mp-architects.com) Intec Group (fairfax, va | intecgroup.net) ReelGrobman & Associates (san jose, ca | reelgrobman.com) EDG (China) Corporation (shanghai | edg.com.cn) Looney & Associates (dallas | looney-associates.com) Lauckgroup (dallas | lauckgroup.com) Carrier Johnson + Culture (san diego | carrierjohnson.com) Interprise (addison, tx | interprisedesign.com) Tsoi/Kobus & Associates (cambridge, ma | tka-architects.com) BraytonHughes Design Studios (san francisco | bhdstudios.com) RNL (denver | rnldesign.com) Rowland + Broughton Architecture (aspen | rowlandbroughton.com) Joi-Design (hamburg | joi-design.com) Symmes Maini & McKee Associates (cambridge, MA | smma.com) LB Architects (new york | lbarch.com) Arcturis (st. louis | arcturis.com) Aria Group Architects (oak park, il | ariainc.com) LPA (irvine, ca | lpainc.com) Davis, Carter, Scott (mclean, va | dcsdesign.com) H. Hendy Associates (newport beach, ca | hhendy.com) Brereton Architects (san francisco | brereton.com) JRS Architect (mineola, ny | jrsarchitect.com) STG Design (austin | stgdesign.com) Meyer Design (ardmore, pa | meyer-associates.com) AAI (san jose, ca | aaidesign.com) Slifer Designs (edwards, co | sliferdesigns.com) L2Partridge (philadelphia | L2Partridge.com) Kay Lang + Associates (los angeles | kaylangassocs.com) Heery International (atlanta | heery.com) Epstein (chicago | epsteinglobal.com)
work Installed
design Fees
Value
Sq. Ft.
(millions)
(millions)
(millions)
$345.000 $65.000 $429.115 $70.000 NR $24.500 NR NR $81.957 NR $228.260 $210.000 $100.000 $41.160 $160.000 $99.000 $54.300 NR $87.000 NR $80.000 $70.000 $106.000 NR $650.000 $150.000 $16.800 $48.000 $258.517 NR $173.000 $69.348 $60.000 $61.000 $175.000 $70.000 $75.000 $105.429 NR $44.000 $168.500 $43.000 $6.000 $28.000 $4.500 $9.440 $69.822 NR $95.800 $37.500
1.83 0.53 6.57 NR NR NR NR 1.00 0.85 2.11 5.90 2.80 2.50 1.39 NR 4.00 2.50 NR 0.84 0.75 0.80 NR 2.12 NR 3.50 1.00 1.68 3.30 0.77 NR 2.90 0.40 NR 2.50 1.50 1.10 0.45 1.67 NR 1.90 3.25 0.42 0.35 NR 3.00 NR 0.82 NR 1.49 0.90
$6.900 $6.900 $6.874 $6.750 $6.650 $6.600 $6.570 $6.550 $6.500 $6.496 $6.440 $6.300 $6.076 $5.862 $5.841 $5.803 $5.700 $5.600 $5.467 $5.270 $5.250 $5.159 $5.141 $5.138 $5.100 $5.022 $5.009 $5.000 $4.938 $4.900 $4.805 $4.737 $4.650 $4.600 $4.500 $4.500 $4.250 $4.100 $4.092 $4.060 $3.951 $3.900 $3.760 $3.622 $3.500 $3.425 $3.400 $3.400 $3.350 $3.312
design Staff 30 34 24 36 79 32 31 43 31 12 55 65 42 17 32 26 24 95 21 37 30 20 34 117 33 23 10 35 7 31 22 26 36 23 21 54 60 25 15 23 26 20 33 27 21 13 22 18 31 20
Rank 2012 88 84 82 91 85 87 78 99 135 104 120 114 110 116 59 98 102 105 112 127 123 136 130 109 121 90 100 140 119 113 126 122 111 115 124 148 128 118 170 125 139 162 142 -
200 risinggiants Rank 2013 Firm (headquarters | web site) 151 Design Development (agoura hills, ca | designdevelopment-group.com) 152 Ratcliff (emeryville, ca | ratcliffarch.com) 153 Shea (minneapolis | sheadesign.com) 154 Nichols Booth Architects (san francisco | nicholsbooth.com) 155 CetraRuddy (new york | cetraruddy.com) 156 TAL Studio (las vegas | TAL-studio.com) 157 Mojo Stumer Associates (greenvale, ny | mojostumer.com) 158 Simeone Deary Design Group (chicago | simeonedeary.com) 159 J. Banks Design Group (hilton head island, sc | jbanksdesign.com) 160 Legat Architects (chicago | legat.com) 161 Hopping Kovach Grinnell Design Consultants (vancouver, canada | hkgdesign.com) 162 PDT International (ft. lauderdale | pdtintl.com) 163 Stephen B. Jacobs Group (new york | sbjgroup.com) 164 Philpotts & Associates (honolulu | philpotts.net) 165 J/Brice Design International (boston | jbricedesign.com) 166 RD Jones & Associates (baltimore | rdjones.com) 167 Sasaki Associates (watertown, ma | sasaki.com) 168 DesignOne Studio (atlanta | designone-studio.com) 169 Parker Torres Design (sudbury, ma | parkertorres.com) 170 ADM Group (tempe, az | admgroupinc.com) 171 RPW Design (london | rpwdesign.co.uk) 172 Api(+) (tampa | apiplus.com) 173 S.K.I.N. Design Studio (los angeles | skindesignstudio.com) 174 Rees Roberts + Partners (new york | reesroberts.com) 175 MHTN Architects (salt lake city | mhtn.com) 176 *Graham Downes Architecture (san diego | grahamdownes.com) 177 Hatch Design Group (costa mesa, ca | hatchdesign.com) 178 Montgomery Roth Architecture & Interior Design (houston | montgomeryroth.com) 179 Faulkner Design Group (dallas | faulknerdesign.com) 180 DAS Architects (philadelphia | DASarchitects.com) 181 Klawiter and Associates (los angeles | klawiter.com) 182 Abel Design Group (houston | abeldesigngroup.com) 183 Design Directions International (marietta, ga | designdirectionsinc.com) 184 Idea|span (atlanta | idea-span.com) 185 J.T. Nakaoka Associates Architects (los angeles) 186 Heitz Parsons Sadek (west palm beach, fl | heitz-parsons-sadek.com) 187 Indidesign (los angeles | indidesign.com) 188 Orsini Design Associates (new york | orsinidesignassociates.com) 189 Cleo Design (las vegas | cleo-design.com) 190 Dawson Design Associates (seattle | dawsondesignassociates.com) 191 Goettsch Partners (chicago | gpchicago.com) 192 Phillips Architecture (raleigh, nc | phillipsarch.com) 193 Jova Daniel Busby (atlanta | jova.com) 194 Gray Design Group (st. louis | graydesigngroup.com) 195 Core (washington | coredc.com) 196 Marvin Stein Associates (seattle | marvinstein.com) 197 Spacesmith (new york | spacesmith.net) 198 Applied Design Initiative (new york | adinitiative.com) 199 Rowland Design (indianapolis | rowlanddesign.com) 200 IEI Group (philadelphia | ieigroup.com)
work Installed
design Fees
Value
Sq. Ft.
(millions)
(millions)
(millions)
$32.000 NR $32.000 $90.000 $102.000 $145.000 $27.000 NR $6.554 $180.000 $100.000 $732.714 $260.000 $6.837 $210.000 NR $182.000 $95.000 NR $66.100 $71.000 NR NR NR $18.500 NR $109.853 NR $6.300 $50.000 $35.000 NR $16.500 $50.000 NR $28.000 $110.000 $27.500 NR $8.000 $40.000 $153.500 $20.608 $126.543 NR $35.000 $24.000 $8.500 NR $35.000
0.50 0.70 0.30 2.00 1.05 NR 0.18 NR 0.42 4.75 2.10 2.74 1.00 NR 1.35 NR 0.85 1.28 NR 0.38 1.32 1.70 NR NR 0.75 0.60 0.34 NR 0.21 0.32 0.40 NR 1.35 0.70 NR 0.82 0.68 NR NR NR 0.40 1.70 0.30 2.11 NR 0.85 0.18 0.45 NR 1.85
$3.300 $3.300 $3.201 $3.110 $3.100 $3.093 $3.023 $3.000 $2.998 $2.990 $2.900 $2.884 $2.800 $2.742 $2.741 $2.717 $2.700 $2.660 $2.650 $2.573 $2.569 $2.560 $2.516 $2.500 $2.479 $2.400 $2.357 $2.325 $2.300 $2.295 $2.286 $2.280 $2.250 $2.200 $2.127 $2.120 $2.100 $2.080 $2.077 $2.000 $1.900 $1.890 $1.642 $1.578 $1.556 $1.480 $1.456 $1.430 $1.430 $1.411
design Staff 8 21 20 19 11 25 23 25 19 6 58 32 10 18 17 22 15 13 21 11 30 17 10 11 4 18 25 15 16 14 10 13 9 16 10 14 12 5 14 17 11 18 18 11 8 12 13 14 14 9
Rank 2012 141 107 182 137 158 146 159 132 129 156 161 167 147 153 145 131 179 155 185 180 184 134 197 175 165 183 163 152 160 166 164 169 168 150 188 200 192 181 191
*As of June 30, 2013, this firm has closed.
fees, value
13%
$2,801,580
$24,711,763
$11,976,970
$2,418,200
$8,025,178
3%
$25,818,992
16%
$29,927,298
13%
$33,931,024
9%
$8,287,200
18%
$13,519,803
$27,863,255
$28,270,096
$35,198,642
$119,341,817
$44,078,750 29%
$99,273,883
Corporate Office
2014 forecast
2013 actual
20%
2%
$139,551,838
$142,552,491
fees by project type
Hospitality
Retail
Residential
Health Care/ Assisted Living
Education
Government
Cultural
Other
186 types of projects New Construction 38% Renovation 62%
Domestic 88%
From top: Heitz Parsons Sadek designed Jingya restaurant in Zhengzhou, China. Arcturis designed the Bud Light Party Zone at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.
risinggiants
136
from top: xiangyu sun; mcfarland photography
International 12%
risinggiants
194 120 % of FIRMS working on education projects
% of firms working on residenÂtial projects Residential Development (mixed-use/condominiums) 74%
College/University 82% K-12 41%
Urban Dwelling 49%
Other
Suburban Residences 40% Second/Vacation House 36%
(private/for-profit) 31%
Clockwise from top left: Essex Industries in St. Louis is by Gray Design Group. Chute Gerdeman designed American Family Insurance in Madison, Wisconsin. OPX’s Convergent Wealth Advisors is in Rockville, Maryland.
Other 28%
% of FIRMS working on government projects
School 38% Hospital/Medical Facility 28% Lab/Training Facility 23%
Library 21% Courthouse/ Corrections 21% Military-related Facility 19% Other 13%
108
clockwise from top left: jeff wellman; mark steele; ronald ngiam
Office 83%
147
167 Clockwise from top left: Sasaki Associates designed Innosight in Lexington, Massachusetts. Iroko Pharmaceuticals in Philadelphia is by L2Partridge. Whitney designed Chicago’s Catamaran. WhaleShark Media in Austin, Texas, is by STG Design.
143 median annual salary
Principal/Partner $132,500
Project Manager/ Job Captain $85,000 Designer $62,669
median hourly rate
Principal/Partner $200
Project Manager/Job Captain $153 Designer $113 Other Staff $90
115
risinggiants
clockwise from top left: robert benson; jeffery totaro; christopher barrett/hedrich blessing; paul bardagjy
Other Staff $50,000
risinggiants The most admired firms (voted by the 2013 rising giants) (1)
Gensler (2)
(3)
Rockwell Group
Perkins + Will 109
119
123
clockwise from top: brian gassel/tvsdesign; john sutton; michael moran
Clockwise from top: Teknion, Atlanta, is by TVSdesign. ReelGrobman designed Guidewire Software in Foster City, California. Mathematica Policy Research in Washington is by SKB Architecture and Design.
risinggiants total new hires 277
234
204 2011
2012
2013
121 New to the rising giants
171
2013 Rank 104 105 112 122 137 149 150 154 168 169 171 173 174 184 192 193 194 195
Firm HFS Concepts 4 ADD Fox Architects Intec Group Aria Group Architects Heery International Epstein Nichols Booth Architects DesignOne Studio Parker Torres Design RPW Design S.K.I.N. Design Studio Rees Roberts + Partners Idea|span Phillips Architecture Jova Daniel Busby Gray Design Group Core
From top: Margulies Perruzzi Architects designed Philips North America in North Andover, Massachusetts. Aloft Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, is by RPW Design. Brokerage Concepts in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, is by Meyer Design.
from top: warren patterson; courtesy of adnec; don pearse
144
issues most affecting design firms PRACTICE ISSUES
62% Creating new business 54% Recruiting qualified staff 42% Marketing 39% Training 24% Retaining staff 22% Providing competitive pay scale and benefits 17% Managing profits and expenses
77% Earning appropriate fees 48% Dealing with increasing client demands 42% Uncertain economy 18% Increasing interference from clients’ consultants 13% Creating cutting-edge design solutions 11% Managing the growing needs for sustainable design and vendors
The second installment of the two-part annual business survey of Interior Design Giants comprises the second 100 largest firms ranked by interior design fees for the 12-month period ending December 31, 2012. The first 100 Giants firm ranking was published in January. Interior design fees include those attributed to: 1. All types of interiors work, including 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. Ties are broken by the dollar value of products installed. The data was compiled and analyzed by the Interior Design market research staff in New York, led by Wing Leung, research director.
74% 59% 46% 29% 27% 22% 16%
Convincing clients to pay the project’s worth Finding new clients Getting clients to understand design value Managing client expectations Encouraging clients to take design risks Handling client micromanaging Retaining current clients
Opposite: Grafton High School in Massachusetts is by Symmes Maini & McKee Associates. Right: Davis, Carter, Scott designed Neustar in McLean, Virginia. jay choi
134
CLIENT ISSUES
BUSINESS ISSUES
gregg shupe
risinggiants
139