Architects Offices
Buy This Industry Report
Get more in-depth industry information with a First Research industry report containing business challenges, trends, executive insight, call prep questions, and so much more!
Increase Appointments
Engage Prospects
Build Your Confidence
Industry Overview
The US architecture industry includes about 17,000 firms, with combined annual revenue of $20 billion. Large firms include Gensler, HOK, and Perkins+Will. The industry is highly fragmented: only about 100 firms have annual revenue of more than $100 million. The typical architecture firm has 10 employees and annual revenue of $1 million.
Competitive Landscape
Demand for architects' services depends heavily on the volume of residential and commercial construction. Because most costs are fixed, profitability depends on a constant inflow of work. Architectural firms are often small because there are few economies of scale in the industry: architectural design can be done as well, and for the same cost, by a small or large company.
Products, Operations & Technology
Architects prepare detailed plans that can be used by construction companies to build or modify various types of structures. Most architectural work has both an aesthetic and an engineering component. About 60 percent of typical firm billings are for basic architect design work; the rest comes from planning and pre-design work, expanded design, and construction phase services. For many projects, the architect's responsibility (and the work contract) extends from the initial design work through to the end of construction, a process that may span several years. On most projects, architects work closely with engineering and construction companies. A typical small firm has three licensed partners, four professional design assistants, and three administrative staff.
The broad categories of buildings that architects work on are schools and hospitals (48 percent of revenue); office, retail, and industrial buildings (33 percent); and residential buildings (9 percent). Only 5 percent of industry revenue involves single-family homes, although single-family construction accounts for a third of all US construction. Because most firms are small, they often specialize in the design of one particular type of building.
Architect offices are heavy users of computer technology. CAD has profoundly affected the architecture business, enabling small firms to compete with large ones by eliminating the clerical drafting work that could most effectively be done by larger firms. Most architectural plans are now produced and delivered to the client electronically.
