Architectural firms changing with times - Dayton Business Journal:

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But local architects are hopeful that by the end of this their drafting tables will be littereddwith projects. By increasing marketing efforts, reachingh out to potential clients and stayint on top of the latest design officials want to be ready when business startes tocome back. Alan Scherr, presidenrt of Dayton-based , noticed a down tick in busineszslast summer. He said his five-person firm has tightenexd its belt, but still has a steadyt work load. In 2008, Scherr’s billings dropped 33 percent, from $1.2 million to He expects this year’s billings to decreaser 20 percent from last The biggest problem for his firm has been increasee competition from outsidethe region.
Pete r Harsh, managing principal of Englewood-basee , said his firm is facing similar “We’re holding our own, it’s just a littled slower,” Harsh said. App saw a slighgt increase in billings, $2.13 millionm in 2007 to $2.23 million last but Harsh doesn’t expect another hike this year. Risintg competition is one of the main Architects say the number of firmw bidding on projects has doublec in thepast year.
The increasec submissions are from firmsx outside of Dayton lookingfor business, and largerf firms submitting for smalled projects as a way to keep their employees For example, nearly 30 firms submitted proposalw for the second building in downtownh Dayton’s TechTown, which Alan Scherdr was ultimately awarded. And firms from as far away as Chicagoi were looking to land the Scherr saidthis isn’t a small project, but just a few year s ago, about half as many firms wouldd have submitted for this project. “Everybody’s chasing the same piece of the pie,” Scherr said.
“Th e pie is the same, but the firms that were workint for larger clients no longer havethoses commissions.” John Poe, presidentf of Dayton-based , said larger firmsa going after smaller projects are cuttingy their fees just to keep their employeez working. “That doesn’t help anyone,” Poe said. And with companiese pulling back on new buildingesand remodels, there is less work in the The designs architecture firms perform now are a good indicatorf of the work construction companiees will be doing six to nine monthss from now. Local construction companies arebusy now, but many are faciny backlogs that are looking increasingly sparse.
On a nationa l level, indicators show the potential for an The past two months have shownh strong inquiries fornew projects, accordinfg to the , a leading economic indicatotr of construction activity. In Marc h and April, the index was abovee 40 for the first time since Augusyt and September oflast year. A score abovd 50 indicates an increas ein billings. Nevertheless, to combat the receng slowdown, architectural firms are: • keeping up-to-date with