Midwest specialty contractors are cautiously optimistic about the current state of the industry months into the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected nearly every industry worldwide.

In the last full year before the pandemic’s impact, a total of 48 firms responded to ENR Midwest’s annual Top Specialty Contractors survey and reported total regional revenue of $7.29 billion. Last year, 68 firms responded to the survey and reported revenue of $8.84 billion. Respondents covered the 11-state area of Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin.

The work these firms performed in 2019 ranged from infrastructure, middle schools, big city airports, correctional facilities, food processing facilities, distilleries and even end zones in Big Ten college football stadiums. The health care sector once again comprised a large chunk of projects across the Midwest, from hospitals in Columbus, Ohio, and Kansas City, Kan., to health care centers in Rockford, Ill., and Cincinnati.

从那以后，世界发生了变化，专业缔约业不得不调整。对于某些人来说，2019年做出的决定帮助他们浏览了当前的水域。

“Last year we rewrote our business plan,” says Chuck Goodrich, president of Noblesville, Ind.-based Gaylor Electric Inc. “And thank God we did, because it’s guided us through this.”

相关链接 新利luckENR中西部2020年顶级专业承包商

Goodrich says alternative energy, especially solar, has been a strong point for Gaylor over the last six months. He says it has had an especially big impact on the company in Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. Almost as important for the company has been work on data centers across the Midwest. “That’s been a deal for us,” he says.

盖勒在印第安纳波利斯的联邦快递国际枢纽完成了346万美元的电气工作。Gaylor与Shiel Sexton签约，处理了所有导管，电缆和分配，包括一个包含六个大发电机的发电机室，整个建筑物和控制面板接线。

“We put our focus first on people, then reliable resources, insights and outcomes,” says Goodrich. “Overall, it looks like we still may grow in 2020. It feels like things are slowing down a bit, but that’s because electrical contracting can be a year behind. Still, it looks like we’ll see growth—maybe not a lot, like around 5%, but that has to do with all our locations, including in the Midwest.”

“毫无疑问，这是一个更具挑战性的市场。”位于美国密苏里州堪萨斯城的美国工程总裁蒂姆·莫尔米耶（Tim Moormeier）表示。“我们的年收入在所有公司的总和中均下降了20％，其中三分之二归因于Covid。”

美国工程年度最佳项目包括堪萨斯大学医院的空中处18luck官网理部门更换，并在堪萨斯城国际机场开展了19亿美元的新航站楼项目。机场航站楼是堪萨斯城历史上最大的单一基础设施项目，其空间为39个大门。这项工作还包括一个具有6,500个停车位的七层停车设施。Moormeier说，在这个不断发展的大流行环境中，美国工程在数据中心的工作，医院和学校在过去几个月中使公司特别忙碌。

“Data centers have kept us very busy,” he says. “And the bigger hospitals have kept us very, very busy. We got involved with the Army Corps of Engineers on the Denver Convention Center for hospital beds. We’ve also seen a big influx in the public school system and how to open them effectively.”

Moormeier also stressed what many company leaders have emphasized: The pandemic has only bolstered company resolve to focus on the safety of workers.

Moormeier说：“领导我们安全委员会的迈克·齐坎（Mike Zykan）在公司中的工作压力最大。”“我们正在认真对待合同追踪。我们在医院附近租了酒店，以便工人可以在工作之间洗澡，与家人在一起并感到安全。我怀疑从数据中，由于社会疏远，我们的效率降低了约10％，但另一方面，在过去六个月中，事件的事件率最低。”

“2020 was and still is a decent year,” says Jesse Roush, vice president of operations for Veit & Co. “Most of our work was in the pipeline in March, and in this region [Minnesota and Milwaukee] COVID hasn’t slowed it down. We were able to quickly adapt to all-digital site management. That turned out to be a good investment for us in 2019.”

根据Roush的说法，总部位于明尼苏达州罗杰斯的Veit维持了一个项目工作量为50/50 Public/Private。他指出该公司在基础设施，高速公路，步道和学校建筑方面的工作。One of Veit’s largest projects is a dredging job at Kingsbury Bay and Grassy Point at the St. Louis River in Duluth, Minn. Veit built barge spreads measuring 40 ft by 60 ft with 2.5-ft to 3-ft draft in order to dredge a total of 350,000 cu yd of sediment and wood waste from the river.

Moormeier, Goodrich and Roush all agree that the pandemic has changed the specialty contracting industry. All three say they feel there will be far more emphasis on remote working and offsite operations because of social distancing and the rise of video calls. Beyond that, however, they say the future is unclear.

古德里奇说：“我喜欢（关于我们前进的地方）的讨论。”“如果您有这样的水晶球，那将是令人难以置信的。每个人都非常困难！您必须进行交流，交流和交流。我每两周通过电子邮件和文字与所有员工联系一次，但同样重要的是与客户沟通。您只需要灵活。”

“2021年将是a challenge,” says Roush. “We don’t expect it to be like ’20. But we are cautiously optimistic.”