Specialty contractors in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas reported strong performances during 2019, according to the results of ENR Texas & Louisiana’s annual Top Specialty Contractors survey.

50领先的专业公司在五状态rea posted total revenue of $10.52 billion in 2019, up from $9.24 billion for the top 50 in 2018. This vitality continued into the first quarter of 2020 before the ongoing pandemic impacted firms and generated concerns about the outlook. In Texas, “the industry was running on all cylinders in 2019. Work was plentiful in both the industrial and commercial sectors, and everyone had plenty of backlog,” says Russell Hamley, president of ABC (Associated Builders and Contractors) Greater Houston. “The main problem was a shortage of skilled workers to build the projects.”

Last year was also “steady for most in the energy infrastructure industry, and for us, it proved a banner year, with continual work for our crews in 2019 and into 2020,” adds Jason Heckt, executive vice president for The Woodlands, Texas-based STRIKE. In 2019, the firm completed the Midship Pipeline in Oklahoma, the Gulf Coast Express Pipeline from Del Rio to Agua Dulce, Texas, and the EH2H from Houston to Hearne, Texas. Together, the projects generated $600 million in revenue for STRIKE.

In neighboring Louisiana, it was a “fairly standard year in 2019, with decent growth and activity in both industrial and commercial construction,” says Jeb Bruneau, president and CEO, ABC of New Orleans/Bayou in St. Rose. “Many of our members were busy with work, and the pipeline leaned positive.”

自国家经历了石油放缓and gas sector, related construction activity ticked down. But industrial plant construction remained active and several large projects were planned. “On the commercial construction side, both the private and public sector saw moderate growth, and most of our specialty contractors were fairly busy,” Bruneau says.

North Little Rock的ABC总裁Bill Roachell说，从北向阿肯色州的承包商也度过了“伟大的一年”。“建筑发生了令人兴奋的事情，我们的成员咆哮到2020年。”该州的西北地区特别强大，沃尔玛全球总部位于本顿维尔（Bentonville），这一项目估计该项目估计为35亿美元至50亿美元。此外，阿肯色州中部从小石城地区的两项亚马逊合同中受益 - 一个825,000平方英尺的履行中心，估计计划于2021年末或2022年初开放的1亿美元项目，以及85,000平方英尺的“最后一英里””配送中心，估计在2020年底开业的1120万美元项目开业。

ACE Glass, the state’s largest glass company, had more work in 2019 than ever, says Courtney N. Little, principal of the Little Rock-based company that his parents founded in 1986. “It actually hurt us because we weren’t prepared for the growth. The construction market was probably overheating in 2019 as evidenced by the lack of materials and skilled labor.”

Commercial construction in Oklahoma was strong in 2019, says John Smaligo, president and CEO of ABC Oklahoma in Broken Arrow. “Contractors of all scopes and sizes capitalized on a strong economy and less bureaucratic red tape from the federal government,” he says. “The biggest hurdle for specialty contractors during 2019 was finding skilled workers to complete all the projects.”

在密西西比州，专业公司全年都表现出色。杰克逊ABC分会的总裁兼首席执行官Lee Nations说：“我们正在经历与该国其他部门相同的经济扩张，在此期间为市场提供了良好的服务。”

在密西西比州博尔顿（Bolton），Metro Mechanical，是一名150名雇员机械和管道承包商的Metro Mechanical，“有一个很好的积压，并且正在通过私人工作持续增长的利润率来建立利润率。我们在2020年看起来不错。”首席执行官弗兰克·怀特（Frank White）说。

Related Link ENR Texas & Louisiana 2020 Top Specialty Contractors

COVID-19 Disruptions

在19日大流行于3月开始之后，一些公司能够使每个人都在工作，包括Metro Mechanical。怀特说：“由于创纪录的积压，我们过得愉快，”他指出，军事，政府和医疗项目正在进行中，但通常私人工作正在搁置。18luck官网

“We didn’t have a lot of slowdown,” adds Roachell for ABC Arkansas. “Our pipeline of work was good, and our specialty firms have weathered this well. Some of our projects were delayed, some shut down for a couple of weeks but not many were canceled.”

但是，大型市场地区必须面对几乎总的旅行和款待和油气行业放缓的总体关闭。在休斯敦，几乎所有项目都在早期阶段继续进行，但18luck官网是“随着破坏的时间的增加，更多的项目被放缓或停止，” Hamley说。“随着大流行的继续，由于所有者不愿开始新项目，直到看到某种确定性就18luck官网可以掌握了一定的确定性，因此搁置了更多的项目。”

两个积极的结果包括放松熟练的工人短缺和蓬勃发展的家庭建设市场。Hamley说：“一些熟练的工匠将能够在工作结束时在这些交易中找到工作。”

布鲁诺说，随着病毒的继续，在路易斯安那州，有许多项目被搁置或搁置。18luck官网尽管如此，2020年继续进行的两个18luck官网主要项目包括圣查尔斯教区的11亿美元瓦莱罗绿色柴油项目以及新奥尔良河滨的5.3亿美元四季酒店。

In Oklahoma, Smaligo says that 2020 has been a “mixed bag for specialty contractors. Government-funded projects, especially roads and bridges, largely remained on schedule, but some of the private work was put on pause or even stopped altogether.” But specialty contractors doing residential projects have seen business boom during the pandemic, he says. Major projects underway include the $600-million Google data center in Pryor and the $25-million OKPOP museum in Tulsa, scheduled for completion by the end of 2021.

David Funes, director of business development for Baton Rouge-based Newtron Group, an electrical and instrumentation contractor, says that after a robust 2019, “we had some projects interrupted, some postponed and others cancelled [as a result of the pandemic]. Things have started to improve, but it remains slow.”

Nations notes that once the construction industry was declared essential, and “we recognized we could work through the issue, the remainder of 2020 seemed to stay fairly positive.” Work included the October 2020 completion of the $150-million Children’s Hospital at UMMC in Jackson, led by general contractor Brasfield & Gorrie. “Everyone across all trades seemed to fare well for 2019 and 2020,” says Nations.

恢复或衰退

The ability of the Biden administration to quickly respond to the needs of the construction industry as well as the arrival of an effective COVID-19 vaccine will determine if 2021 delivers stability and recovery rather than recession.

“When I ask contractors what they think about the outlook for 2021, the phrase that seems to encapsulate their responses is ‘guarded optimism,’” Smaligo says. “Most contractors have a decent backlog, but they worry about the third and fourth quarters. One major concern now and into the future is their materials supply chain—in particular, cost and availability.”

Nations adds that “we will have to wait and see how the private market reacts to any immediate policy decisions by the new administration. I think ultimately this will drive private market investment decisions, which in turn feed our construction employers.”

同时，Strike的领导能力对能源部门很乐观，“即使我们预计2021年会有紧张的市场，” Heckt说。“我们提供交钥匙工程，管道和设施基础设施服务的能力，重点是诚信和维护，这将是前进的主要驱动力。”

哈姆利指出：“如果有几件事是正确的，包括迅速部署的疫苗以及对压裂和能源使用的决定，那么专业的承包商可能会继续业务，而不会产生很大的下滑影响。一旦人们获得了恢复正常生活方式的信心，经济就会开始起步，并且将搁置项目。18luck官网如果这些事情没有发生，我们可能会长时间的低迷。”