Landscape Architect Articles

2016 1st Quarter ASLA Business Survey06-07-16 | News

2016 1st Quarter ASLA Business Survey
80.76% of Firms Report Stable to Significantly Higher Billable Hours, a Jump from the 74.47% in the Previous Quarter

Key Survey Highlights

1st Quarter 2016 Billable Hours vs 4th Quarter 2015

Do You Plan to Hire in the Second Quarter of 2016? (Firms with two or more employees.)

Gender Diversity Is an Important Strategic Issue for My Firm. (Firms with two or more employees).

The ASLA reports its 2016 1st Quarter ASLA Business Survey shows landscape architecture firms "still holding steady." The April 8 to April 22 survey had 191 primary firm contacts responding.

The survey points to some momentum during the first quarter of 2016: billings and inquiries for new work jumped, while plans to hire dropped slightly from the previous quarter.

A comparison of this survey with first-quarter results from the last four years shows that firms are building on the growth of the last couple of years.

The survey found that 80.76% of firms reported stable to significantly higher billable hours, a notable jump from the 74.47% the previous quarter. This result is a bit lower than what had been reported for the first quarter of 2015 (82.02 percent), but much higher than what had been reported during the first quarters of 2012 (71.3%), 2013 (76.1%) and 2014 (72.2%).

Inquiries for new work (80.43%) were stable to significantly higher, up from the 71.73 percent the previous quarter. This result is a drop from the first quarters of 2013 (85.5%) and 2015 (85.34%). It is about the same as reported billable hours for the first quarter of 2014 (80.2%), and much higher than what had been reported for the first quarter of 2012 (76.2%).

Year to year, 75.66% of firms said billable hours were stable to significantly higher, a drop from the 80.52% reported for the 2015 first quarter. It is higher than what had been reported for the first quarters of 2012 (71.3%), 2013 (76.1%) and 2014 (76%).

Year to year, 81.05% of respondents said that first quarter inquiries for new work were stable to significantly higher, within the range for the first quarters of 2015 (83.24%) and 2014 (83.4%), but higher than the first quarters of 2012 (76.2%) and 2013 (59.5%).

Some 53.57% of firms with two or more employees say that gender diversity is an important issue. Firms with two or more employees say they have undertaken the following measures to promote gender diversity: provide flexible working conditions and/or locations (67.83%), equal pay for equal work (65.73%), and family-friendly programs or policies (56.64%). Some 80.99% of firms with two or more employees say they include women on senior leadership teams.

The survey also asked firms how they are promoting gender diversity:
Provide flexible working conditions and/or locations – 67.83%
Equal pay for equal work – 65.73%
Provide family-friendly programs or policies – 56.64%
Encourage female networking and mentoring – 32.87%
No specific measures – 21.68%
Gender-specific hiring goals and programs – 7.69%

My firm includes women on its senior leadership teams:
Yes – 80.99%
No – 17.61%
Not sure – 1.41%