ASLA Business Indicators Survey Shows Great Demand for LAs

The latest ASLA Business Indicators Survey indicates that residential work continues to dominate the landscape architecture market. The private sector constitutes 60 percent of the client base for all firms with 49 employees or fewer.
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Results are in from the 2004 ASLA Business Indicators Survey and they indicate a significant growth in demand for landscape architecture. The survey reveals that landscape architecture firms are growing in size, billing rates are increasing dramatically, and the client base for the profession continues to expand, most significantly in the public sector. The information was gathered from more than 1,000 private sector landscape architecture firms. Indicators include market sectors, project types, client types, billing rates, contract types, design competition participation, marketing, spending and construction cost rations, and profit margins.

Some of the survey findings are in line with past surveys taken in 1997 and 1999. Residential work continues to dominate the market, with commercial/industrial work following second. Parks and recreation development comes in third. Private developers continue to be the largest client group for the profession, with cities/municipalities ranking second, followed very closely by architecture firms. For small firms, private homeowners continue to make up the largest part of their clientele.

Other areas of the survey show many changes, however. Compared to the 1999 survey, firms with 50 or more employees now account for 16.5 percent of landscape architecture businesses, up from only nine percent. Billing rates for firm principals for firms with more than five employees rose 28 percent since 1999, a dramatic increase over the five percent growth between the first two surveys. Also, firms with one to four employees had a billing rates increase of 14 percent from 1999, up from a mere five percent between 1997 and 1999.

The ASLA Business Indicators Survey can be found online at www.asla.org and can be purchased along with the 2004 ASLA Salary Survey. Prices vary depending on membership status.