Weak Billings in the West and Natural Disasters in the South

Business conditions at architecture firms located in the Northeast and Midwest regions of the country continued to improve in April, but firm billings weakened at firms in the South and West regions. Firms in the West have still not emerged from the economic downturn, according to AIA's Jennifer Riskus.

Firms in the South had reported some improvement earlier this year, but have weakened in recent months. However, some firms in the South reported that an uptick in work may be coming in due to the need to rebuild from the recent tornados and storms. The current flooding along the Mississippi River basin may also necessitate future reconstruction activity.

Firms reported that the threatened federal government shutdown, tornadoes though the Southeast, and the winding down of federal stimulus funds for building activity all were impediments to design activity in April.

An institutional specialization firm in the South said that design and construction in the region is undoubtedly going to be affected by the major tornado outbreak and extensive damage to metropolitan areas. Impacts may range from labor and material shortages to additional opportunities for reconstruction work.

A commercial/industrial specialization firm in the South said that business has picked up. It has concern over rising oil prices, falling dollar value, some bad legislation through Congress, and increasing inflationary pressure means more uncertainty.

A residential specialization firm in the West said that some firms are getting bought up by out of state firms and other firms are closing. The firm received many RFPs from cities, counties, etc., not necessarily for a specific project, but for on-call services, probably to replace personnel.

- Courtesy of AIA