Building boom lifts all firms involved: Architects, engineers and construction outfits go into growth mode.

The city's strengthening economy is powering a wave of hiring among firms involved in the design, engineering and construction of real estate. Last year the top 25 architecture firms and top 20 companies in engineering and in construction added thousands of jobs, with each category increasing its head count by 8% over 2012 levels, according to new data from Crain's.

Strong growth in spending on residential projects—up 36%—helped spur that hiring spree. Last year's $7.3 billion total spending exceeded pre-recession highs, according to the New York Building Congress. That performance lifted not just the contractors building housing, but also design firms and related companies throughout the city, said NYBC President Richard Anderson.

Paying off

"The architects get busy first, and when they get busy, eventually the engineers get busy and then the contractors," he said.

Last year the property cycle finally paid off for the construction firms, pushing employment to a five-year high of nearly 121,000 jobs, up 4% from the year before, according to the NYBC. The top 20 firms on the Crain's list expanded their head count by a combined 8% in 2013, on the back of a 6% climb in construction spending, to $29.3 billion, and a 3% rise in New York area revenue for those companies.

The city's 25 largest architecture firms also had a good year. They upped staff rosters as contracts flowed in not just from New York but also from rising activity around the world, according to Paul Katz, managing principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. It was in part on the strength of such overseas work that KPF jumped two places on the Crain's ranking to become the city's largest architecture firm by 2013 head count. In New York, KPF worked on designs for the massive Hudson Yards project west of Penn Station and for 1 Vanderbilt, across from Grand Central Terminal.

"The majority of growth in New York is probably from New York projects," said Mr. Katz. "We're delighted to be this busy here."

At the city's largest engineering firms, ranked by New York area licensed engineers, staffing rosters grew to 2,612, an 8% increase in 2013. At HNTB (No. 11 on Crain's list), last year was a very good one indeed, with area revenue jumping more than 50%, to nearly $54 million, according to the firm.

"The boom in the building market has really enabled us to grow more than we've ever seen," said Steven McElligot, president of HNTB's Northeast division. "We've been able to leverage the boom to move away from what we were known as, which was a design firm, to help our owners manage the project from beginning to end."

More broadly, engineers have gained as more clients—including the public sector—have looked to repair, replace and strengthen properties damaged by Superstorm Sandy. The city is set to spend $17 billion in federal disaster aid to "harden" New York against future natural catastrophes. Mr. McElligot said that such "resiliency" projects made up about 5% of HNTB business pre-Sandy but now account for nearly 20%.

Government spending on construction in 2013 edged up $300 million, to $13.7 billion , making up about half of all construction spending in the city. That was down from nearly two-thirds during the recession.

Milo Riverso, chief executive of STV Inc. (No. 17 on Architects, No. 3 on Engineers and No. 19 on Construction), most of whose work is with public-sector clients, said that STV has had an increase in revenue. He noted, though, that it was not as dramatic a rise as seen by firms with more exposure to the private sector. Still, the boom in construction has brought plenty of good news.

"We will definitely be hiring across all sectors of our firm," he said.

Source: Crain’s New York