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Top Louisiana Specialty Contractors
Declining revenues widespread, but some see growth
By Sam Barnes
Continued drops in revenue in the specialty construction
market were widespread in 2002, as contractors continued to
ride the economic storm and subsequent reduction in construction
investment.
The revenue decline was suffered by both small and large specialty
companies, which actually helped many contractors maintain,
or even improve, their ranking within this year's Top 80 Specialty
Contractors lists.
A handful of contractors saw their revenue numbers improve.
A prime example is the No. 1 specialty contractor, Red Simpson
of Alexandria, which saw increases in revenue of $16 million,
rising from $197 million to $213 million.
Others include:
- United Scaffolding of Baton Rouge, which bumped up seven
spots due to increases in revenue of $8 million
- Industrial Specialty Contractors of Baton Rouge, which rose
seven spots because of a $6 million increase in revenue
Most notably, foundation contractor Auger Services Inc. enjoyed
the biggest jump in the ranking, rising from 44th to 17th
because of a 150 percent increase in revenue.
In the breakout rankings, Bernhard Mechanical Contractors
of Lafayette tops the mechanical contractors list, while Berg
Inc. of Shreveport, Gallo Mechanical Contractors of New Orleans,
TIMEC Gulf Coast of Metairie and Airtrol Inc. of Baton Rouge
round out the top five.
The electrical contractors list is lead by Red Simpson of
Alexandria, followed by The Newtron Group of Baton Rouge,
MMR Group of Baton Rouge, Industrial Specialty Contractors
of Baton Rouge and Excel Group Inc. of Prairieville.
Other breakout rankings target roofing, insulation and fabrication,
all of which had increases in respondents from previous years.
The "creation" of the rankings.
Louisiana Contractor defined specialty contractors in the broadest
sense to include companies from all market sectors. As a result,
the largest companies on the lists cater to the industrial market,
since the highest volume of work (by contract cost) is in that
sector.
During the formation of the list, Louisiana Contractor's staff
communicated with the various local chapters of both the National
Electrical Contractors Association and the Mechanical Contractors
Association, along with the two major construction associations
in the state: Associated General Contractors and Associated
Builders and Contractors.
Each of these chapters was asked to develop a list of the
largest specialty contractors in their area or on their membership
rosters. Louisiana Contractor staff also researched previous
large projects bid within the last three years to add to the
list, and consulted with known large electrical and mechanical
contractors for their assistance.
After the list was developed, it was then faxed to these same
organizations for review in hopes of pinpointing any companies
that may have been inadvertently omitted.
This year, we had a decided advantage since we already had
the foundation list from which to work, although we faxed
surveys to our entire database of electrical and mechanical
contractors to create lists for both mechanical and electrical
contractors.
For the purpose of ranking the contractors, we verified the
following:
- Revenue for calendar year 2002
- Average number of employees (office and field personnel
combined)
- Name and title of highest ranking officer
- Year company founded
- Current address of company
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