(01-21-18)
Increasing firm profitability remain top business-related concern for the coming year. The year 2017 ended with architecture firms continuing to report strong firm billings. An Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score of 52.9 for December meant that, for 10 of the year’s 12 months, architecture firms saw increases in billings (any score over 50 indicates billings growth). Firms also continued to report strong backlogs of about six months in December—as they had throughout the year—and inquiries into new projects and the value of newly signed design contracts also remained robust, serving as additional indicators of plenty of work remaining in the pipeline for the coming months.
Firms located in the South continued to report billings growth every month of the year in 2017, the fifth year in a row without any decline in billings for the region. Firms located in the West saw business conditions continue to improve in December, after starting the year with some soft conditions and following a modest slowdown in August. Firms located in the Midwest saw billings growth every month of the year except September, and growth remained strong through the end of the year. Firms located in the Northeast were the only ones to end the year with a modest decrease in billings, and generally saw softer conditions throughout 2017 than those in other areas. Firms of all specializations ended the year on a strong note, particularly those with residential and commercial/industrial specializations. These firms also averaged the highest scores throughout 2017, although firms with an institutional specialization also reported billings growth every month of the year.