(12-20-19)
Increasing firm profitability is the top business-related concern for architecture firms in 2020. Billings at architecture firms increased modestly for the second consecutive month in November, with an Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score of 51.9 (any score over 50 indicates billings growth). Following several months of flat and declining billings through the spring and summer, a slight majority of firms are once again reporting that business conditions are improving. In addition, inquiries into new work strengthened in November, and the value of new design contracts also remained fairly strong. Although some firms continue to report a softening in their billings, the overall picture is one of at least modest growth continuing into the near future. Three out of four regions see growth – Business conditions also improved across much of the country in November, with firms located in every region except the Northeast seeing billings growth for the month. Firms located in the Northeast continued to report weak billings, although a slightly smaller share reported declining billings in November versus October. And firms of all specializations reported billings growth in November for the first time since February. In particular, business conditions continued to strengthen at firms with a commercial/industrial specialization.