Southeast Specialty Firms 'Continue the Ride' in Growing Market

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"You think you're in good shape," he says, "Then it's pushed back and you find yourself with holes to fill."Carrouth also reports an uptick in publicly funded projects since the start of the new year, albeit with fewer firms vying for work in what is a traditionally reliable sector. Whatever the reason, Carrouth says, "It has been enough to push some public projects back because there were not enough qualified bidders."The volatility of construction materials has also forced a drastic change to pricing and bidding work over the past two years. "We are pricing many projects an extraordinary amount of times from early inception to final construction documents," he says. While demand for multifamily projects may be peaking, Dominici feels strength in health care, higher education, student housing and senior living may help make up the difference. "There are many large projects still in the preplanning and bid stages, but not all will come to fruition with rising interest rates and construction costs still at all-time highs," he says. "We have already seen some projects that have been in the budgeting stages for a year or longer get put on ice or scrapped altogether due to budget issues."Another concern, Witt adds, is how the region might be affected by an inflation-slowed overall economy or a recession. Witt adds, "We will continue the ride."SPC performed plumbing work for the 146,000-sq-ft, four-story lab science education building at Eastern Carolina University in Greenville, N.C. Photo courtesy SPC MechanicalAbout the RankingENR Southeast's Top Specialty Contractors ranking lists firms' 2021 revenue figures earned from projects located in the Southeast.