As The HFW Companies (HFW) continues to expand its national portfolio of architecture and engineering (AE) partner firms, the growth of its network this past year has lifted HFW to No. 242 in Engineering News Record’s (ENR’s) latest prestigious annual ranking of the top 500 architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms.
In ENR’s 2024 ranking, released earlier this week, HFW climbed 39 places from its debut 2023 ranking of No. 281, thanks to a combined total revenue this past year of $90.9 million. General building projects, according to the ENR report, drove 46 percent of that revenue, followed by water supply projects, combined with sewer and waste, at 24 percent; transportation at 22 percent; and manufacturing projects at eight percent.
The founders of HFW, a professional services firm that set out in 2020 to build a national, multidisciplinary network of AE-industry partner firms, are celebrating the latest ranking.
“We’re delighted with our continued growth and honored to have earned a higher ranking this year among ENR’s Top 500 AEC firms,” said Michael Hein, AIA, chief executive officer of HFW. “HFW and its growing partner network have worked very hard to continue driving growth and bringing the network together to reshape collaborative infrastructure design. This higher ranking testifies to the strength of our model and the partner firms that join our expanding network.”
Grateful for the latest higher ranking, Hein is quick to note, though, that the new ranking doesn’t take into account the addition in early April of Dallas-based civil engineering firm KFM, which would have raised the collective revenue level even more significantly for HFW.
“We’re excited about our progress in realizing our vision to invest nationally in a growing portfolio of strategic partners and their legacy brands,” Hein said. “At the same time, we’re working hard to leverage their collaborative strengths to support one another and take on greater infrastructure design challenges across a national footprint, making them stronger and better together.
Over the past four years, HFW already has established strategic growth partnerships with nine regional AE firms, from South Florida to Las Vegas. Among them:
• Miller Legg, an engineering, landscape architecture, and environmental firm with offices in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Port St. Lucie, and Tampa, Fla.
• HSQ Group, a civil engineering firm with offices in Boca Raton, Miami, and Sunrise, Fla.
• CRANSTON, a civil and structural engineering, landscape architecture, planning, and surveying firm with offices in Augusta, Ga., Aiken, S.C., Charleston, S.C., and Hilton Head, S.C.
• 4WARD Land Surveying, a surveying firm based in Austin, Texas.
• INVISION, a planning, architecture, and interior design firm with offices in Des Moines and Waterloo, Iowa.
• GastingerWalker&, an architecture, interior design, and construction management firm with offices in Kansas City, Mo., and Chicago, Ill.
• Taney Engineering, a civil engineering firm serving Las Vegas, Nev. and the surrounding region.
• Kuo & Associates, a civil engineering firm based in Houston, Texas.
• KFM, a civil engineering firm with offices in Dallas and Austin, Texas.