Greater Boston’s architecture firms kept too many employees on board through the recession and their profits have suffered as a result, according to a survey by accounting firms CBIZ Tofias and Mayer Hoffman McCann.
The architectural industry in Greater Boston saw an overall decline in profits for the first time in several years, the firms said.
The 2009 Architectural Survey by the affiliated Cambridge-based Tofias and Kansas City-based Mayer Hoffman found that the slowdown in demand for commercial building naturally slowed demand for architectural services. But while billable hours were down, many firms “employed too many staff for their work volume level.”
Once firms return to more normal project revenue levels, increasing employees’ billable hours will be the most important factor in bringing firms back to profitability.
