2003: mixed bag for industry.

The year 2003 was a mixed bag for some companies in the design and construction industry, but 2004 looks like it will be a better year, though some sectors will still be lagging behind others.

While the homebuilding sector hit record highs this year, some in the construction industry just eked by.

"I think 2003 we have to give it a mixed review," said Lou Coletti, president and CEO of the New York Building Trades Association. "There was work, but it declined from 2002."

However, by the end of the year projects began to crop up and some predict that 2004 will be a better year for the industry.

"We believe in 2004 the market is on its way to recovery," Coletti said.

Still others are being a bit more cautious.

"To the surprise of many, 2003 has turned out to be a banner year for the design, construction and real estate industry," said Richard Anderson, president of the New York Building Congress. "The outlook for 2004 is somewhat cloudier, with major questions in the infrastructure and office construction sectors. Overall the coming year can be expected to be fairly active, but somewhat less so than 2003."

IBEX Construction did fairly well, considering it was not a great year for anyone in the industry.

"It was good. It wasn't a great year, but 2003 was good to us," said Andy Frankl, president of IBEX. "We kept our volume high. Although we saw our colleagues not fare so well, especially those in the office market. We saw a couple go out of business."

Frankl said 2004 should be even better for his business, which specializes in the retail sector.

"We will probably do more of the same, stick with quality work," Frankl said. "I think we will continue to take contracts that are less risky. I think we will just forge ahead."

Design firms like Beyer Blinder Belle Architects are also forecasting a brighter 2004 and beyond.

"2003 wasn't a bad year for us, moderate I would say," said Carlos Cardoso, Beyer Binder Belle's director of construction administration. "I see 2004 being pretty much a steady pace. I think after 2004 it will pick up.

To assure a steadier flow of work next year, changes are on the horizon for the firm that made its claim to fame in restoration. Now 70 to 80% of Beyer Binder Belle's business is in new construction.

"We are venturing into design build to expand our client base," Cardoso said. "We see clients demanding more from contractors. They want it faster, cheaper, quicker."

Describing the concept as more efficient and therefore less costly, Cardoso said design build is the wave of the future for the East Coast. The concept that combines the talents of architects and builders on one team is already popular in the south and west.

"As clients adapt to this new delivery method, I think it will become more competitive," he said. "We believe it will take off here."

Some construction companies that rely heavily on government contracts were disappointed this year.

"It was a tough year, large projects were hard to come by," said Harry Spring, managing partner of WASA. "We do a lot of work for the government. Several projects were canceled or delayed. We had to make it up in repeat clients in smaller projects. It was a very difficult year."

To offset this year's decline in projects, the company changed its marketing strategy.

"Actually 2003 was the year we decided to invest in promotion and public relations," Spring said. "We've gotten our name out there. We attended more conferences, made more clients visits."

WASA is hoping its investment will pay off.

"I think we are going to see it pick up," Spring said. "This past week and a half we have been approached for projects we would love to get. I see some movement. We are looking forward to 2004 to begin to bare fruit from the investment we made in 2003."

In the last two years, WASA has also opened offices in New Jersey and Connecticut to diversify its business.

HRH Construction LLC has also branched out to reach other markets.

"Our strategy in this market has been to diversify geographically and by sector. As a result we have been able to grow steadily," said Frank Janos, vice president and chief fiinancial officer of HRH.

Janos sees 2004 as the turn around year for many in the industry.

"We can already see economic conditions improving, and we expect that to gain steam in 2004," Janos said. "We expect more dollars spent on construction in all sectors."

HRH is sticking with its winning ways.

"HRH will continue its strategy of geographic and sector diversification in 2004," Janos said. "We expect to increase the share of our business that comes from New Jersey."

Coletti said many firms aren't making any big changes, they just had to ride out a slump in the industry.

"I don't get a sense there is any great changes," he said. " I think the challenges are external, reducing overhead, training of project management staff, and seeing that there is sufficient number of trade labor available."

"In late summer and early fall, work was hard to come by, since then we've seen it pick up," Coletti said. "Contractors are saying there's work out there and that they are being asked to put in bids."

Frankl agrees 2004 is the turning point, especially with the World Trade Center starting to see some actual construction work getting underway.

"To me the whole economic turnaround in a large part is psychological," he said. "The fact that we are starting to build downtown should parallel with the economy coming back."