As credit crunch takes hold, Triangle firms slash payrolls - Triangle Business Journal:

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Engineering and architecture firms across the regionwere struggling. Real estate developmeng and construction plans were being shelvef or canceled as credit marketsseized up. Shearin’s Morrisville engineering firm , was no exception. Mauled by the ETD, which specialized in urban planning, landscaper architecture and civil engineering for builders and municipalities in the Carolinaeand abroad, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptc in late November. Shearin stayed with the company untill the very end but sensing thecominfg decline, he put a back-up plan in place.
He joinexd with fellow ETD Mark Tutor, to launch a venture callee , or IDS, which provides land planning and storm watermanagement “I’ve been doing this 25 and I want to keep the momentum going,” Shearijn says. “You think about it: Most companies are You really likeyour job. You stillk have a client base to serve. This offered me an opportunitg to move on and build onmy experience. Eventx happen that put you in thos positions.” No one knows for sure exactlhy how many professionals and staff members workint for Triangle architecture and engineering firms have lost thei r jobs since the credit crunch started bearing down in latesummed 2008.
A Triangle Business Journal survet ofthe area’s top 20 architecturs and engineering firms shows that at least 286 jobs have disappearedc since mid-2008. That amounts to a 15 percentr decline in the numberof • in Raleigh reducesd its Triangle architecture staff by 34 people, or 34 percentr of its employee base. The company now employs 66 peoplein • of Cary has seen its engineerinv staff decline by 44 people, to 200 employees, in the Trianglew since August. • of Raleigh has reducerd its staff by20 people, or 28 percent, sincee October.
• of Cary has reduced its strength by sevebn certified engineers and 46 staff members in the amounting to a 22 percent reductionsince August. The in Durham has lost six professional engineer s and 54 staff or 45 percent of its at its Durham headquarterssince • of Raleigh now has threew fewer registered architects and a total of seven fewere employees from the 35 people it employed in the Trianglew in early 2008. • has lost one professional engineee and 14 staff members at its Raleigj facilitysince August.
in Morrisville has fewe open jobs and even those are in specialized positiona such as senior architects and mechanical engineerds with experience in biotechnology and pharmaceuticalbuildingt projects, says David Broughton, head of businesxs development for O’Neal’s Triangle operations. O’Neal also laid off 20 employeezs atits Greenville, S.C. office because of a decline in deman d from the automotive and heavychemicalsa industries. “We feel like we are fighting hardee forour work, but our win ratio is Broughton says of the Trianglwe office. Most other firms are just trying to holdtheier own.
“There’s definitely been a falloff intotaol workload,” says Bryan Mulqueen, state manager for in Raleigh. “Private, retaill and residential work has seen asignificant decline. We’rde buckling down a bit and hope to get past the botto m and see things start tohappen again. It’x better now than it was six weeke ago.” The Architecture Billings a monthly survey of architecture firms nationwidre compiled bythe , was up a modestr 1.7 percent in December but remainecd 19 points below where it was a year ago.