In addition to the questions we asked of participating healthcare architecture/engineering and construction firms that were used to form our annual Corporate Rankings based on 2009 reported figures (see page 51), the HEALTHCARE DESIGN and Healthcare Building Ideas Editorial teams decided to add some supplemental questions to this year’s poll with the hopes of providing some deeper understanding of the state of the industry in 2009. In all, 82 leading industry firms responded to the poll. Please note that all figures were self-reported and were not verified by the Publisher, nor does the Publisher guarantee their accuracy.

On the following pages, readers will find the results of our findings, represented in text, as well as graphically. We hope you find these statistics enlightening.

Figure 1 illustrates the percentage of projects by category that reporting firms worked on in 2009. As the figure shows, hospitals and other inpatient care facilities easily lead the way. It will be interesting to watch this trend over the course of the coming years to see if healthcare reform or demographic factors have any effect on these percentages.

Approximate percentage of projects in each category

Figure 2 shows the percentage of new construction versus remodel/renovation projects as being heavily in favor of new construction, but again, new requirements under healthcare reform may change this ratio in the years to come, as facilities rush to update to accommodate electronic medical records and other necessary changes.

Percentage of New Construction vs. Remodel

On average, 33% of 2009’s total healthcare billings represented completed projects.

Despite figure 3‘s findings that RFPs increased, actual contracts signed were generally in decline.

How 2009 RFPs compared to 2008

On average, reporting firms received 75 RFPs during 2009. Figure 3 shows how the number of RFPs received in 2009 compared to 2008. Despite the economic downturn and the cloudy outlook of healthcare reform looming, most firms reported that they received more RFPs in 2009 than in 2008, a somewhat surprising finding that will, again, be worth comparing again in coming years. However, this stands somewhat in contrast with the numbers shown in our next figure.

A combined 5,210 contracts for healthcare projects were signed by reporting firms in 2009, and figure 4 shows how this compared to the number of contracts signed in 2008. Despite figure 3‘s findings that RFPs increased, actual contracts signed were generally in decline. This lends credence to the general feeling that healthcare construction was in a “holding pattern… while reform and the economy straightened themselves out.

Healthcare contracts signed in 2009 versus 2008

Compare that information with the findings in figure 5, which represents the total dollar value (construction costs) of new healthcare contracts signed. With the highest number of projects falling in the $100-to-$500-million range, and the second highest total coming in at over $1 billion, it would appear that the healthcare projects that are moving forward are fairly expensive ones.

Total dollar value (construction costs) of new healthcare contracts signed

Figure 6 measures the size of completed projects in terms of total billable cost. The numbers are taken from a total of 6,787 projects reported. Figure 7 looks at 5,192 projects in terms of square footage. Taken together, these numbers for completed projects indicate that while firms may have stayed active in 2009, the projects were fairly small and yielded dollars on the lower end of the spectrum for the firms. HD

Size of healthcare projects in terms of dollars – total projects: 6,787

Size in terms of square footage (out of 5,192 projects)

Healthcare Design 2010 July;10(7):47-50