For the Times They Are a Changin’?

Aha, an article title inspired by the inordinately long (2 hours and 20 mins!) A Complete Unknown? Nope. Although I did catch it last weekend and thought it was brilliant in spite of my obstinate avoidance of all things Dylan (except for “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”). No, the inspiration for this week’s article are the sentiments expressed by the 200+ AE industry executives, investors, and experts who will be gathering in Miami next month for the 11th annual Southeast M&A and Business Symposium.

Consistently this group of folks—whose thoughts have been gathered in Q4 2024 and year-to-date 2025—provide the first real opportunity to take the pulse of the industry in the new year.

And based on what they’re telling us, there are some changes in the offing. 

1. First a word on who’s coming to Miami: Six in ten attendees are industry CEOs and C-suite executives. A smidgen over one-third are M&A executives (mostly from larger firms), and the balance is industry investors. Two-thirds are from firms with over 250 employees. Half of this year’s attendees are from ENR Top 500 firms. Just over half are representing consulting engineering firms, with 25% from A or AE designers. Ninety-five percent are from U.S.-based firms. One-third are from the Southeast. Just under 70% are from employee-owned or ESOP/partial ESOP firms. One-fifth are representing firms that have financial sponsors or backers. These are the folks giving us a first read on how things are shaping up in 2025.

2. Full steam ahead, Scottie: Eighty-five percent of symposium attendees expect 2025 to be an even better year for their firms than 2024 was (and that was a cracker). The balance of attendees expects the upcoming 12 months to be comparable to last year. This is the highest level of optimism that we have recorded in our symposium series history.

3. Here’s where it gets interesting: Just 56% of attendees cite finding talent as their biggest challenge headed into 2025. And while talent is still the number-one issue cited by attendees, the percentage is WAY down and a big change from prior years when it was consistently north of 75%. Maybe the industry has just resigned itself to the fact that there will never be enough talent. Maybe leaders have given up being concerned about the situation and have figured out how to better use technology to manage the dynamic and get results. Interestingly, the challenge of an “uncertain business environment” is cited by one in ten of the attendees—over double what we have seen in recent years. Most of these attendees cite the potential for changes in federal funding and priorities at the heart of their concerns. 

4. Infrastructure dominates growth opportunities: Over two-thirds of the attendees see the success of their firms in 2025 tied directly to…read more

Keep Up to Date with
Industry Insights

Stay up-to-date in real-time.

The 2024 Word on the Street Collection

Your go-to source for real-time market and industry intelligence.