Happy New Year!
It’s Reid Middleton’s first blog post of the year, and it seems appropriate to provide both a look back and a look to the future for Reid Middleton. Each view is filled with change.
We continue an upward climb out of the recession. Reid Middleton does about 80 percent of our work for government owners – local, state, and federal. We don’t look back to our pre-recession record years as the norm, but it feels that our primary markets are still in recovery mode. As tax revenues declined during the recession, projects in design were completed, but new starts were drastically reduced. With tax revenues returning to pre-recession levels, clients tend to fund construction of projects that have been sitting on the shelf. During the second half of 2014, we saw more design requests coming from our clients. It’s a good sign that the economy will reach a steady state in the coming year and beyond.
2014 – A Year of Expansion
In 2014 Reid Middleton expanded our geographic footprint. This was driven by an overarching desire of our leadership that Reid Middleton be an enduring company, providing the same high quality services to our clients for many years to come. We believe one way to help achieve this is to diversify ourselves, so that we can balance booms and busts in different regions. We opened offices in Spokane, Washington; Portland, Oregon; San Diego, California; and Missoula, Montana. In the case of each new office, there was a specific project or client request that warranted becoming an active part of the community.
Looking Ahead in 2015
Now, with our new office locations as well as Everett, Anchorage, and Hawaii, we serve clients across all Pacific Rim states. In 2015 and beyond, we see continued growth in the company as our clients look to us more regionally, and as our broader geographic footprint provides opportunities to serve new clients. We are kicking into high gear on our first project in Japan as well as United Arab Emirates, and we see this trend continuing, in particular with our seismic engineering practice and Rapid Evaluation and Assessment Program™ (REAP).
At our main office in Everett, we are in the final planning stages of an office renovation – an outcome of renegotiating and extending our lease. Part of the renovation will be creating two new conference rooms that can be joined into one large gather or educational space. One thing I have learned as a “recipient” of design services is that no one cares about the outcome as much as the final user. As president of an engineering company, I have been educated more than I envisioned on room acoustics, wall finishes, audio-visual technology, office furnishings, and just plain human nature, all with the intent that we make the best decisions for our staff in our space.
Thank you for being a part of the Reid Middleton community, and I hope everyone is ready for a great 2015!
