King County Courthouse

Things got pretty busy at Coughlin Porter Lundeen as a result of the Feb. 28 earthquake in the Puget Sound region.

“Last February’s earthquake generated unprecedented demand for building evaluations,” said marketing director Jill Jago. “Our engineers reviewed over 400 buildings.”

Not bad for a firm with 60 employees. While the staff stayed about the same size as last year, the firm expects revenues to increase slightly this year to more than $8 million.

Jago said the challenge has been “to maintain our current size and efficiency, to provide the high level of client service we are known for, and to look for selective opportunities to diversity and build our client base.”

This year, the firm has experienced a slow down in the commercial office development sector. “Several projects that included significant office space components are proceeding with an altered scope that includes a heavier weighting of multi-family housing,” Jago said.

Coughlin Porter Lundeen has been able to offset that slow down, however, by diversifying into markets such as schools, health care and institutional construction.

“Institutional work with secured funding remains quite strong, and the K-12 sector continues to present excellent opportunities,” Jago said. The firm currently has 15 schools in design or under construction, and three new projects for the Seattle School District’s BEXII program.

“Overall, we expect to see increased competition in all sectors as firms seek to diversify further to remain healthy,” she said.

As things become more competitive, Jago said the challenge will be “for everyone in the industry (to) remain focused on their core competencies so as not to dilute the reputations they’ve built up over the good times.” Construction documentation is finishing up on the firm’s largest project, the King County Courthouse seismic stabilization.

Work is continuing on the five-year expansion of the Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, with plans for a new parking garage and bed building on campus and an office and data center on Sand Point Way. The firm also had a hand in Pacific Lutheran University’s new Center for Learning and Technology — a state-of-the-art classroom and faculty building following sustainable design principles.