Two Maine firms make national ‘top 100’ lists

Two construction-related Maine companies have been listed in the top 100 nationwide for the work they do, in terms of 2011 revenues.

It’s the first time each of the companies have broken into the top 100.

The first is Pittsfield-based Cianbro Corp., which came in at No. 88 on Engineering News-Record’s list of the top 100 contractors. The second is Woodard & Curran, a Portland engineering firm that ranked 91 in the Engineering News-Record’s top 100 design firms.

“The hard work and focus of Cianbro team members have grown the company to one of the top 100 construction companies in the United States,” said Cianbro President Andi Vigue in a statement on Monday. “Our largest volume year (2011) was also the safest year in our history. This success can be attributed to the commitment of our team members, who are also the owners of the company. This is a tremendous accomplishment.”

Peter Vigue, company chairman and CEO, told the Bangor Daily News that the company previously had ranked at 138th in the country and was at 169 in 2010. The construction part of the business brought in more than $570 million in revenues in 2011, he said.

In late 2010, Cianbro acquired Starcon International Inc., a Texas-based contractor, expanding the Maine company’s presence to 25 additional states. Vigue said Cianbro is vertically integrated, with parts of the company often doing business for other parts, though the revenue is only counted once. So it was difficult to say exactly what percentage of the added 2011 revenue was due to the acquisition, but Vigue estimated it to be at least 20 percent.

“It allowed us to expand our footprint, it allowed us to build our team and it allowed us to grow our company financially at a time when the economy was not going well,” said Vigue.

In recent years, business in the government-funded part of the construction trade has been slow and Cianbro has been making inroads into the private-sector area, Vigue said. That includes, he said, the refinery work in Brewer and new work on electrical lines, such as a project for Amtrak in Washington, D.C.

Peter Vigue said the main reason for growth was that Cianbro’s 4,000-strong work force was willing to adapt to new types of work.

“It’s all about people — that’s how we do this,” he said. “They do the heavy lifting and work; I work for them.”

According to a release from Woodard & Curran, the company has moved up in the listing for the last five years, climbing 17 spots in the latest ranking. The company said it took in $119.7 million in design/engineering work in 2011 and has a work force of 650.

“The depth and capabilities of our team have enabled us to take on much larger projects for our clients,” said CEO Douglas McKeown in a release. “We have expanded the services we offer and are focusing more on design-build work, where we direct the overall effort from concept through completion. This has helped us continue to grow throughout the recession and the challenging recovery.”