Worries about recessions and resources have done little to dampen the Las Vegas area construction market, and few specialty contractors better illustrate the current run of robustness than Commercial Roofers Inc. (CRI), ENR Southwest Specialty Contractor of the Year.

Despite recession fears and high interest rates as well as supply chain delays and continuing labor shortages, specialty contractors in the Southwest are applauding last year’s productivity levels and anticipating a continued burst of activity through 2023.

Significant year-to-year changes among ENR’s national Top 400 Contractors are not unusual. But Phoenix-based Willmeng Construction’s vault from outside the rankings to No. 129 on this year’s list evidences the big difference a strong year can make.

A familiar scenario is playing out as firms participating in ENR Southwest’s annual Top Contractors survey for Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico are reporting strong performance and backlogs, while at the same time, noting that qualified labor remains a top issue as well as materials availability and prices.

ENR Southwest's annual Top Contractors ranking will publish in the magazine's July 3, 2023 issue.

Since its founding in 1989, Tempe, Ariz.-based Architekton Inc. has designed a variety of landmark buildings throughout the metropolitan Phoenix valley and across Arizona.

As ENR Southwest’s recently published annual Top Starts ranking showed, 2022 proved to be an especially strong year for construction firms working in the states of Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.

Firms credit the university's in-house architects and construction professionals for successful project delivery.

Solar generation, data centers, infrastructure and manufacturing projects powered the Southwest in 2022.

Those working in construction are familiar with how constraints shape projects, but what about people parameters? Projects and people both succeed despite limits. Just ask Jerry Barnier, founder and chairman of Suntec Concrete.