Nearly 80% of Tampa Bay architects say hurricanes hurting business

Fewer local architects are expecting demand for their services to increase again this year as developers look to move on in the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton late last year.

In an annual survey conducted by the Tampa Bay chapter of the American Institute of Architects, 65.6% of the architects say they expect more work in 2025, similar to last year’s 64%, but far below the 85% from 2022.

A contributing factor may well be an uncertainty this year in how developers and others will forge ahead after the area was hit by the dueling storms. That bears out in the numbers, where 77.3% of the architects expect project costs will be higher due to the storms and where 42.1% expect getting materials will be tougher.

Of the 96 architects who answered the survey, 76% say they expect a negative impact from the hurricanes on their businesses or organizations.

The findings of the survey were announced in a news release issued by the local AIA which says the results can be “used to predict how real estate development will look in Tampa Bay this year.”

Jody Beck of Traction Architecture and the chapter president says in the statement that the “back-to-back hurricanes have introduced new challenges, from rising project costs to the need to rebuild damaged structures in a manner that matches the latest codes.”

Among the survey’s other findings:

• 60.4% have had to cut costs to make up for higher interest rates.
• 41% are somewhat optimistic about the national economy this year while 15.6% are somewhat pessimistic.
• 40% say they have cut costs to make up for higher project financing costs.
• 34% are optimistic interest rates will drop significantly this year.
• 23.4% say higher interest rates have had a major negative impact on their businesses.