I started to Healthcare Design About 12 years ago, one of the first big projects on my desk was managing our annual A/E/C survey. It’s been a pet project of mine ever since, eventually teaching me that using Excel can be more satisfying than pain. Over time, the survey has changed a bit, with new questions added and some eliminated, but it always serves as a biennial opportunity to assess where we stand as an industry and what its members think we are Where will it go next.

The survey is open to any architecture/engineering/construction firm working in the healthcare field – again, firms, not individuals. While we like to hear from all audience members collectively through other survey work, this survey captures a high-level perspective that we can only get from companies working in this space. This is because we ask for macro details such as the number of healthcare contracts signed in the past year, total healthcare revenue, etc.

Among the companies that have responded, we have global giants and small regional outposts that together help paint a holistic picture of healthcare design today.

A few years ago, we opened the survey every year, but eventually noticed that we wouldn’t see much change in the data from year to year, so we bumped into each other at this time. Our last survey was in early 2020, when we were all learning the word “coronavirus.” So when our 2022 survey kicks off, I can’t help but wonder what the numbers say about everything that’s happened between then and now.

That’s not to say this year’s results are very different from what we’ve seen in the past. But at the same time, the apparent discrepancy has emerged to a greater extent than I’ve seen before, suggesting that the industry is in recovery mode. In most of our key year-over-year statistics — when we ask companies to compare requests for proposals received or contracts signed to the previous year — we saw an uptick, and a clear rebound. On closer inspection, while the surge in work has been done on a smaller scale, most projects completed last year were at the lower end of the price and value spectrum, with renovations ahead of new construction.

There are other threads to follow. In response to the survey’s open-ended questions about ongoing challenges and opportunities, nearly every company that responded commented on the current influx of business they were experiencing. Likewise, most also commented on windfall pressures, as talent acquisition remains the biggest challenge in managing surging workloads and ongoing construction market volatility.

I hope you enjoy digging into the results as much as I do. Clearly, as 2022 rolls around, there’s a lot to be optimistic about, and we’ll be keeping an eye out as well.