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M U N I C I P A L ( a n d F E D E R A L ) P R A C T I C E

I N T R O D U C T I O N

In 2017 FGM’s Municipal Practice saw many project ups and downs due to outside influences of
politics and state budget wrangling. Many of our clients delayed projects which had been on the
books to begin during the fiscal year. While is not uncommon in the municipal world, there
seemed to be an unusual number of delays and false starts last fiscal year. So, while we watched
the potential revenues from these delays slip by, we did win a plethora of additional projects to
keep our net revenue close to on target.

We have worked hard to win and develop solid client relationships by performing space needs
studies, and these studies have been opening the door to future work for our practice area with
the potential for several large projects. Also, by continuing the strategy of highlighting our interiors
capabilities; offering branding, furnishings and master planning services to existing and potential
clients, we are successfully winning additional work.

We have been busy developing work regionally in Missouri, Wisconsin and Indiana. Our Wisconsin
endeavors have gone so well, with new facilities in Ledgeview, and projects underway in Racine
and Kenosha, that we will be opening an office in Milwaukee soon. Our presence in Missouri
continues to increase not only in the fire market, but in the recreation and civic markets too. To
this end, collaboration between our offices will remain critical to successfully winning, producing
and ultimately completing these projects for our clients.

Gross revenue in the Municipal Practice was steady last year, with a slight dip in our net revenue
and a significant drop in our profitability. We had many staff changes within the practice area last
year, with many experienced mid-level staff leaving the firm. While we have tried to minimize that
impact on our projects, not replacing our mid-level staff or hiring entry level staff soon enough has
had an impact on our profitability due to the imbalance of staff levels on many of our project
teams. We have since taken important steps to correct staffing levels within the Municipal
Practice. We have also strengthened our Southern Illinois and Missouri efforts with the addition of
local interiors, design and business development help in all of our practice areas.

We are also excited that the Federal Practice joined Municipal this past year, and we saw an
unexpected, but welcome, increase in our federal work after the presidential election. Both the
Pierce Terrace Elementary School and Arlington Heights Army Reserve Center were started after
being placed on hold years earlier. And both contributed to ending the year on a positive
financial note.

V I S I O N

FGM is the architect of choice for high quality planning and design projects in our core municipal
markets and a trusted advisor to our municipal clients.

Success in the Municipal Practice entails FGM becoming the firm of choice for high profile
municipal projects, a trusted advisor for local units of government and the go-to firm for planning
and designing public projects.

The FGM Municipal Practice provides Architectural services in multiple sub-markets which can
generally be grouped into the following categories – with slightly different goals to provide quality
design solutions in each.