Statistics Canada reported on Thursday that the combined operating revenue of architectural and landscape architectural service industries in Alberta rose to $612.4 million in 2017, up from $604 million in 2016.

The federal agency said operating expenses also rose to $528.3 million from $525.8 million the year before. Salaries, wages, commissions and benefits in the province went up to $270.4 million from $261.3 million.

The operating profit margin for those industries in Alberta was 13.7 per cent in 2017 compared with 12.9 per cent in 2016.

StatsCan said that on a national level operating revenue in those industries rose 7.6 per cent from 2016 to $4.8 billion in 2017. Meanwhile, the operating expenses of the two industries increased at a slower pace (+3.7 per cent) to $3.9 billion. This resulted in an operating profit margin of 18.4 per cent, up from 15.4 per cent in 2016.

“More than three-quarters of the combined operating revenue came from three provinces in 2017. Architectural and landscape architectural service firms in Ontario generated 44.0 per cent of operating revenue, followed by firms in Quebec (19.1 per cent) and British Columbia (16.7 per cent),” it said.

“Salaries, wages, commissions and benefits totalled $2.0 billion in 2017, accounting for 50.5 per cent of total operating expenses for the combined industries, a level comparable to 2016 (50.0 per cent). Subcontracts were the next largest expense item, representing 13.2 per cent of total operating expenses.

“Architectural services for non-residential building projects accounted for 56.6 per cent of the combined sales in the two industries in 2017, followed by sales for residential building projects (18.3 per cent). The remaining sales for the two industries (25.3 per cent) came from landscape architecture, urban planning and other related services. In 2017, the majority of sales were made to business clients (53.9 per cent), followed by governments, non-profit organizations and public institutions (32.8 per cent).”

– Mario Toneguzzi for Calgary’s Business

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