Making the ENR List

The Beginning of Our Climb

By Don Trim

It wasn’t quite as dramatic as Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the church door at Wittenberg, but it was symbolic just the same. The idea came to me while reading Engineering News-Record – we needed a symbol for our growth goal and the Top 500 list seemed appropriate.

The year was 1968. Bob and I were working at our desks in our shared office. I looked up from my Engineering News-Record and told him about the list of engineering firms featured in that issue. The largest 500 firms in the nation were listed – these were firms we could compete with and rival in work if we put our minds to it. Bob and I agreed that we should set a goal to make and climb up the list.

I photocopied the 11 pages that counted down the top 500 design firms by revenue and taped them together, end to end. Stepping up on a chair, I taped the list near the ceiling by the door of our office and let it tumble down to the floor. It became our growth chart. I added another sheet of paper to the bottom and wrote our name on it to show where we were.

The ENR growth chart served as a constant reminder of where we wanted to go. It represented our first goal to increase revenues to a level that put us on a playing field with national firms. The reminder stayed up until we debuted on the list as number 413 in 1971.

Our ENR Top 500 Design Firm ranking has continued to rise. At number 153 in 2026, our ranking is still used as a goal and measurement of where we stand and where we want to go.