With a hot construction market, architecture and engineering firms are generating more revenue per employee while keeping costs under control. The result is the most dramatic increase in profitability the industry has seen in years, according to a new survey conducted by Nattick, Mass.-based Zweig White & Associates.

The 2000 Zweig White Associates Finance & Accounting Survey of Architecture, Engineering & Planning Firms reports that EBITDA margin (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization expenses) as a percentage of net revenues rose from 12.4 percent to 13.7 percent from the 1999 to 2000 editions. Meanwhile, net revenue per employee has grown with each year of the survey, jumping from $72,948 in 1997 to $79,683 in 2000.