The Zweig Letter Hot Firm List was created to identify the fastest-growing architecture, engineering, planning, and environmental firms in the United States and Canada.

But, how did these firms make the list? The procedure began in January with a nationwide call for industry firms to complete a short entry form with questions about their firm type, size, and 2004 and 2007 gross revenues. Hundreds of firms of all types and sizes that exhibited growth during the last three years submitted data to ZweigWhite. Top contenders’ revenue figures were verified using financial statements or income tax returns reviewed by third parties.

The program has taken special care to recognize both small firms and large firms for their successes: firms’ dollar growth and percentage growth are weighted equally. Each firm was assigned a dollar ranking and a percentage ranking—then the two numbers combined for a total score. The 200 firms with the best combined scores made The Zweig Letter 2008 Hot Firm List.

DCI Engineers
DCI Engineers comes in at 39th place in the 2008 Hot Firm List and it’s the second year in a row that DCI has ranked near the top. Bellevue, Wash.-based DCI Engineers (D’Amato Conversano, Inc.) is an innovative civil and structural consulting engineering firm.

Mark D’Amato and Guy Conversano founded DCI Engineers in 1988 with four employees. Since then, DCI has grown to 186 employees and six offices. One of the reasons for its success has been its family first philosophy, which has helped it to attract and retain quality employees.

Co-founder Mark D’Amato said, "It was our philosophy that if a person spent the right amount of time with their family at home and on weekends, they’d be much happier and productive during the week."

In addition to hiring and retaining quality employees, DCI has been able to diversify the workload to a wide range of projects and industries.

Some of the services that DCI offers include construction design, seismic retrofit, remodels and additions, feasibility studies, project cost estimates, sustainable design, stormwater drainage, erosion control, and street utility design. The company made a deliberate choice to broaden its services so that it can serve its customers’ needs as completely as possible. By doing so, DCI also has a wide range of customers and work and is not focused exclusively on any one field or target customer.

DCI Engineers celebrated its twentieth anniversary in April 2008, a major milestone for the company. The June 2008 opening of the firm’s latest office in Austin, Texas, marked an important move into one the most dynamic cities in the country. Austin is not only one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the country, it is becoming known as a home to sustainable design. There is little doubt that this field will be an important factor in DCI’s future.

Right from the start, Mark D’Amato and Guy Conversano included key employees in leadership and ownership of the company. Mark Aden, president of DCI Engineers, said, "I credit Mark and Guy with never being too heavy handed about how the company was going to be run or organized. They always had that freedom for innovation." That freedom has been vital in the growth of the company and will help it to continue to expand in the coming years.