Five for 5000: RAND Makes Inc.'s List of Fastest Growing Companies Once Again

New York, August 13, 2014

It’s RAND’s high five. For the fifth time since 2007, RAND Engineering & Architecture, DPC has made the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in the United States. RAND, which was ranked 4,508, recorded $10.7 million in revenue in 2013, a 57% growth from 2010 and the highest since the company was founded in 1987. RAND was among the top 100 engineering firms on the list and the only New York engineering firm specializing in building restoration and design.

Capital Improvements Mainstay

As in previous years in which RAND made the Inc. 5000 list, the mainstay of the company’s growth has been repair and upgrade programs for buildings, especially residential cooperatives and condominiums. “Co-op and condo boards understand the importance of maintaining their buildings and taking on long-term capital improvement projects to increase the value of their properties,” said RAND founder and President Stephen A. Varone, AIA. “Given the older housing stock in New York City and the steady rise in real estate prices, we anticipate that there will be an ongoing need for the kind of essential engineering and architectural services that RAND provides.”

FISPs and Follow-ups

One area in particular that has contributed to RAND’s growth over the past three years is New York City’s Local Law 11/98, now known as the Facade Inspection and Safety Program, or FISP. Under the program, buildings taller than six stories must have their facades inspected every five years by a Professional Engineer or Registered Architect to determine if there are any unsafe conditions. Owners of buildings filed as unsafe with the New York City Buildings Department are required to fix those conditions in a designated time frame. RAND performed several hundred facade inspections during the 7th Inspection Cycle, which ran from February 2010 to February 2013, and designed and administered dozens of follow-up repair programs to keep buildings in compliance.

Oil-to-Gas Growth

In addition, RAND is assisting an increasing number of property owners who are converting their buildings’ heating plants from oil to gas. Some of those conversions are driven by a New York City Department of Environmental Protection rule amendment requiring buildings burning Number 6 heating oil to convert to a cleaner fuel (No. 4 or No. 2 oil or natural gas) by 2015. Other owners have been making the switch to gas or a combination oil/gas system because of the high cost of oil relative to gas. “Property owners are taking steps to make their building systems more efficient, and converting their heating plants to burn natural gas is a significant upgrade in that process,” said Peter E. Varsalona, PE, RAND’s Principal and head of the firm’s Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing team.

Varsalona added that RAND has been conducting a growing number of benchmarking, energy audits, and retro-commissioning projects as property owners are required to comply with New York City’s Local Laws 84/09 and 87/09. “As owners and managers become more familiar with the city’s energy efficiency legislation and the measures it requires, they will turn to firms with an expertise in building systems and reducing operating costs.”

Another area in which RAND has expanded its services is Special Inspections, which are performed at critical points during most repair and upgrade projects.  As a New York City-registered Special Inspections Agency, RAND is authorized to perform Special Inspections for a wide range of disciplines, ensuring that the construction work is conducted in accordance with the law, from filing to sign-off.

Bigger Staff, Offices

In other indicators of RAND’s ongoing growth, the firm has added 27 positions over the past three years, expanding the staff total to 90 people, the largest in RAND’s history. RAND is also completing a major renovation of its Chelsea offices, giving it three floors and a total of 22,500 square feet.

“We have put in place an infrastructure that enables us to take on larger and more extensive projects while continuing to provide quality service to our clients,” Varone said. “We expect that the demand for our services will remain high in the years ahead, and we are prepared for it.”

The Inc. 500|5000, which lists the fastest-growing private companies in the nation based on their three-year revenue growth, was started in 1982 and is published by Inc. magazine.

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RAND Engineering & Architecture, DPC
159 West 25th Street | New York, NY 10001
P: 212-675-8844 |