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Dive Brief:

• For the sixth year in a row, New York City-based Turner Construction is the No. 1 contractor in the country by revenue, according to Engineering News-Record’s 2026 Top 400 Commercial Contractors list released Wednesday. The list ranks contractors by self-reported 2025 revenue.
• Reston, Virginia-based Bechtel once again took the No. 2 spot. However, STO Building Group, headquartered in New York City, claimed the No. 3 spot, up from No. 6 last year, shunting Omaha, Nebraska-based Kiewit down to the No. 4 position.
• As was the case in 2025, all three of the top contractors saw their revenues grow year over year. Turner’s 2025 revenue grew to $28.3 billion, up from $20.2 billion the previous year. Meanwhile, Bechtel’s 2025 revenue reached $19.5 billion, up from $15.9 billion in 2024. STO Building Group saw its 2025 revenue climb to $15.6 billion, a jump from 2024’s $12 billion.

Dive Insight:

Mortenson continued an impressive growth streak. After gaining five places to reach the No. 22 spot in 2025, it shot up 12 rungs in 2026 to crack the top 10. To that end, the Minneapolis-based firm’s 2025 revenue reached $10.8 billion, a sharp increase from 2024’s $6.7 billion, per the report.

A combination of two big names also led to one firm climbing the ranks. In 2024, Flatiron and Dragados, previously ranked No. 51 and No. 37, respectively, combined to form FlatironDragados, with headquarters in Atlanta. The $7 billion in 2025 revenue for the infrastructure giant landed it No. 25 on the list.

Several firms in the top 10, such as Bechtel, HITT Contracting and Mortenson, were also featured in Forbes’ recent list of the 100 largest family-owned companies in the U.S. along with other construction-adjacent firms.

Other firms that rose five or more rungs within the top 50 spots on the list include:

• Boston-based Suffolk, up to No. 23 from No. 28
• Balfour Beatty US, headquartered in Dallas, up to No. 27 from No. 32.
• Los Angeles-based Tutor Perini, up to No. 28 from No. 33.
• Lexington, Kentucky-based Gray, up to No. 30 from No. 36.
• Minneapolis-based Ryan Cos., up to No. 33 from No. 43.
• Kansas City, Missouri-based Burns & McDonnell, up to No. 35 from No. 42.
• Chicago-based Clune Construction, up to No. 45 from No. 58.
• Portland, Oregon-based Fortis Construction, up to No. 46 from No. 57.
• Jacksonville, Florida-based Haskell, up to No. 50 from No. 59.

Meanwhile, firms in the top 50 that dropped five or more spots year-over-year include:

• New York City-based Skanska USA, down to No. 17 from No. 12.
• Lake Oswego, Oregon-based Hoffman Construction, down to No. 31 from No. 26.
• St. Louis-based Arco Construction, down to No. 34 from No. 29.
• St. Louis-based Alberici-Flintco, down to No. 40 from No. 34.
• Dallas-based Austin Industries, down to No. 41 from No. 31.

The list comes amid a tale of two markets: data centers and everything else. On the one hand, the artificial intelligence boom has kept builders busy — Turner Construction, for example, reached record revenue in 2025 as a result of business in the sector. 

In fact, data center construction almost exclusively powered planning in March, which primarily helped builders who were involved with these projects. For those outside of the data center purview, however, progress was flatter.

Other issues are also presenting challenges. Tariffs, the war in Iran, commodities prices and the ever-present skilled labor shortage have left contractors to navigate numerous hurdles simultaneously. 

For example, even as public builders downplay the war’s effects, input prices have risen more during the past four months than they have in the past three years, according to Associated Builders and Contractors data.

See the chart below for the top 10 commercial contractors: