Nearly 80% of Tampa Bay architects say hurricanes hurting business

Fewer local architects are expecting demand for their services to increase again this year as developers look to move on in the aftermath of hurricanes Helene and Milton late last year.

In an annual survey conducted by the Tampa Bay chapter of the American Institute of Architects, 65.6% of the architects say they expect more work in 2025, similar to last year’s 64%, but far below the 85% from 2022.

A contributing factor may well be an uncertainty this year in how developers and others will forge ahead after the area was hit by the dueling storms. That bears out in the numbers, where 77.3% of the architects expect project costs will be higher due to the storms and where 42.1% expect getting materials will be tougher.