Annually, our Architects Survey allows architecture industry professionals to contribute to a current snapshot of firm progress and the use of metal in the built environment across the United States.
This year marks 40 years of the Metal Architecture Architects Survey, a milestone for this ongoing reflection on materials and the performance of architecture firms. Architectural voices from all walks of American design are represented in this report, with the community of respondents inclusive of members of large, small, and multifaceted firms alike.
The survey reflects the current value and volume of firm projects, as well as critical insights into the types and frequencies of metal products used in projects.
Resounding architectural voices
This year, 48.8 percent of respondents are employed at architecture firms, 2.4 percentage points more than last year’s survey. Twenty-six percent of respondents are employees of firms that integrate architecture into multi-faceted companies, in architecture/engineering and design/build firms, and the remaining demographic consists of other architecture, engineering, design, and construction (AEDC) professionals.
Survey participants hold various positions: 49.4 percent are firm owners or partners, 15.7 percent are head architects, and 15.7 percent are staff architects. A 12.5 percentage point increase from last year, 71.4 percent of respondents are registered to practice in more than one state.
Unpacking a national narrative
This report provides a rounded perspective of the architectural landscape with responses from across the United States. The East, West, and Midwest account for roughly equal shares of the remaining sources, each offering between 18 and 20 percent of respondents.
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The majority of respondents are from the South, accounting for 42.9 percent—10 percentage points more than in the 2025 survey—with 35.7 percent of those respondents from Florida. Due to weather-related design considerations, Florida is known for strict building codes and often influences code adoption. This regional concentration may help explain the strong interest in metal products among survey respondents, given metal’s role in meeting performance and code requirements.
Bigger billings in 2025
Last year was a period of financial growth for architecture firms. Reflecting on the 2025 calendar year, 45.3 percent fewer respondents reported firm billings of less than $1 million than in 2024. This was the only billing range to decrease, demonstrating increased financial opportunity for architecture firms overall.
Year-over-year, firms reporting $1 to $3 million increased by 10.8 percentage points, $3 to $5 million by 1.7 percentage points, $5 to $10 million by 1.8 percentage points, and more than $10 million by 7.2 percentage points. Notably, 40 percent of respondents in the Midwest reported billings of more than $10 million.
Most respondents (71.8 percent) reported year-over-year billing increases, a figure largely unchanged from last year, rising just 0.9 percentage points.
Regarding firm billings in 2025, compared to 2024:
- 29.6 percent reported a five to 10 percent increase; the relative highest percentage overall.
- As many respondents reported a 10 to 25 percent increase as a five percent decrease, at 18.3 percent.
- Less than 30 percent of firms in the South and West reported a decline.
- No firms reported an increase or decrease of over 50 percent.
Fortunately, only 1.4 percent of respondents reported a 25 to 50 percent decrease in billings, half the amount reported in last year’s survey.
Metal material: the role it plays today
Metal building products offer versatile design opportunities that help architects ensure that designs stand the test of time and support performance, appearance, and sustainability goals. Increasingly, building owners are seeking designs that consider occupant health and wellness, are cost-effective, and environmentally conscious. Metal can help create spaces that fulfill these criteria and look good doing it.
When asked about the trajectory of specifying metal materials across the board in 2026, for metal roofing, metal wall panels, metal framing, and metal building systems, the majority of respondents said they expect to specify about the same amount as in 2025. Most notably, however, 31.8 percent of respondents expect to specify more metal wall panels in 2026, compared to last year’s 23.4 percent.
Greener goals
A shift in sustainable specifying with metal occurred over the past year, with a 70.6 percent increase and a 10.1 percentage-point increase in respondents affirming that they looked to metal building products to support environmental impact or LEED goals. 24.4 percent of respondents reported looking to metal to achieve sustainability goals. Of these respondents, 40 percent are from the West.
Metal roofing systems
While nominally more respondents specified metal roofs in 2025 than in 2024, at 72.1 percent, only 65.6 percent expect to specify metal roofing in 2026, with the largest share of planned specification coming from southern firms.
In last year’s survey, batten seam roofing was the most specified type of metal roofing amongst respondents. It seems this product has only grown in popularity, as 60.9 percent of respondents reported specifying the material in 2025, a 12.1 percentage point increase from 2024. Metal roofing retrofits also saw a surge in specifications in 2025, with 40.4 percent reporting metal roofing projects for existing buildings, up from 17.3 percent last year.
Notably, in last year’s survey, no respondents reported average metal roofing project sizes exceeding 7,430 m2 (80,000 sf). This year, 4.4 percent reported average metal roofing projects of that size. This demographic was composed exclusively of Eastern respondents.
Sustainable systems are on the rise as well, with a 5.1 percentage point year-over-year increase in respondents who specified solar panels and photovoltaics in 2025. As a look into the near future of solar integration into design, a 28.8 percent increase in respondents expect to specify solar panels and photovoltaics in 2026, compared to respondents’ 2025 expectations.
Forecasting for 2026, 67.4 percent of respondents anticipate specifying roof curbs, a 34.8 percent increase from last year. Meanwhile, with roof hatches, 21.2 percent more anticipate specifying roof hatches. This accounts for 72.1 percent of respondents.
Metal building systems
In 2025, 63.9 percent of respondents’ companies specified at least one metal building system (MBS), 1.4 percentage points higher than forecasted in last year’s survey. For 2026, however, only 52.5 percent of respondents expect their companies to specify an MBS. Respondents in the Midwest specified MBS the least in 2024 and 2025 and expect to specify at least one MBS the least in 2026. Meanwhile, respondents in the South specified, and expect to specify at least one MBS the most, with 80 percent of Southern respondents having specified at least one MBS in 2025.
Metal framing systems
Between 2024 and 2025, there was an increase in respondents who specified metal framing systems. Moving forward, as many respondents expect their companies to specify a metal framing system in 2026 as have reported that their companies did so in 2025, at 62.3 percent.
Metal wall panels
Looking into 2026 relative to 2025, only 9.1 percent of respondents expect to specify fewer metal wall panels, a small proportion compared to 31.8 percent who expect to specify more. In 2025, concealed-fastening panels were the most specified metal wall panels, while individual shingles were the least specified.
