The trophies are regional, but this year’s theme is national: owners are rewarding builders who share risk early.
ENR named its 2026 regional Contractors of the Year across its East and New England editions. PC Construction took the MidAtlantic honor, STO Building Group won in New York, and O&G Industries earned the New England title. Each case leaned on collaboration with owners rather than low-bid muscle.
This Year’s Honorees
South Burlington’s PC Construction credited a 75% jump in design-build work to owner confidence in its collaborative approach. STO Building Group, the New York contractor behind a deep bench of commercial and institutional work, took its region’s top spot. O&G Industries won New England for its range across transportation, public works and civic buildings.
The Design-Build Throughline
The common thread is delivery method. Owners burned by adversarial low-bid jobs keep shifting toward design-build and CM-at-risk, where the builder sits in the room during design and stays on the hook for the outcome. That’s the same logic behind pairing Power Construction and Ujamaa on Chicago’s Advocate Trinity hospital replacement.
What It Says About the Market
Regional awards are a decent gauge of who’s winning the work that matters. In 2026 that’s increasingly the firms owners trust to co-manage risk, not just the ones with the lowest number. As budgets tighten and megaprojects get riskier, collaborative delivery is the safer bet, and the contractors built around it are collecting the plaques.
Coverage via Engineering News-Record.