One quarter, two very different stories. The big engineering and construction firms reported fiscal Q1 2026 results that split cleanly down the middle, and the dividing line is what they build and for whom. AECOM, the infrastructure-heavy designer behind projects like the Gordie Howe International Bridge, posted a record backlog and raised its guidance. Fluor, weighted toward energy and industrial work, watched new awards fall by more than half.
Start with AECOM. Backlog hit roughly $26.2 billion, up about 8% from a year earlier and a company record, on a book-to-burn ratio near 1.5. That ratio is the tell: the firm is signing new work faster than it’s burning through the old, which is what lets a contractor raise full-year guidance with a straight face. Revenue dipped 5% to $3.8 billion on less pass-through work, but the pipeline is the number that matters here.
Fluor’s awards slump tells the other half
Fluor’s quarter looked healthy on the bottom line and shaky up top. The company swung to $160 million in profit from a $241 million loss a year earlier, so the turnaround is real. But new awards came in at $2.69 billion, down 54% from $5.81 billion the prior-year period, and backlog slipped about 10% to $25.7 billion. Energy and industrial awards are lumpy by nature. One delayed petrochemical or mining decision can swing a quarter. Still, a 54% drop in bookings is the kind of number that gets a CFO asked hard questions.
Granite Construction rounds out the picture and lands closer to AECOM. Revenue jumped 30% to $912 million, and its committed and awarded projects climbed to $7.2 billion. Granite still booked a seasonal net loss, normal for a civil contractor in a winter quarter, but the awarded-work trend points up.
What the construction backlog split means
The pattern is hard to miss. Contractors tied to public infrastructure, water, transit, and roads are filling their books, while firms leaning on private energy and industrial megaprojects are riding a choppier cycle. It’s the same divergence behind Tutor Perini’s record backlog: the public-works pipeline is funding a multi-year run for the firms positioned to catch it. Tariff-driven cost spikes aren’t helping the private side make decisions, either.
For owners about to bid large public jobs, the message is uncomfortable: the strongest contractors have full books and pricing power, and the competition that used to sharpen bids is thinning. For the energy side, the buyer’s market may not last past the next funding cycle.