The architecture industry in Greater Boston has experienced its sharpest annual decrease in profit in 25 years, according to the 2010 Architectural Survey from Cambridge-based CBIZ Tofias.

Most firms began experiencing a decline in the latter part of 2008, according to a statement. The decline has been attributed to the slowdown in the real estate market and economic conditions.

However, many architecture firms in Greater Boston were able to control their labor costs by adjusting their work week, salary levels and/or staff size, according to a statement. This allowed firms to produce higher profits than they would have experienced otherwise.

"The architecture industry has adjusted their overhead costs due to these uncertain economic conditions," said David Swan, author of the report and leader of the Architecture, Engineering and Consulting Practice. "Firms are closely monitoring their staffing needs based on project revenues in order to achieve some level of profitability. The best managed firms will be better able to weather this storm and position themselves to recover faster once available project work increases nationally and internationally."

The 2010 Architecture Survey also reported the following trends: the slowdown in commercial building is a symptom of broader industry trends and slowing demand for new and existing architecture projects; the utilization rate decreased, which shifted payroll dollars from direct to indirect labor, and had a direct impact on the increase in firms’ overhead and lower profitability levels; the overhead rate per direct hour increased by approximately 12 percent after an approximate 10 percent increase last year; and the average profit level and the utilization of employees both decreased substantially.