Last year at this time, the full effect of the recession hadn’t quite flattened the entire U.S. construction industry.

But the economic steamroller was certainly full speed ahead.

“In 2009,” the Engineering News Record reported this month, “the earlier construction boom’s cushion of large backlogs deflated for most major contractors and the reality of a long-term recession began to hit home. ENR’s Top 400 Contractors had a combined revenue of $290.63 billion in 2009, down 14.1% from $338.28 billion in 2008. Of the 374 contractors on this year’s list that also submitted surveys last year, 291, or 77.8%, saw revenue declines in 2009 compared to 2008.”

Every spring, the Engineering News Record documents the financial fortunes of the nation’s top 400 construction contractors for the previous year, and ranks them.

Overall, for Michigan-based contractors that made the list, there were no major movements. But a few were notable for not making the Top 400 this year after being on the list in past years.

The rankings show that Southfield-based Barton Malow and Detroit’s Walbridge continue to be our state’s largest contractors, as they have been for at least the last decade. From 2009 to 2010, Barton Malow climbed one spot to #38 on the list, while Walbridge dropped slightly, from #48 to #50.

Here are rankings for other Michigan-based contractors in the ENR Top 400. There wasn’t much movement for The Christman Co. of Lansing (#173, -1). But Lansing’s Granger Construction Co. leaped from #369 in 2009 to #277 in this year’s ranking.  Rockford Construction, Grand Rapids, dropped from #248 to #278 this year.

Lansing’s Clark Construction improved from #324 to #313 this year, and while Wolverine Construction of Grand Rapids didn’t make the Top 400 last year, it appeared on this year’s list at #331.

Rounding out Michigan contractors in the Top 400 were Roncelli of Sterling Heights (#367, +4); Commercial Contracting of Auburn Hills (#369, -49) and Pioneer General Contractors of Grand Rapids (#370, not on the list in 2009).

Three Michigan-based contractors dropped off the Top 400 list. Gone from last year’s list (and their ranking) were Angelo Iafrate of Warren (#131); Aristeo of Livonia (#365), and Owens-Ames-Kimball of Grand Rapids (#361). ENR said a company affiliated with Iafrate was sold, which could have led to them moving off the rankings.

The ENR’s top five contractors in the U.S. last year (in order) were Bechtel, Fluor Corp, KRB, Kiewit and Turner Corp.

“For the past year,” the ENR said, “construction firms have been searching for signs that the recession, which began over two years ago, was abating. Those signs continue to be few and far between. So the largest U.S. contractors now are settling into a waiting game, scrambling to increase their market shares, moving into new markets and taking a good look at how they do business to make sure that, when the market does rebound, they are ready.”