Business in the Burbs: Inc. Magazine ranks 16 local companies among fastest growers

More than a dozen companies in the Lower Hudson Valley are ranked in Inc. magazine's second annual list of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies.

They are engaged in a wide array of industries, from construction to management consulting to environmental services to Web hosting to payroll services to manufacture of infrared optics.

Inc. ranked U.S.-based privately held companies on how fast their revenue grew between 2004 and 2007. Overall, the 5,000 companies on the list had median three-year growth of 147 percent with aggregate revenue of $185 billion.

To qualify for the list, the companies must have had at least $200,000 in revenue in 2004 and $2 million in 2007.

The New York City metropolitan area was best represented on the list with 355 companies.

The fastest-growing local company was Intensus Engineering of Cold Spring, which came in at No. 135 with revenue growth of 1,607.7 percent between 2004 and 2007.

The 10-employee company, which was founded in 1996, had 2007 revenue of $12.7 million. Intensus provides value-priced heavy construction equipment to private companies that can't afford name-brand equipment. Its Web site is www.intensus.com.

Other local companies on the list include:

-QueBIT of Scarsdale (No. 1,288) with growth of 295.9 percent and revenue of $3.5 million. The 26-employee company provides management consulting services in the software field. (www.quebit.com)

-R&L Construction of Yonkers (No. 1,365) with growth of 278.2 percent and revenue of $43.4 million. The 96-employee company does demolition and construction projects in the New York City area, notably converting the former Nabisco Biscuit Co. in Chelsea into an upscale gourmet food market & renovating the Stanhope Hotel on 5th Ave.