Optimism among architectural woodworkers about the next six months is high (82 percent), according to respondents to the Architectural Woodwork Institute’s Cost of Doing Business Survey.

The survey results suggest an improving environment among architectural woodwork business owners.

The survey found that high-profit manufacturing firms (of all amounts of square footage) have operating margins of 15.4 percent compared with the average operating margin of 4.2 percent.

Capital investments are up in the last 12 months, according to the AWI. Thirty-eight percent of high profit firms invested $100,000 or more in the last 12 months compared with 33 percent of respondents overall who invested more than $100,000 in the last 12 months.

The investment outlook for the next 12-month period revealed that 31 percent of high-profit firms plan on investing $100,000 or more in the next year, which is up from 21 percent in 2013. And, 29 percent of respondents plan on increasing their workforce by 10 percent or more in the next 12 months.