# getting busier?



## HaleCraft (Feb 9, 2013)

Is it just me or is business really picking up. sure seems to be here in nor cal.


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## Jaws (Dec 20, 2010)

Its actually slowed down for me for the first time in several years. In the drywall stage of one kitchen bump out, have an iron entrance to build with a gate and automatic opener, finished two bathrooms except for shower doors today. Finishing a second story window install/replacement next week. Then nothing. No big projects. 

Time to start beating the bushes.


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## QCCI (Jan 28, 2013)

It has been much slower than it used to be for us, my bidding this year has picked up tremendously though. So that's looking good, hopfully!!


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## Mud Master (Feb 26, 2007)

Was swamped until late last week when all the big projects wrapped up.

I have a large printing plant redevelopment signed to general contract and manage but even after 2 years I'm still working on the consultant contract as they keep Value Engineering the project. Looking at a mid April to early May start. 

Got some tile work to tend to but they owe me a good chunk of money so I'm staying out until than. 

Have a customer that's been hounding me to do a large window replacement project on their 5 buildings. About 650-700 total. Other contractor butchered the job and they keep holding out for a quote from me before they start back up. 

I've been telling them I'm not interested cause I just don't want to fool with the demolition and removal of all the old windows, many in occupied studios and offices and anywhere from 2-4 stories up. However now I'm reconsidering as that work could take me well into summer.


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## J M J (Feb 2, 2012)

Yes....knock on wood


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## Mrmac204 (Dec 27, 2006)

There's a lot of work that's just hanging right now, everyone in my Province is waiting until after April 1st when our tax law changes.

Its a long story, and I won't bore you with it. The result will be that taxes on labour will go down by 7%.

In the mean time, the phone is just not ringing - even though the regional construction association put an ad on TV saying book now as after April 1st all the contractors will be so busy that you will have to pay extra to get a GC.

LOL I wish! In the mean time I'm surviving with small jobs, one cabinet for a client, a handrail/drawers install for another etc.


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## pinwheel (Dec 7, 2009)

We're finally getting caught up from a long, busy winter. 3 weeks of work on the calendar right now, but got several bids out that I'm confident I've sold. Just catching my breath before the next wave & enjoying the slower pace.


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## CENTERLINE MV (Jan 9, 2011)

Things out here have been "steady" but still very slow for a lot of guys. All we have out here are the multi-million dollar projects or the very small one or two day projects. The in-between is what we need back!


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## Tom M (Jan 3, 2007)

Spring is around the corner and so is the remodel itch. A few weeks ago during my rough in phase, all of my subs were cranky and telling me they were day to day with time off in between. This week all of them told me they suddenly got busy with quotes. So maybe we can get some pent up demand.


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## cabinetsnj (Jun 10, 2012)

HaleCraft said:


> Is it just me or is business really picking up. sure seems to be here in nor cal.


Business is starting to pick up here in New Jersey.


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## Joegreen (Feb 18, 2013)

Looking the same over here all of a sudden, phones are ringing and work is getting scheduled. Woo hoo!


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## JackP23 (Jan 1, 2013)

Nashville's strong.......inspectors and subs are busy.....I'm taking work for summer.


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## Stephen H (Feb 18, 2011)

no different than any other year in the last 25 years or so.

I will have all my guys called back to work and on the job 3-18-13,weather permitting.

We are decently booked up into May and if a couple of the irons I have in the fire heat through we would be booked into June. We have a new post card campaighn which should be hitting prospects mailboxes 3-5,3-6,3-7 or so and then another batch3-20,3-21,3-22.

Stephen


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## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

We are just now winding down a 16 month rush. Probably one of our busiest periods ever. We are entering our usual March/April slowdown, as a lot of jobs are in planning and permitting stage. By mid April, I expect another boom that should carry us through the year. I just have to muck by for a few weeks til then


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## A.Murrill (Nov 25, 2011)

Getting busy here. Last month- kitchen remodel(waiting on tops), HUD remodel (gutted added on and roofed -waiting on mechanicals), finished interior mall fit out. 
Last week sided and guttered house. 
Monday start 12,500' gutter job at apartment complex and get back to HUD job when subs are done. Booked about 6 weeks now.
Bidding brick garage rebuild (fire job) and deck build. Busier than I've been in years.


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## Roofcheck (Dec 27, 2011)

Signed two roofs yesterday! One a lead from last year and the second wanted to be complete asap before I got busy and they needed to wait on me. Had snow still on it so I could't walk it! 

Neither accepted a second quote! This is three-four weeks early for us.


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## MarkNoV (Apr 29, 2006)

Booked so far:

12 new patio doors
25 windows and doors (replace door, remove old window, replace frame, reinstall window)

2 apt. main entries
37 balconies with new railings, soffit and facia, 2 emergency fire escapes
16 solid wood doors replace
1 patio door replacement with bay window
1 steel door with sidelights and transom.
1 siding /insulation job, 
1 deck replacement
1 custom garden shed
1 deck trellis with LED's
1000 sq ft of hardwood flooring install.
1 bathroom

My season starts in May, all of the above hopefully will be done by beginning of September, GC's already calling about window jobs, saving those for October and November. 

Taking a week off in May July and November, three weeks in September.

Stopping all work beginning of December.

There are three major renos on my street at the moment.

It appears a lot of folks have been sitting on a lot of equity and are pulling it out by the handful at the cost of less than 3% APR.

Mark


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## Leo G (May 12, 2005)

Before the crash of 2008 some of my busiest times were between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That has all changed. I mostly twiddle my thumbs in that season where as before I'd be pulling my hair out trying to figure out how to do 100 hours worth of work in a 75 hour week. 

But now, it seems that after the slow period in the winter it picks up about this time, just as the weather seems to be warming up. And like the last couple of year, this year seems no different. The phone has started to ring more and I am becoming busier. Right now it is just more bids, haven't secured a lot of work yet. But it's better than the phone being silent.


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## leeson1776 (Feb 6, 2012)

Seems to be...










But my work is seasonal and doesn't really get going till late March.


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## cwatbay (Mar 16, 2010)

Here in NorCal for us it is getting busier. Have the next 5 weeks booked out. Which will be just in time for another 8 weeks of projects (planned and scheduled) after that. 

What happens is that we have 4 in state and out of state contractors that send us work, plus our own work. So when things get busy in CA, then it's busy for our CA based contractors. When things get busy in New York for our NY based contractors, it means that they are sending us on jobs for their CA based projects, that come out of NY. 

It does fluctuate, and, sometimes I get maybe a few days off up to a week off, but not more than that. Sometimes just waiting for bids to close, or, for the GC's to make up their mind as to when they want us on site. 

One of my contractor partners just got back from the police chiefs convention in Palm Springs, so there has been a lot of interest in our city wide camera systems, wireless LAN communications and domestic drones.


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## Maplewood_Homes (Feb 2, 2013)

pinwheel said:


> We're finally getting caught up from a long, busy winter. 3 weeks of work on the calendar right now, but got several bids out that I'm confident I've sold. Just catching my breath before the next wave & enjoying the slower pace.


Nice Bucks!


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## Maplewood_Homes (Feb 2, 2013)

We're doing better here is West Michigan.


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## HaleCraft (Feb 9, 2013)

Last few years it has fallen off at thanksgiving, but this year it seemed to kind of pick up around then and really pick Febuary 1st or so where I am having to do some real juggling for the first time in years. Phone keeps ringing too. we wil see what happens in the fall i guess.


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## Gary H (Dec 10, 2008)

Around here its either a contractor is very busy, booked up winter 2014 or they are dead in the water. There seems to be no in between. Either your working or your not.


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## BamBamm5144 (Jul 12, 2008)

I'm pretty stoked. Got a window job and two garage builds signed up today.

Have a few other projects to get done as well, including two large LP Siding jobs.

Are people finally spending money again?


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## Gary H (Dec 10, 2008)

Maybe. The spenders I see are the older retired people. Want the last home improvent done before they kick the bucket. Or the husband did and the wife now has coin to fix the place up. No young people dropping money unless its for a brand new house. Along with new cars. Alot of gov. work around here to. They are buying junk houses and bring them up to code for the new low income family.


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## jlsconstruction (Apr 26, 2011)

Gary H said:


> They are buying junk houses and bring them up to code for the new low income family.


Same here, they are doing 40 houses about a mile from me.

To the op I'm booked into August.


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## A.Murrill (Nov 25, 2011)

Originally Posted by Gary H
They are buying junk houses and bring them up to code for the new low income family.

Same here. I'm doing one now. My city is using HUD funds. Whole house remodel.


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## TLM9700 (Feb 23, 2013)

*Picking up a bit*

Things are picking up a bit but it is nothing to write home about.... Northern Florida.


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## VinylHanger (Jul 14, 2011)

Dead around here. Some guys are working, but most are slow or dead. The weather is getting better slowly, so hopefully that will change.

i'm just coming off 3 plus weeks of laryngitis, so I I haven't been able to do much calling around or bush beating, so I'm pretty much dead in the water. The phone hasn't been ringing on my end though either. I haven't had to do any marketing, or chase work for the last year and a half, now it looks like I need to. I went from busy to full stop instantly.


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## Big Shoe (Jun 16, 2008)

VH Your still up?

Take advantage of your down time, work will come.
I'm a one man band and busier than I want to be. Have to work some today to keep/try to stay ahead.


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## joethepainter (Dec 1, 2012)

Phone is starting to ring for the new year, unfortunately we are having to tell customers that it will be from 8 months to a year wait before we can get to them... Most of the opt to wait.


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## MattK (Apr 2, 2009)

joethepainter said:


> Phone is starting to ring for the new year, unfortunately we are having to tell customers that it will be from 8 months to a year wait before we can get to them... Most of the opt to wait.


Might be time to expand, no? 8 months for me means I hire another guy, maybe 2 if the work keeps coming.


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## joethepainter (Dec 1, 2012)

We have dabbled with employees on and off if huge projects come up ( whole condo buildings or somethings) but I think being a true family business in a small town has paid off in spades for me personally. We are all vested in the company. 

Financially it doesn't make sense to expand by hiring more guys to knock down my workload list. At 30 I own my home and cars and am booked for over a year, there is not much to gain by going big at his point except a lot of added stress.


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## BamBamm5144 (Jul 12, 2008)

joethepainter said:


> We have dabbled with employees on and off if huge projects come up ( whole condo buildings or somethings) but I think being a true family business in a small town has paid off in spades for me personally. We are all vested in the company.
> 
> Financially it doesn't make sense to expand by hiring more guys to knock down my workload list. At 30 I own my home and cars and am booked for over a year, there is not much to gain by going big at his point except a lot of added stress.


That's great that you're 8 months out but crazy you won't hire on one guy. It must be the community you live in but around here when people hire you, they want it done now. I've lost jobs that I couldn't get to within a month.

Why not bring on one guy and work with him? You can't do the physical work forever, can you?


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## joethepainter (Dec 1, 2012)

Forever, probably not, but into my 50's easily at which point I will hopefully retire to just doing front porches and smaller stuff... That's another 20+ years.

It is the community for sure. The houses here were built with hand cut nails, locally fired brick, bubble glass windows, I work with a lot of original wood that is over 150 years old including the cove lap siding, cedar shakes, etc. 

My town is a whole different ball game then most for a painter. I say painter lightly. I restore historic houses on the exterior, including any carpentry work. There is a historic society in town, all houses must meet their standards. Nothing is allowed to be modernized. No vinyl windows, no fake shudders, no replacing siding unless it is back to what is there, etc.

Sorry to derail the thread, back to the originally scheduled program.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Gary H said:


> Alot of gov. work around here to. They are buying junk houses and bring them up to code for the new low income family.


I wondered if that's what i see going on yesterday. Was driving through a section 8 housing area and there was contractors working on almost every other house. I was with my wife and she said these are all government owned houses. Didn't even know what section 8 was until then.


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## jlsconstruction (Apr 26, 2011)

This is one of the government jobs around me.... That's what I call a gut


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## ASInsulation (Aug 25, 2010)

How can I go about bidding on all this section 8 work you guys are seeing? isn't it supposed to be public notices for bidding on that work? I am tapped into all the WAP agencies for their projects, but can't seem to find any way into that sector of the work


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## skillman (Sep 23, 2011)

ASInsulation said:


> How can I go about bidding on all this section 8 work you guys are seeing? isn't it supposed to be public notices for bidding on that work? I am tapped into all the WAP agencies for their projects, but can't seem to find any way into that sector of the work


Around here most landlord's rent there units to section 8 throw the city . Every month the check comes from the city . Check your city .


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