picking up

[pauls]

are people finding work is picking up again

 

[migoplumber]

i havnt heard of any more businesses going bankrupt in blackpool for at least 3 weeks !!!

shaun

 

[jpm]

are people finding work is picking up again

I think so

 

[Puddle]

Well I hope everyone here is getting by ok and finding enough work to cover all the bills but it is still tough out there and there is alot more pain to come before we start the up turn
I had hoped the up turn would come early next year but with the government injecting so much money into the economy,we may have to wait another year
Do.nt forget at present ,there are alot of customers out there ,with more than usual spare cash for works,as if they still have a job,with interest rates low at the moment ,they are saving on morgage payments and loans,so there are opportunities however be carefull when interest rates and inflation starts to hit towards the end of the year
Be very carefull of builders and developers ,as if they have managed to stay around ,alot of their capital will have gone and many will not survive the next wave down
I know it is easy to talk yourself into recession and on the other hand when we go out and meet customers and clients we have to be up beat to get them to part with their hard earned cash,after all we want them spending it with us and not saving it for the times ahead
But once you have done that ,save of much of it for yourself,as it will be needed
I called in one of the estate agents I have worked with for years and saw a gas engineers card on the table,I said 'Oh yeh,is that a little hint to keep me on my toe's he smiled and said they have had about six people over the last two weeks dropping cards in.....so needless to say,I am on my toes......ish
Hope I am wrong and nothin would give me more pleasure ,than at the end of the year you all coming back to me ,loaded with work and telling me how wrong I was
But in the mean time do'nt fall for the 'green shoot's bit' and 'the sun has got it's hat on'

 

[Jimbob]

im finding myself doing 4 day, sometimes 3 day weeks, luckly my out goings arnt too bad. But i hate having no work. Recently i dropped around a few price for jobs that would prob see me through for a couple months. How pushy can you been thought, do you guys go round after giving a price to push on starting the job? it seems wrong to me to do that, but might have to soon.

 

[traineedrip]

the bosses phone has become a bit more active in the last week. he is usually booked up weeks in advance but not presently.

lots of repair jobs more than new installs though.

lucky for me id factored poor earnings for a while as im learning, must be hard for many though.

im sure when the media tell us were not in recession it`ll be fine. pity they mentioned it in the first place!

 

[bathroomboy]

Iv'e gone so quiet I had to check to see if the phones are still working ok, not too bothered when it's really hot, but hope this is just due too hols etc.

 

[Winston]

I did a leaflet drop the other day, picked up two jobs out of it and a quote to do. You have just got to keep going, diversify as well bathroom boy maybe the bathrooms are a luxury. Good luck mate and its good to see you here as opposed to the other forum!

 

[Bernie2]

The problem is I suppose, not so much what the general public do, but what the big landlords are doing. People such as Housing Associations and private landlords have thousands of properties, if they don't spend, then their contractors move over into the private sector and scoop up anything going.

The problem is of course, its hard to compete with these larger companies.

A company I worked for did housing association work, but then housing association wanted firms to do thousands of houses at a time, all to be done in about 12 weeks, to satisfy HSE requirements of all gas services to be done within 12 weeks of their last 12 month regular service.

That would have meant the firm taking on many more workers than they had now.

The bottom line was, they couldn't do it and so went to the wall, as they relied upon the housing association to supply them with work.

The private sector whilst better paid could not really guarantee continuity as bathroom boy said, the lines go quite.

At least housing association work was work.

I felt a bit annoyed about it, because housing associations where supposed to support small firms and felt sure something could have been worked out. But it all seemed to be on quantity of houses being done, not on price. And that was a HSE safety directive not the housing associations. I do of course agree with it, but wonder if it may not have been better to parcel the work out to many smaller firms. But then that would probably have made the administration costs rise for the housing association, which being fair to them, they are I suppose, supposed to keep them down.

So you can loose work if your a small contractor. Its better probably to be part of a trade association and share the work out. At least you could compete as an association with the big boys.

 

[DC76]

Been dead for the last 2 months but the time spent on getting out and quoting has payed off, in the last week i've suddenly got a months work booked up! I don't feel it's the light at the end of the tunnel yet, personally i feel that it'll be another 6 months or so before it starts to pick up properly.