Busy Enough? Economy hurting you?

[atgreene]

I was just curious how everyones outlook for summer is. I heard of another excavation co. that sent it's crews home for 2 weeks vac starting Monday and are not sure about re-opening. Several other companies are said to be tetering on the edge.

And now the state has posted so many roads around here that I'm not sure how anyone will be able to get started when and if the snow melts.:popcorn2 Town roads are one thing, state roads being posted put everyone in a pickel.

With the heavy snow pack and the posted roads our excavation season won't get started until mid-May at this point.:zzzz I tenetively booked another foundation job and had already figured I was nearly booked for the season before that one. Several carpenters I know are asking me for work if I find any and other excavators are looking for sub-work.

Obviously, lawns have to be mowed, but you green guys must see a cut-back in clean-ups and extras with the money the way it is right now.

And as for fuel, we're all obviously screwed there.:mad:

[jbutch83]

Fuel prices are defninitely going to hurt this year, if something doesn't get done with them soon. I am waiting for a contract to come back in the mail, as long as it does, I am pretty much set with steady income for the next 3 years, which will be a first for me. I would like to add one more large mowing account, not sure that I will find one, but with the work that I have now, I can keep pretty busy all summer, and still have time to spend with the family.

If this was a full time gig for me, I would have to find alot more work, but with what I have now, I am making almost as much doing the green and white work as what I do at the Police Dept, so I can't complain too much.

None of my customers have backed off on anything so far, and I don't really expect them too either.

[Alan]

It looks pretty likely that my hydroseeder will be sitting the majority of the time this summer. Buddy of mine has worked for one major homebuilder for 10 years or more, they usually work 50-60 sites for him as well as the infrastructure work getting land set up for housing. They did 3 homesites last year and not sure it will be any better in '08.

[AL Inc]

I don't know what to make of this season. Not much work on the landscape construction end, but it looks like property maintenance will be busy this year. Contracts are coming back at a good clip, and I've signed up 5-6 new clients already. I'm just going to have to work harder to sell the extras.
I know people are feeling the tightening economy, but I don't think it is bad enough where people will start doing their landscaping themselves. I really believe that I will still have steady work this year. Nothing like '06 and '07 which were pretty phenomenal for me, but that's life right now.
I'm pretty fortunate to have very little debt right now business wise, and I've been doing everything I can to tighten my belt. More repairs and maintenance myself, tighter routes, anything I can do to save money. I hate to say it, but I don't think we have seen the bottom of this yet, and we are looking at a few more years of this.

[nick13]

Fuel prices are defninitely going to hurt this year, if something doesn't get done with them soon. I am waiting for a contract to come back in the mail, as long as it does, I am pretty much set with steady income for the next 3 years, which will be a first for me. I would like to add one more large mowing account, not sure that I will find one, but with the work that I have now, I can keep pretty busy all summer, and still have time to spend with the family.

If this was a full time gig for me, I would have to find alot more work, but with what I have now, I am making almost as much doing the green and white work as what I do at the Police Dept, so I can't complain too much.

None of my customers have backed off on anything so far, and I don't really expect them too either.

i agree with this expecially for small buisnesses starting up. me and my dad are in a small family landscaping buisness and this year we had to buy used equipment like walk behind mowers because we couldent afford it. also we lost acouple of accounts because they didnt want to pay us with the price of fuel to heat your house and the basic exspensis.

[SCB]

We tried something new the last few weeks to pay the bills. We've been trimming condos in this new building downtown.

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=riverhousecondominiums-grandrapids-mi-usa

Not a great job but out of the weather. Most years we'd be busy with basement remodels and such during the winter, but with the so many jobs gone in the building trades, work has been especially thin and the bills don't stop coming.

I gotta believe our economy and unemployment level is good for the General Contractor as far as labor prices are concerned. The units we trimmed we did at approx. 1/2 the price of what we normally would bid at. It's all the GC is willing to pay and folks have been lined up to get the work.

All condo units listed for sale have already been snatched up and the selling prices went through the roof! This is over a year ahead of completion.

The good new is our normal installs are starting to heat up. This is 6 years of the same pattern, with late March and warm spells getting things going. Hopefully this year will continue to follow that pattern as profit levels are much higher than the condo work.

We decided not to commit to any more condo units yet to avoid double-booking work and making customers upset. Man, do I ever hope that's the right decision.....

[Wizard]

I'm definitely feeling the pinch right now, I kinda got the double whammy. 1. Fuel Prices, and 2. Tax season... When people get their taxes back and pay their cable bill, my income drops. Another month to month and a half and I should be back steady, but it's going to be a belt tightening summer with the cost of fuel. Basically, my take home is barely covering the bills right now, so if gas goes up any more or my my workload drops any, I'm gonna be in trouble.

As for the big picture, I haven't seen a pay increase in 3 years, but my wife has, which is good so that we can almost keep up with property tax and utility bill increases. Her annual increse is right around the corner, let's hope it's a good one... Luckily, we have reasonably steady income, so unless the bottom really falls out and the cost of everything goes up substantially, we be ok. I imagine many families are in the same position we are, which is feeling the pinch, but we're a ways off from panic mode... :wink

As for the snow work, now that the season is pretty much wrapped up, we did alright. My saving grace has been the quantity of events, since we're well below our average seasonal snowfall. Luckily we had a bunch of events that were just barely trigger depth, so we did alright. I added one more account this year, yet grossed the same amount as last year. Could have been a whole lot better though, maybe this one friday will be plowable, then I'll be able to say I did better this year than last...

[Earthscapes]

I'm right on line of where I was last year at this time. Most of our lawns and cleanups are back in, a few new houses to landscape and a couple calls for large commercial lawn bids.
With a foot of snow and monster snow piles still out there, people will take their time. Still calling for 30's next week which means this snow is going to take longer to melt than hoped for.
I'd like to start the first week of April, but I won't hold my breath.

[hlntoiz]

Things are definately slow this year. My phone is not even ringing. I am usually booking into July by this time of the year. We have about a Month and a half of work. Planning on starting Friday or Monday.


Phone is not even ringing to get the jobs. I am 3 for 4 now, All I need is the phone to ring. and I can get the work.

Definately going to be a tough year......Maybe I will have more time to work on my own house:wink

[Mark Oomkes]

Not sure yet, really not a lot of calls yet, but I do have a fair amount of work lined up, but when it gets done depends on the weather so the excavator can get the topsoil in, the irrigation guy can get the irrigation in, etc.

Ought to be interesting either way--dry or wet.

Snow in the shade is taking forever to disappear and it's pretty wet out, nothing like Ohio, but too wet to do much.

As for the economy, it sucks really, really, really bad. Fertilizer and fuel prices are going sky high--maybe higher--people don't have money to spend (especially after this winter) and there's sure to be new competition on top of the idiots that already don't charge enough, so I'm thinking profit margins will be heading down just to stay afloat.

If I think of anything positive, I'll let you know.

[kahuna]

It has been a very good snow season here with above average income due to 2-3 inch storms. We had the 2nd snowiest Febuary in Toledo History. We are no Grand Rapids here, but it was a good yeat for Toledo. My summer is already completely booked. Gas prices will be the battle for me. How to incorporate that cost into my bids. Sorry to hear about the out look for alot of you. Makes me want to tighten my belt just in case it takes a turn for me too. Good luck guys. I am moving soon and will be relocating my business. After listening to all of you guys it makes me a little scared about starting all over. New place, new employees, new customers hopefully a new start as well. Good luck this year guys.

[AmerilawnOfWisconsin]

Fertilizer contracts are coming back slower than normal this year. Not sure if it's the economy or simply because we have had such a snowy winter. Hoping to get started soon but there are still piles and and patches of snow in shady spots on the lawns. Not to mention they are calling for 4"-8" on Friday! Fertilizer prices and gas prices are going to hurt a bit. :mad:

[Earthscapes]

there's sure to be new competition on top of the idiots that already don't charge enough

One of my customers handed me a flyer today.
"Lawn mowing $15.00 a week for lawns up to 10,000 sq ft. includes bagging, trimming and blowing walks/drives. $5.00 extra per week per each additional 5000 sq ft."

Now i've had this customer for the last 6 years and i'm charging him $37.00 a week.

[chtucker]

One of my customers handed me a flyer today.
"Lawn mowing $15.00 a week for lawns up to 10,000 sq ft. includes bagging, trimming and blowing walks/drives. $5.00 extra per week per each additional 5000 sq ft."

Now i've had this customer for the last 6 years and i'm charging him $37.00 a week.

$15.00 to drive to the house/unload/mow/load/deal with clippings/insurance......Holy crap. You might as leave $10 bills on their step to thank them/ but no thanks... it would be cheaper.

[hlntoiz]

One of my customers handed me a flyer today.
"Lawn mowing $15.00 a week for lawns up to 10,000 sq ft. includes bagging, trimming and blowing walks/drives. $5.00 extra per week per each additional 5000 sq ft."

Now i've had this customer for the last 6 years and i'm charging him $37.00 a week.

We are all in trouble! Everyone is loosing thier jobs, and because they are so uneducated they think that since they are still charging their hourly rate ($15) per hr they are making money...........Just wait it is going to get better...........:mad::mad:

[Pickering Snow]

Guys keep your chin up i cant belive anyone would last to long doing lawns at 15 bucks a pop ,,,, your quailty will long out live there price and service.


Geez man 15 bucks does the guy travel to Mi :D just kidding ill stick with my goats.

I hired a guy this will be his second year hes ok but hands down my brothers work was always easy to see the diff. Since me and my brother havent spoke in 2 yrs if we could get over are hard feelings i would much rather have him doing my yards.

[Landgreen]

So far our business is looking ok. I couldn't ask for a better snow season. Steady light snowfalls all winter until end of Feb. Record year for us. Contracts are rolling in fairly steady for green season. Not many new customers yet but we don't get many new ones till April/May. Just signed a contract a couple days ago with our largest account. That felt good. Staring at a list of properties I need to bid by next week. We're offering some new services this year which I think will make a big difference in our revenue. I need to hire an employee and I'm finding many qualified applicants. Phone has been ringing off the hook about the job. I'm looking forward to the season even though bad news surrounds us. Home foreclosures are everywhere. Friends of ours had theirs foreclosed just recently. I am usually optimistic of the economy even in a down turn but our state is in some deep crap right now. It's a little unnerving. Not light at the end of the tunnel. Blocked by a big mole.:mad:

[Earthscapes]

I did some checking on this "new guy". He's not new (12+ years), just expanding into new areas.

If I could trust him to do a quality job, I would sub all my lawns to him and go do something else those days of the week. But after watching his snowplowing ($189.00 driveway price for the season) I know better.

[Wizard]

I did some checking on this "new guy". He's not new (12+ years), just expanding into new areas.

If I could trust him to do a quality job, I would sub all my lawns to him and go do something else those days of the week. But after watching his snowplowing ($189.00 driveway price for the season) I know better.

Lol, sounds like something I've said not that long ago, just sub it all out and sit back and rake it in... Problem is, when quality suffers, and your customer drops you, then you're really hurtin'...

Low ball snowplower too eh? Sounds like the guy that plows the one across the street, watched him this morning chasing pecker tracks with an 810, never once putting the wings out... :beatsme

[Fastjohnny]

Low ball snowplower too eh? Sounds like the guy that plows the one across the street, watched him this morning chasing pecker tracks with an 810, never once putting the wings out... :beatsme

Plowing by the hour? LOL

This wet snow was big on trail off, even with the wings out.

[AL Inc]

Just wanted to bring this up again, just to see how everybodys spring is shaping up. We've been back to work since 3/17 doing spring clean-up work. Still not much in the way of any real landscape design/install work, have two potential landscape jobs and one deck in the works, but not signed up yet. The lawn maintenance end has been keeping us busy, with clean-up, fertilizations, and seeding. Lots of small jobs doing odds and ends, lawn repairs, fencing, etc.
I am up around 10 new clients for this season, and I got three calls today alone for mowing/clean-up work. It isn't stellar money, but I'm not complaining, I'm keeping my crew busy.
Definitely a noticeable difference this season, I guess people are sitting tight and waiting to see what happens. Hope you guys are having a good season so far:waving

[hlntoiz]

Things are getting better. This past week was the first nice week and the calls are coming. Just got 2 more jobs today and bid a 3 week gig. Really hoping for that one!:popcorn2

[atgreene]

I've got 2 full house packages lined up, one is definite, one is probable. Lots of other work and more coming in. Lots of it is left-over from last year that I never got to. I generally don't do house packages, and if I do it is usually 1 per year, so 2 will keep me hopping.

I had wondered how everyone was doing because a lot of the big guys around here are real hungry or going under. Most of them got too big too quick and didn't plan for a slow-down. With snow still on the ground and roads posted for another month I don't know how some will make it.

I'm always amazed at the business folks who assume things will never slow down. I guess I'm just a pessimist. I always assume that next year could be the bad one.

[apgarconstruction]

i'm not on the green side of things, but things are definitely slow here in NJ too. I am not sure how it happened so quickly. my 07 was steady and i was always working but not swamped. this year has been slow from the beginning. the fuel doesn't help matters but everyone is being squeezed at every single store they go to. groceries have gone through the roof, and fuel is just crazy. i've had all of my bids that i just put out, been underbid by large percentages, almost like i'd have to work for nothing to price it that low.

i really hope things pick up soon, i just don't understand how things can just slow down so fast. i guess all those morons who took interest only home loans are feeling the effects.
i'm usually booked through the summer and into fall by now, i have a few more jobs to bid but none of them are more than a month long at the most.

Good luck guys. we can all get through this!

[T-Zab]

We do construction as well, trim carpentry is our speciality.
Business has been steady for us, had a couple weeks last winter that were slow but for the most part we have stayed busy.
Theres work out there, just have to go get it. No cherrys falling from the sky into my basket. Just hooked up with another "High End" contractor and we are now booked threw July. If I land his personal Home renovation that should sew up our summer and carry us well into fall. The Margins are tighter now on some projects, but it sure beats sitting at home wondering if I can make payroll, and then have enough left to pay myself....

[apgarconstruction]

glad you are busy todd. new home building around here is at a minimum, a few houses here and there, but i'm not a new home builder at this point. land is very expensive here so deep pockets are needed to buy the land, build and then try and sell it in bad real estate market.

i just lost a kitchen renovation that was 32k, and the guy that got the job was 10k lower than me! it was 18 solid days of work for two guys to complete the whole job. I didn't even markup my material what i normally do, and this guy beats me by that much. i know he wasn't bidding apples to apples and the homeowner doesn't know it, and she'll get nickel and dimed in the end and be close to my price.

i'm putting out bids and trying to bid them tighter but there's only so low you can go before you lose money by going out and working the job. overhead needs to be paid no matter what. i have one larger job i'm trying to get for summer which will be several months long and have a decent paycheck in the end. it's going to be a dog eat dog summer i can tell.