…job cuts in your area.
I couldn’t type that whole line in the subject…damn limitations. 😉
Anyway…with more jobs being cut by big companies every day do any of you worry about it affecting your business both directly and indirectly? In my area, man guys are losing their jobs and they are showing up in the construction realm. They could care less about license or insurance as they are just doing it until their next full time job.
And with all these folks losing their jobs, they in turn are out of the picture as potentional clients.
Has anyone thought of a way to address this or is it just a fact of life we live with?
Mike
Replies
Whether your local economy is good or bad, you always have to be thinking about what you plan to be doing next. What services should you offer; how will you attract customers; who is your competition; etc, etc?
Lots of layoffs will certainly reduce your potential customer base and some of the laid off DIY'ers will try to make it by becoming "contractors" or "handypersons" (I'm nothing if not politically correct - lol)
As a legitimate contractor, your only defense is to emphasize the value of having the licenses, insurance, experience, etc. You'll still lose some jobs because the customer is being driven by price or (possibly sympathy), but many customers are still into value instead of price.
Good Luck!
I don't think there is much you can do about it from a "change what is happening" point of view. I do think people will spend money with company that they believe offers the best value anytime the spend it. So getting the word out that you offer the best for the money spent is important, probably more so in these times. DanT
Has anyone thought of a way to address this or is it just a fact of life we live with?
I lived in a rural low income area for most of my working life. I was always prepared to go from being a contractor to a sub to a wage earner and back again. Sometimes I did two of those at the same time.
I was likewise always ready to commute to an area of higher income nearer to NYC. I didn't enjoy doing that as a regular thing but a few weeks or months on a good paying job was OK too.
Another avenue I tried was expanding my skills to subcontract other types of work.
There was a really slow period in the mid-seventies when my good fortune/karma sent a swimming pool repairman my way, looking for directions to someone's home. After getting him squared away I asked if his company needed help. That was the start of about seven summers of pool installations.
If I was looking for another trade now, I'd go to night school to become an AC technician. It's a slightly more complex field of study which pays rather well, particularly in warmer climates.
Edited 7/15/2008 12:28 pm by Hudson Valley Carpenter