i have been working in this industry at least 25 years as a laborer, carpenter, real estate broker & self employed builder. i am 44 years old. my wife & i are seriously considering relocating to florida. lived in wisconsin most of my life. i would like to hear from anyone who has made the move to florida & continued there career in the housing industry. thanks
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Fla is nice and warm , but everybody moving there from the north and south(cuba). It is really not a cheap place to live no more, Think about ga. al, or miss or even north fla.
Hi Mike,
It sounds like we have a bit in common, I'm 44 also, in the construction business and have a small manufacturing biz as well. My wife live in the chicago north suburbs and are always looking for other places to live. We are looking at a hobby farm in michigan next week. I have a friend also in construction who tried to make a break to Fla but returned in less than a year. The grass is always greener on the other side. keith
try to get the attention of Sonny Lykos, a frequent poster on this board. He lived in Chicago for some time, and is now in Naples.
I'm guessing that he will say it's a great place, but who knows.
I had not real close friends that made the move...then returned.
Same for the Carolina's. Like someone said......think a case of greener grass.
But......my area....Pgh...has one of the lowest costs of living and housing when the comparables are done. Pay rates aren't the lowest too...which can make for a comfortable living. Lotsa work to be found......both new const and remodeling old homes.
That might be why they come back to the comforts of home.
My impression for a coupla years living in Tx, and a lot of time visiting Fla thru the years...is you'd probably run into a lot of low bidder competition most anywhere in the south......in Houston....tons of good working Mexicans that were happy to get half of what we'd expect...and most of the work was perfectly fine in quality.
I went down to Tx with some of my tools....and went back to bartending first, then sales instead of swinging a hammer for $8/hr.
I just didn't want to compete with those willing to work for those low wages. I got the impression Fla is similar.
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite
thanks for your reply. do you know how i would contact sonny lykos without wading through all the messages?
Just make a post titled....Hey Sonny!
That should do the trick. He's mostly on the main page...but has been seen around the tavern the last coupla times I've checked.
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Fine Carpentery.....While U Waite
THANKS
Hot, humid and miserable (if like me you're from northern climes that experience winters, and you like seasons.) I live in Houston, TX.. It's hot and humid, and miserable with it too for almost the whole year--did I already say that? There are several states in the US that I would never consider moving to. All of them concern palm trees. If palm trees grow naturally, I don't want to be there, and Florida--apart from palm trees growing naturally-- is a ring of low lying coast with a swamp in the middle all subject to hurricanes on a regular basis.
What is it about the place that even warrants consideration as a place to move to--apart from the non-existent attractions of Disney-Gag, or whatever it's called? Oh, Shrubs's brother lives and works there too, and the resident eejits are too feeble to punch a hole in a card to vote, apparently. That light goading should set off some happy Floridians' in defence of their state, ha, ha. Slainte.
Edited 12/24/2002 1:18:31 AM ET by Sgian Dubh
Off thread, but wanted to say the work you have posted on your link is very top notch.
Thank you CAG. That's more than generous. If you haven't already noticed, I'm full of sh*t and just love to wind people up.---And I'm also a visitor from that infamously limp wristed, tea drinking (hot, with milk, ta) forum, Knots, where we agonise over such things as toothpaste as a polishing agent.
Gawd, lummee. I think I'll go back to extracting the urine from potential Floridians, or taking the pish out of the gun lobby, or Democrats or Republicans, and maybe a war is needed with EyeRack (sic) just to get the testosterone levels up to where they need to be, or maybe something else that's an easy target for ridicule, ha, ha. I'm cheap. Slainte.Some stuff I've made.