Out Look for 07?

[McKeeLand]

So what do you guys think next season will bring? Here in south jersey we definitely saw a slow down in the hardscaping this past season and an increase in competition.

Just curious how your season was and what you think this season will bring. I hoping for the best. EP Henry is supposed to advertise the authorized contractor program, hope that will boost sales.

[neversatisfiedj]

I am fortunate to have 2 jobs booked already for March. I hope with fuel costs down this will relate to more profit and work !

Josh

[mrusk]

I honestly have nothing booked for spring yet. However, i am starting my advertising shortly and have no doubt i will have pleanty of work come spring time.

I do have a estimate for 2 pools next week though.

I'm hoping the economy keeps doing what its doing so we can all have a good season!

[McKeeLand]

Yeah i'm optimistic for spring that is always good. It just seemed this past summer and fall we had a real slow down. Here we have had pure insanity for the past 5+ years because of the housing boom driven a lot by the casinos. Your talking 1000+ new homes a year in a area only 77 square miles. it has definitely slowed down now and i can no longer just throw out the high numbers and get almost every job. I have to really tightening up my estimates to be competitive. Maybe i'm just not use to working in the real world anymore. :laugh:

[cgland]

We have a full schedule for March (weather permitting) and am working on a couple estimates from referrals. Outlook seems pretty good right now.:cool2:

Chris

[YardPro]

we are booked through march right now...
this year is getting off to a with a bang.

[B. L. Landscaping]

I have a couple jobs lined up for march. what are some good ways to advertise for some new patio jobs this spring.

[SimonCX]

So what do you guys think next season will bring? Here in south jersey we definitely saw a slow down in the hardscaping this past season and an increase in competition.

Just curious how your season was and what you think this season will bring. I hoping for the best. EP Henry is supposed to advertise the authorized contractor program, hope that will boost sales.

I think it will be the same as last year, there are still alot of homes going up. Definitely saw a slow down because of competition but that is mostly because guys who have a pickup all the sudden think there a contractor. There are a couple homes I service that I didnt get the jobs for patio's because there was a guy doing them for about half. He pulled up in an old station wagon with his wife one time when I was there. His job was the worst quality that I have ever seen, the patio didn't have any base( pavers were put on the soil), walls were tiping over in less then a month and no permits so the homeowner had major problems. The sad part is that this guy was getting jobs left and right because he was so cheap and the ones I saw were very very bad, and the state could care less that he isn't a business with no insurance.

[DVS Hardscaper]

never base an outlook by spring bookings/sales.

I have been in this business for 17 yrs and there has not been ONE spring where we did not have a solid inventory of work.

Its late July / August, followed by fall that will tell the story.

Its my opinion, that as long as the Iraq war is going on - the economy will be slow. Seems the only folks reallyy spending are the ones that are involved in the defense industry....

[McKeeLand]

[QUOTE=DVS Hardscaper;1671550]never base an outlook by spring bookings/sales.

I have been in this business for 17 yrs and there has not been ONE spring where we did not have a solid inventory of work.

Its late July / August, followed by fall that will tell the story.

QUOTE]

Exactly my point, we have never had a slow spring, heck in spring even the drunks are busy. Its after that when you see if your going go into winter full steam ahead, or crawl into it wishing it was over before it starts.

[DVS Hardscaper]

We had our best spring ever, in 2006. Jobs were selling left and right and I was inflating the prices because the demand was there.

But 2006 was probably our worst year ever.

June rolled around and sales came to a halt. Phone was still ringing. And I was swamped with estimates. But I couldn't make sales - unless we worked for next to nothin.


Our industry is a luxury. Just like motorcycles and boats are luxuries.

What determines luxury item sales are:

-national and local economy
-gasoline prices
-grocery prices
-natural disasters (such as hurricanes, earth quakes, etc)
-terrorism (when 9/11 happened - our phone stopped ringing for about a week)
-interest rates
-competition (I'd guess that our competition has trippled in the last 2 yrs)

[McKeeLand]

That was a lot like our year for 2006, except there was a real pinch on the price from the begging. I out bid my self on about $100,000+ worth of work before i realized that i have to lower my prices to be more competitive. I lost a $24000 dollar patio for $1500 and we where going to use flow fill the whole nine. The guy who ended up doing the job was a real hack too. I love when someone who passes on us because where to much gets a guy that i know will butch their job.