i have cleaned a few gutters this year also per.
i have also had to dig a few holes and other general labouring jobs.
its a dirty job but someone has to do it, and it pays the bills.

its a far cry from using my festool toys onsite, but i cant complain.
i haven't gone hungry yet!

i also had a small injury. stood on a sharp piece of metal. off work for 2 weeks.
it has been my first injury where i have been introduced to the wonderful world of the medical profession.
now i know why they all drive porsche's, bmw's and mercedes....

regards, justin.

Keep the faith, Per.  Things are looking up. 
Good to hear from you.

Good to hear from you, Per!

What most people don't understand about money, is that it needs velocity to do any good.
Simply existing in a pile, it is nothing more than kindling.
When money starts actually moving, the economy will recover.
I don't know where all the "stimulus" money moved to, but it apparently has never gotten to the local economy.  It must be in a garage somewhere.
Has anyone else noticed the dozens of miles of "Work Zone" signs and orange cones along I-80 in several states with no equipment and no one working?
If money has too much velocity, it gets out of control, like a truck with no brakes coming down from a mountain.
Right now, it seems to be stuck in a swamp with no winch.
Hang in there!  I think there may be a few people running for office that understand income tax is transaction  based.  More transactions; more revenue.

My daughter sent this to me.  She lives near the small town of Mamou, Louisiana in the heart of Cajun French Louisiana...an area that never sees a boom in the boom times but suffers the lows of every down period.  It fits into this discussion.   

Mamou Economics

> It's a slow day in Mamou , Louisiana . The
> sun is beating down, and the streets are deserted. Times are tough,
> everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.
>
> On this particular day a traveling Shreveport salesman is driving
> through town. He stops at the Hotel Cazan and lays a $100 bill on
> the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to
> pick one in which to spend the night.
>
> As soon as the man walks upstairs, Bosco, the owner, grabs the bill
> and runs next door to pay his debt to Boudreaux the butcher.
>
> Boudreaux takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt
> to the Trosclair the pig farmer.
>
> Trosclair takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill at T-Boy's
> Farmers Co-op, the local supplier of feed and fuel.
>
> T-Boy at the Farmer's Co-op
> takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute,
> Clarise, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her
> "services" on credit.
>
> Clarise rushes to the hotel and pays off her room bill with Bosco,
> the hotel owner.
>
> Bosco then places the $100 back on the counter so the travelling
> salesman will not suspect anything.
>
> At that moment the salesman comes down the stairs, picks up the $100
> bill, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money,
> and leaves town.
>
> No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole
> town is now out of debt and now looks to the future with a lot more
> optimism.

Nah, he paid his debt to the Boudreux!

Great story!

I feel with you! I just closed my company a couple of months ago...

Don't feel bad about me, it's all good! I'm glad it's over  To many worries, no skilled staff to be found, cheap customers and greedy landlords... just to name a few.

It always blew my mind that our housing market is very strong and prices are skyrocking. People around here are still willing to pay $500.000,00 for a condo and much much more for run down houses! But on the other hand they are too cheap to buy locally made products.... As you said, IKEA is our enemy  How can you compete? You can't.

Anyhow, I found a job in a very nice shop. Now really enjoying building stuff again without the worries!

Wish you all the best!!!!!

Per-

Alas, it is ever thus...

No one appreciates the artist in his time, unfortunately for our wallets, it is only after we've gong into the great void, that our  art is appreciated.  Personally, I think it is a bunch of crap!

Most folks can and do know the difference - they just rationalize it all away, along with a good bit of their lives, or so it seems.

Non Illigitimae Carborundum!

Jon,
I am not the praying type.
but I am from the school of good work should sell itself.
I feel for my brothers down south.
But, what terrifies me.....
Is sitting on my  with a non marketable skill.
Go wait in line for a Ipad, never mind the house that rots around you.
Poverty,. just today's hit of crack.
Ok, honestly, I really don't want to cut my hair, put on that suit and dust of that sheepskin.
There is not a shred of honesty or valor in that.
Excuse me while my dog, my mule and my helper go tilting at windmills.

Per

Go head its ok to chuckle.

Excellent point Wino!  There are miles & miles in my state also... If nothing else the stimulus money has made the orange cone/work sign czars fat & rich.

I don't post here very often so I hope that these comments don't offend anyone

But........... I think you're missing a business opportunity when you trash IKEA stuff

Kitchens in particular, they are fantastic value at the price point

But most people don't have your skills and will do a crummy install job

Use IKEA as part of your bid process.  Show your customer the price of an IKEA kitchen installed by you.

Then the price of that kitchen but with custom doors/drawer fronts that you build and install.

Then the price of a total custom job installed by you

Somewhere in that spread I'm sure there is a job for you, and a very satisfied customer

Who will probably call you back for other work.

I don't think that any of these alternatives will undermine  your integrity as a skilled craftsperson but might give you a way to work within the confines of your customer's budgets/expectations.

Just a thought

Jay

Welcome back Per, things are always more interesting when you're posting :-)  Hope things start picking up for you soon.

Fred

Thank you all,

Jay. Ikea my .
Two words.

Particle board.
Lets broach the subject,
Are we wood workers?

Or are we money makers. I have said it more then once, I will say it again.
I will sooner stand on a street corner with a silly sign.


Then sell crap.

When you are done with me, your great grand children will wonder how he did that.
Its not about the money, its about the craft.
Its called dignity.

And when the shells are all boiled, that's really all you have.

Dignity.

Per

Brice,

Your reputation is for sale?

There is a word for that.

Per

Jonny

With you on that!

Two years ago I was exclusively making bespoke furniture and kitchens and making a good living from it. Then when it all came crashing down and the phone stopped ringing I had a choice, diversify or die.

So now I make windows and doors, fit kitchens, (have done one with Focus units!! and had to put more screws in it that than an Afghan car bomb to keep it stable), have made wooden planters and anything else that will keep the finance rolling in.

Dont get me wrong Per, I too want to be considered a craftsman and create heirloom furniture but when the money is not moving I will "prostitute" myself to keep food on the table and my business going until the good times come round again.

The alternative is stacking shelves in Tesco's and thats non negociable!

Guy   

Per,

I respect your opinion ( very much so ) but I don't quite grasp what "dignity" has to do with the material you use ? Perhaps it's my lesser understanding of your language ( i'm not a native speaker ) but in my somewhat simple book dignity is quite closely coupled to honesty.

I'm very clear about what quality I like to deliver, and if a customer wants something made out of particleboard I clearly inform him that this may not be the best choice in a certain situation, and that the cost of the materials vs. the cost of my labor would be a fair bit out of whack if I make some pieces out of particleboard. For I don't like to compromise on fit and finish, and my labor doesn't come cheap - I have to make a living out of it.
But when I've made clear that it may be bad economics in the somewhat longer run and that the client is essentially wasting money letting me build something out of a less than optimal material ( as a matter of fact, I don't believe particleboard to be the worst choice per se in certain situations ) and the client still wants me to build something out of particleboard, sometimes with a melamine coating with a woodprint that doesn't look very much like the wood it's supposed to mimick, and he asks me: "I know it's not optimal, but I like the way you work and I'd like you to build it for me" then who am I to argue any further ? In the end it's about delivering a service to your customer, and the service he wants. I think there's honour in chewing up your pride in order to deliver the service your customer wants.
 
Here in Holland it can be pretty hard to compete with a lot of contractors that have come over from the former Eastern European countries. Hard, because ( among a LOT of others ) there are some superb craftsmen among them, and they're willing to live in a trailer away from home for about 10 months a year or so while their costs of living are simply not comparable to mine, including the money they send home to support their family. Should I dislike them for doing that ? Of course not ! I admire their enterpreneurial spirit and their willingness to live apart from their families for so long.
Meanwhile I still have to make a living, so I have to offer something that appeals to a customer.
Somehow I still manage ( be it barely ) by being honest, charging for my work what I need to stay in business, and being very open about that, and about the choices there are.
I've never charged a dime for an esitmate ( however elaborate ) and just charge my work and materials.
Advice is freely given and always to the best of my knowledge, and I've never charged a dime for that either, for who knows if I might be wrong ?

I've recently come across a job that needed some stucco apart from the drywall and carpentry part, and I advised the homeowner to contact a certain Czech guy whom I think does a superb job for a ridiculously low price. "I'd rather have you do it" he says. "But honestly, he's the better craftsman, and I can't match even double his price" I replied. "Yes, I considered that - but I like the way you work and still want you to do it" he said.
In general I hate stuccoing, but I did this job with all the TLC I could come up with, and felt very good about it. The customer got his money's worth, at least from where I'm standing and he was very pleased with the result so I guess he feels the same way.


Bottomline: I deliver a SERVICE. I have a relationship with my customers, and I am willing to deliver a wide variety of services as long as they are within the scope of the rules and principles I try to follow driving my business. I try to be as open as possible about that. I have limits, but if a customer wants a particleboard kitchen cabinet I will deliver that. If he wants a particleboard built-in bookcase and entertainment center I think there would be fair deal of persuasion required, for I think that may be money wasted. But if he still wants it, despite my honest advise ? I'll build it, if  I'm sure the customer knows what he's doing, and knows that he may be throwing money down the drain.
If I knew that the built-ins were only meant to -say- "up" the price of a house I'd reconsider, and probably decline.

If your business principles state "I'll only work with solid wood...." that's fine by me, it's up to you of course. I think in the current economy that will mean that you're withholding your obviously superb craftsmanship from a growing group of people, but again that's all up to you.

But implying that anyone who's willing to do a decent day's work on less-then-stellar materials ( and probably be very honest about it ) is "selling a load of dung" is somewhat harsh from where I stand.


Sorry to all, this is a bit of a longwinded post. The art of compact formulation is not my forte and I obviously don't have Per's poetic skills.




Regards,

Job