How is the everyone's business across the US

[utterguys]

Hope all is well with our customers and other dealers.

How is everyone's business across the US in regards to dealer sales and customers getting new work. The residential market in FL is in the toilet as there is very little new residential construction.

You can now buy a 600K home for less than 350K.

Commercial and remodeling sales are up. 

Hope to here from from all 50 states
Andrew

 

[Bill Wyko]

I'm not in the realestate business or the tool business. I'm in Car Audio and Offroad vehicle sales. Because these are luxury items business is very slow. No extras around here right now.

 

[Norm St.Onge]

Southern Vermont here...I was expecting a dismal season due to the economy, fuel costs, etc. To the contrary it's been my best summer season since I relocated here 5 years ago; busy, busy, busy. The real estate market is in toilet and the tourist economy is off, and still, busy.

I'm socking away every extra dime I can as I expect when the $5/gallon heating oil bills start coming in that work will grind to a halt.

-Norm

 

[colotimber]

Here in the Denver area we are doing well.  I have three decorators/designers that we work with and all three's client base are well healed.  To that end, these clients are not really concerned about the price of gas but want to know when they can start stocking wine in their new wine cellar.  I am also very fortunate to have had some of the best clients that I have had in the 20 some years that I have been slaving away at this trade.  With all that said I have taken a few jobs along the way to fill the gaps in the schedule and pay the bills.

I hope that others in other areas of the country are as fortunate as I am.

Dan

 

[Tinker]

I'm a landscaper here in SW Connecticut.
I keep trying tto wind down my business but each time I lose a customer to moving away, i gain two or three new ones.
Last fall, i lost a very small account.
This spring, i picked up 4 new ones, the smallest of which was about three times as much income (WORK) as the one i lost.

I'm only 39 (for nearly 39th time around) so i guess I will just keep plugging.
a neighbor told me the way I keep working, I should be extremely healthy.

I said, "I suppose that could be true, but what I do notice is it keeps me in pain and all bent over."  ??? : ;D)
Tinker

 

[Eli]

I'm socking away every extra dime I can as I expect when the $5/gallon heating oil bills start coming in that work will grind to a halt.

-Norm

My Dad lives in Rochester, VT and will be closing the house and moving to Vegas for the winter. He says it's cheaper than heating it. 

Carpentry work is pretty good here right now. I'm hoping a big film comes to town with summer weather. (I know, that's not really in the US, but when America sneezes, the world catches a cold) ;D

 

[Bill Wyko]

I know I'm not a festool dealer but I thought I'd mention that business is getting better around here. My competitors are getting buisier too so it's not just me. ;D ;D ;D ;D

 

[bonesbr549]

I'm in manufacturing and I just (literally last week) moved from St. louis to PA to take a new job because my old plant is in trouble and now here we go again.  Another round of  consolidations I've been through 8 reductions in 10 years. 

 

[robtonya]

Well it is slow for me. We actually halted production on the Tundra and Sequoia, and instead of laying off several thousand people, we are in the middle of intense training. I will have to admit that I am very impressed with Toyota right now for offering us a paycheck, and not laying off. They said they have never laid off yet, and so far they have been good on it. I asked to transfer to the mini-van line Sienna, so now I paint the Sienna, while those people on that line get the same training.

 

[bonesbr549]

Well it is slow for me. We actually halted production on the Tundra and Sequoia, and instead of laying off several thousand people, we are in the middle of intense training. I will have to admit that I am very impressed with Toyota right now for offering us a paycheck, and not laying off. They said they have never laid off yet, and so far they have been good on it. I asked to transfer to the mini-van line Sienna, so now I paint the Sienna, while those people on that line get the same training.

We have made many trips to study toyota.  There is a good book called "The Toyota Way" that as management we all studied.  Your company is excellent. I hope they can stick with the no layoffs.  These are very trying times.  Toyota has never experienced a slowdown like this.  My industry pharmaceuticals is in the same boat.  Your company has a much better reputation than ours.  Hang in there.  Good luck. 

 

[robtonya]

We have made many trips to study toyota.  There is a good book called "The Toyota Way" that as management we all studied.  Your company is excellent. I hope they can stick with the no layoffs.  These are very trying times.  Toyota has never experienced a slowdown like this.  My industry pharmaceuticals is in the same boat.  Your company has a much better reputation than ours.  Hang in there.  Good luck. 
[/quote]

I have heard  about other companies studying "the Toyota Way".  I am proud of Toyota for keeping us all, and investing the time and money on us.

 

[Norm St.Onge]

My Dad lives in Rochester, VT and will be closing the house and moving to Vegas for the winter. He says it's cheaper than heating it. 

One of my best customers in Manchester, VT (an exclusive resort/vacation town) told me last week that for the first time in the 20 years they've owned a home here that they're shutting it down for the winter and moving to their apartment in NYC.

We had our first 'furnace morning' last week - the early leaves are starting to change and the furnaces came on for allot of folks because it dipped down into the low 40's overnight. I came home from work that night to 3 cancelled/postponed jobs on my answering machine. I'm able to pull in some smaller jobs I had set aside for Oct-Nov to keep me busy for Sept but that's it.

People across the spectrum are worried...if the gulf coast gets hammered by Gustav and fuel prices go crazy again it's going to be very ugly here in the northeast.

-Norm

 

[peter halle]

Personally my business hasn't suffered to the degree as many, but I have always specialized in reppairs versus new home construction.  In the past I have taken on very few residential customers - 90% was commercial.  Wouldn't even return phone calls.  This year I'm at 40% residential.

The new home market is bad but not terrible.  I started in this business in 1983 when mortagage rates were in the upper teens.  I've seen cycles, but this one is different.  What happened with the whole mortgage lending business helped some people and will hurt others.  It will depend on whether they used the proceeds of cashing out on mortgages wisely.  Contractors will survive if they planned for the future versus counting on just cash flow.  Some will be weeded out as should be.  I went in to buy some Quickdrive screws from a supplier the other day.  I don't buy much from them at all.  At 2 PM my $250 purchase was their largest of the day.  It just goes to prove that innocent people will be hurt also - regrettably.

The ones who took care of business and who are artisans rather than contractors or even worse briefcase contractors will always have the ability to survive if they think before they act and keep their wits about them.

I hope that I can continur to keep mine.

Peter

 

[Canucker]

Well, I live on Vancouver Island in Canada. We are a retirement and second home community, for wealthier Canadians. Home sales are off about 40% from last year because wealthy Canucks are buying holiday homes in Phoenix and Hawaii.

I own a supply company, sales are off about 15%. Its not horrible but I worry about 2009. There are too many unsold homes out there right now.

Canadians are buying homes in the US, which is hurting home sales in Canada.

 

[Dan Clermont]

My wife is a realtor in Vancouver BC Canada and so far we haven't seen huge price drops although inventory is growing. Summer is always slow so it will be interesting to see if the market picks up in the fall or stays flat.

Dan Clermont

 

[Eli]

Living here and having left California when we did is like being a visitor from a year forward in the future. I was almost visibly shocked that a neighbor would buy a brand new V6 Coupe. I think I'd rather put money in a pile and burn it to keep warm than have another guzzler vehicle.

I think we were moving into conservation mode when we were leaving, starting to really worry about interest rates and consumable consumption, and we land here and it's business as usual. I think the penny hasn't really dropped here yet. There's still a metropolitan housing shortage in the big cities keeping rents and prices for purchase up, and out west the mining business is booming.

Buildings going up everywhere. There are still about thirteen or fourteen huge tower cranes putting up residential apt. buildings in downtown Melbourne. I'm waiting for the fire sale, cursing that I won't have enough money to really scoop a lot of real estate. Rates finally dropped after four previous hikes this year, but we're still a full point above the US last time I checked. Soon my variable will be less than my fixed!

I ran the old house on Zillow and it has gone up in value though. Five grand! They must be thrilled  :