"BusYness" survey - Mad Dog

Mad Dog_2

Just curious...around the country....how busy is everyone?  Everyone I know on Long Island is semi-busy to dead slow the last year and half with no great shakes in sght....how are youse guys faring?   Mad Dog

Jeremy

50/50

not to slow, not to busy...

Mad Dog_2

where are you located?

Mad Dog

Tim McElwain

Matt I obviously do not do any

installations or service however as an indicator up here in the RI/Mass area many of my clients have had to lay people off due to business being slow.



My classes when I started back in 1994 used to be 6 to 10 in a class was pretty much the routine. In 2000 I was down to 3 to 4 in a class now I am looking at 1 or 2. One pays my rent so two gives me a little profit. I am i think a pretty good barometer of what is happening.

Mad Dog_2

Many shops....

Have laid off the "dead wood"  and have the good guys on a reduced schedule....3-4 days a week.   Before things went south, I had 3 plumbers, two helpers, and a lady in the office.  Now its just me.   You hear how "things" are looking up....blah, blah.....Don't see it and don't see it changing for a LONG time. I look at it like this:  We've seen great times in the last ten years and these are the rough times.   Mad Dog

Mad Dog_2

oh yeah.......

my main supplier just told materials are going up - across the board....just what we need.  Mad Dog

Steve Whitbeck

How Busy

I work on what others don't want to or don't have the knowledge. ( I specalize in hydronics)  And offer service that puts the customer first.

I have been in business for myself 8 years now and every year the work load has increased.(36 years total)

I am at the stage that I need to hire. I have been turning away a LOT of work.

Just recently gave a $100,000 job to a friend.

I am out 30 days for non emergencies right now and at no time in the last 3 years have I not had at least 2 weeks work on the books.

Mark Eatherton

Some are, some are not...

My previous employer is SWAMPED.



A former employe who use to work for us is swamped.



Other contractors I've spoken to are dead in the water.



There appears to be some commercial stuff coming out of the ground, but not much in the way of new housing movement.



Personally, I am staying busy enough. Not too busy to the point that I have scheduling issues, but busy enough to pay the bills, But I am not turning and burning that much these days. Mostly troubleshooting and re-commissioning multi family and single family dwellings.



With stagflation kicking in, I think there are even tougher times ahead. I hope I am wrong, but all indications are...



ME.

Steamhead

DAWGGGG!

Good to see you on the Wall again.



Gordon and I have almost more work than we can handle..... knock on wood..............

Mad Dog_2

That's good to hear....

what part of the country are you in?  Mad Dog

Mad Dog_2

Good to "see" old friends like ME & Steamhead

where's Brad White, Darin, Mark and the others?  Mad dog

Wayco Wayne_2

Hey Dog

Wayco Wayne here down in MD. We have been busy up until 4 weeks ago. I have been checking the phones to make sure they aint broke. IN the meantime I flew down to Forida to check on my folks and have been taking any classes I can find to fill my head. Soon I'll start doing home improvemnts on the house. My wife is hoping it doent get that far. WW

tim smith

Re busy or not

Here in Seattle, I would give a fair rating. Have enough work to keep us busy but we are fortunate to have some larger jobs that we can pick a way at most of the time along with new retros that come in sporatically. Some buds of mine are somewhat slow. Just my .02  Tim

Magnehelic

One of the Lucky One's

Hi Guys......I'm in Spokane, Washington, and my dept has grown from 3 techs to 5 techs in the last 6 months.  Commercial building that isn't public has dropped off the face of the earth.  We specialize in steam decentralization, and commercial boiler retrofits, and hae been very quiet in that area for almost 2 years now.  Today was the first time that I got a call from a homeowner who wanted to purchase a boiler himself and have us install it.  I decided to go ahead and do it on T&M for for.  In earlier times, there is no way I would have taken this on.....too much room for unsatisfaction......but I know the product he has, and I need to throw something at my lead guys that isn't maintenance just to shake up their week a little.  Maintenance agreements are basically 90% of our work right now......thank God we have them.  Last year during the last quarter, we landed a large public works project.......and thanks to it, we had the best year we ever had......but without that job....we would've been in the red for the second year in a row.  I was able to hire 5 people that were laid off from the same company to do the job, and lasst month hired a lead technician who was laid off from one of the big boys in town.......top notch guy......so sad that he was available.

MJS

Lots of plumbers

We are still fairly busy, but have had moments of panic. We live in a small town attached to a ski resort in Colorado with a population around 2,000. A supplier and I counted 38 different plumbing companies that frequent this little town. A few of them are new companies started by recently laid off plumbers. Can't blame them, what else are they going to do?

Steve_35

Upstate NY

We had our best year ever last year in terms of gross sales and net profit.  This year is starting off pretty decently.  We're full swing into our annual services now.  Just 2 of us, but if this year continues we'll be looking to add another tech.



Steve Scott

Comfort Technology

Steve Whitbeck

How busy

My business is in Grand Rapids Michigan but I service the lakeshore from South Haven to North Muskegon. I also do service for other companies that gets me to Lansing and Kalamazoo. Almost all of my new customers come from word of mouth.

I just sold a 350,000 Btu Steam replacement boiler today. The guy ran the old one dry.

Jammer

Excellent survey Mad...

Three months ago I would have said "doing ok"



Now I'll say the local H.V.A.C. economy; "switched from suck to blow..." *



I think the withdraw of the big rebate dollars simmered the green initiative way down...  That and the silly calls about repairing 35 year old systems rather than replacing... that shows the mindset of the consumer isn't really recovered yet.



Add to that the booming price of fuels, and the ongoing disaster with a major trading partner's potential long range impact... I don't believe things will be any better than "spotty" the rest of 2011... At least I can't see anything that would affect a recovery near term.



Jammer 

Mad Dog_2

Same around here

Glad some are booming.  Mad Dog

bob eck

BusYness" survey - Mad Dog

I work in sales for a Plumbing & Heating wholesaler. With the cost of oil going through the roof I have customers quoting home owners with Triangle Tube 95% condensing gas boilers where there is natural gas available. Two years ago I switched from oil old Weil Mclain boiler with domestic coil to Triangle Tube Prestige Excellence 95% AFUE condensing Nat gas boiler and the first year I lowered my heating cost by about $1200 the second year with oil prices higher I will save about $1400 Plus I am now heating a area of my house with radiators off the boiler and not using electric baseboard and I installed a Nat gas kitchen stove and oven removed old electric stove and oven. Still saved $1400 plus lowered my electric bill by $350. Your customers that are heating with oil and have Nat gas available can keep paying high cost for oil or take a loan switch to Nat gas with a good condensing Nat gas boiler and pay the job off with the savings. With oil still going up some jobs can be paid off with savings in 3 to 5 years. If customers that have old oil boilers they can save money with going with a boiler like the Burnham MPO-IQ with outdoor reset and indirect water heater and lower their oil bill. I think contractors will have to show the home owners how much they can save by updating their heating systems. Congress should consider spending a lot less in foreign aid and give that money back in tax credits to home owners who up grade their heating and cooling to high efficiency systems. How about having tax credits at $5000 to the home owner but for the home owner to get the credit they need to stay in their current home where the new equipment was installed for five years and get $1000 federal tax credit per year. If they move before getting all $5000 in federal tax credits they forfeit the remaining amount. This would make contractors busy again and then wholesalers and then manufacturers. Would this type of program help you sell jobs? 

Mad Dog_2

you bet it would

nice idea.  Mad Dog

haventseenenough

haventseenenough

Telluride huh

bob eck

BusYness" survey - Mad Dog

Well how do we get congress to listen to us the PEOPLE who are their BOSS.

maybe we should get this idea out and printed in trade magazines.

where do I send this idea to what magazines.

Jean-David Beyer

how do we get congress to listen

Unfortunately, congress does listen to the people who are their boss. And those people are the lobbyists who pay their campaign expenses, not the voters. Perhaps if all heating and cooling contractors got together into one large political lobby with high membership dues, they might be able to make enough financial contributions to be heard, but I doubt it. Even the entire AFofL/CIO is no longer big enough. I am really sorry about this.

Mad Dog_2

Yeah...its called the PHCC

and they are powerful, but only so much.  Mad Dog

Tim McElwain

It would stimulate

the economy if the DOE would go ahead and institute 90 + efficiency requirements for heating and cooling equipment. People will not change unless they are told they must change. I got a e-mail from a customer who wants someone to come and repair his 1950's atmospheric gas conversion burner installed into a 1900's boiler. He wants to install a power gas burner in that old monster. Plenty of money to be made for someone who wants to tackle the job, but really we should be replacing all that very old and inefficient stuff. We will not do it however unless it is mandated.

george_42

Down in central pa

I have been in the plumbing business for over 40 years and now only work by myself doing repairs and small installations. I find that people are only fixing when it breaks and do not do things they would just like to have. Many of the large plumbers in central pa have many of their trucks sitting in the lot and you know the equipment still has to be paid on time , GEORGE

ScottMP

How ya Been Dog ?

Matt, I am always cautious of someone who is "swamped" even in the good times.

I have cut back allot .. down to four and me. Work has been slow that last year but started picking up last fall. A few slow weeks but something always seems to pick up, March and April has always been the traditional slow period for plumbers for as long as I can remember, This time is better than last and I suspect that around May things will start to improved even more, We have jobs and customers calling enough to keep us with work. I am doing all I can to generate interest.

Give me an e-mail Matt ... we'll talk. 

Mad Dog_2

I will call

Mad Dog

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

Scott Milne

March and April have always been terrible for me as well for contract work.  It seems as though the tax man took everyone's cash or people imagined that they needed to tighten their belts. 



But I've only been involved in service and repair for the last few years and this year has been one of the best.  Cleaning Munchkins, replacing atmospherics with Prestige Solos, replacing defective expansion tanks, replacing defective zone valves, troubleshooting anomalies, etc. and consulting.  It's been good.



I went to pick up some materials at my plumbing supplier this afternoon and it was dead in an otherwise busy local branch. 

helpingothershelpthemselves_2

BusYness....

Matt,

From the service side of the business, holding it's own still , thankfully.

From the education side .. all classes filled to the rafters. I am now teaching 4 nights per week. Enrollment has never been this high in all the years I have been teaching. Seems enrollment opens and a few short days later the classes are filled. Waiting lists have become common place.

Ken Resnick