Hows Business? - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Seascape · 09-30-2009, 06:01 PM

Just wondering. My fence sales crashed through the floor over the last 2 months. Ive had 2 week stretches not even bidding. I just bid over 1000 ft the last week and looks like i struck out. Some of it i bid to get still wasnt good enough. My callbacks are exposing tire kickers.

How you guys doing?

charlesmd · 09-30-2009, 06:49 PM

Alot of us are in the same boat. Be patient. Im relying on former customers for business and have been since last october. I had the local newspaper call me a month ago trying to get me to run my ad again(I pulled it 8 months ago),but I did it for a month to see if the fish were biting and they werent. I just started another bath(total gut and re-arrange) for a customer Ive done two other baths for. Im still hoping something else comes through soon. Got a few other tile jobs in the making for another former customer, its a wait and see period for me.
Good luck,

oldfrt · 09-30-2009, 06:54 PM

Hang in there.
If the economy gets any worse,maybe there will be a big crime spree,and people will all start fencing in their yards.
Might want to check into installing some built in Gun-Turrets to set you apart from the crowd.

Fencing is just one of the things that is done when HO's have extra money.
More for cosmetics and privacy.
People aren't spending like they were.

Seascape · 09-30-2009, 06:57 PM

Ya,, Im not as smart as you. I've been running my paper ad in 265,000 publications per week since March which is about double what i usually run. Still nothing. I'm thinkin about pulling the ad but than its just like I gave up?

Bill Z · 09-30-2009, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seascape

Ya,, Im not as smart as you. I've been running my paper ad in 265,000 publications per week since March which is about double what i usually run. Still nothing. I'm thinkin about pulling the ad but than its just like I gave up?

What's your ad say?

Clemens · 09-30-2009, 07:06 PM

I truly believe you have to change the way you have done business for years. Advertising, yellow pages, flyers, home shows etc is what they call outbound marketing strategies and they are not as effective anymore as they used to be. A good website (blogs, videos, keywords etc) with a high ranking in the main search engines will generated most of the business nowadays.
Clemens

Seascape · 09-30-2009, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Z

What's your ad say?

Season by Season 13 yrs. exp. Free Ests. We offer wood, chain link & vinyl fencing. One FREE gate w/each Installation. Please call (614) 271-4473.

curapa · 10-01-2009, 03:49 PM

Been busy for most of the year. I do not stay booked a month or more in advance like a couple of years ago but I seem to always have one or two jobs at a time. Finishing up two jobs tomorrow,I collected a deposit yesterday for one job and I got the go ahead for 240' of vinyl today.

The fence business is still o.k. here, it's the decks that are slow to none.

wizendwizard · 10-01-2009, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by curapa

Been busy for most of the year. I do not stay booked a month or more in advance like a couple of years ago but I seem to always have one or two jobs at a time. Finishing up two jobs tomorrow,I collected a deposit yesterday for one job and I got the go ahead for 240' of vinyl today.

The fence business is still o.k. here, it's the decks that are slow to none.

Are you accepting applications? I'm more than willing to come help you out.

Five Star · 10-01-2009, 08:58 PM

i dont do fences but i have usually had 8-12 nice decks every summer for the past 8 yrs,mostly composite!

this yr i did 0 decks, not even a repair to a deck!

i had about 15 estimates and was out bid for each one! there is a guy buy me doing azek decks for $27 a sq ft! with that kinda compitition i rather do other things and make more money doing Less Work!

so my point is diversify yourself and it could be buisness as usual, cut all the news paper ads and get on the net (people rarely buy newspapers to read at work, their all on the internet) weed out the tire kickers but offer free estimates just screen them so you dont waste your time and gas!

GOOD LUCK

Bill Z · 10-02-2009, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seascape

Season by Season 13 yrs. exp. Free Ests. We offer wood, chain link & vinyl fencing. One FREE gate w/each Installation. Please call (614) 271-4473.

Many years ago, I learned that what works for one company in one area, may not work at all in my area. So consider that my disclaimer.

You might try a small ad for each type of fencing. Run all three ads the same day in different sections of the paper.

I attached some sample ads to give the idea. Bunch everything up 3 ads per day for about 3 days then skip a few days to keep your budget under control. I like Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays with no particular scientific proof those are better than the others. Just feel like people are home on the weekends (pick Sunday if you can) and talk about what they want to do to their property. Just a guess.

Good Luck...

BTW, are you using a logo?

Stone Mountain · 10-05-2009, 04:33 PM

I had the worst March in probably 15 years. Then I had a mediocre April; a very good May, a respectable June, a passable July. August and spetember were less than 1/2 of last years sales.
Today I sold almost as much as I did all of September.

Very frustrating.

J F · 10-05-2009, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seascape

Ya,, Im not as smart as you. I've been running my paper ad in 265,000 publications per week since March which is about double what i usually run. Still nothing. I'm thinkin about pulling the ad but than its just like I gave up?

265,000 publications?!

J F · 10-05-2009, 04:51 PM

or addresses?

John Hyatt · 10-05-2009, 05:33 PM

This summer to begin with was slow but nothing compared to last year. Come late August the patio covers,pagolas, perglas what ever really came alive, the decks under them were not bad but those covers made me some good money.

The best one was a 10' x 16' redwood 6x6 thing we did in 4 1/2 days. Shop cut and prefinished with 1/2'' steel brackets bolted to the slab. No Lexann on that one. The JonMon walked away with $12,800. Going to the bank I kept looking over my shoulder thinking someone was going to walk up and say " You dont really think your going to get away with this do you??"

I have to thank Mac for the sundance supply contact

The three we put the lexann pannels on were some $ makers as well. Mabey it was the really hot weather we had or mabey I was the only one in town puting that stuff on but I owe the Big Mac some beer and bison barbq.

Far as advertising goes I keep the att yellerpage at $480 a mo around 45% of my jobs come from that along with their web page. Also I have been geting on the diy sites for over 10 years every now and then I get a consulant job but every time those Folks click on my site I get moved up in the ranks so now I get like 13000 hits a month I got several from China if you can belive it. Anyway I have landed maney jobs just because the Wallet saw me on some site.

You have to be cerfull how you post on those things but done right it can work for you, and of course its with the given you know what the hell your talking about. It works both ways I have saved diy a lot of money/time/ and head ake ers over the years. JonMon

curapa · 10-05-2009, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Hyatt

This summer to begin with was slow but nothing compared to last year. Come late August the patio covers,pagolas, perglas what ever really came alive, the decks under them were not bad but those covers made me some good money.

The best one was a 10' x 16' redwood 6x6 thing we did in 4 1/2 days. Shop cut and prefinished with 1/2'' steel brackets bolted to the slab. No Lexann on that one. The JonMon walked away with $12,800. Going to the bank I kept looking over my shoulder thinking someone was going to walk up and say " You dont really think your going to get away with this do you??"

I have to thank Mac for the sundance supply contact

The three we put the lexann pannels on were some $ makers as well. Mabey it was the really hot weather we had or mabey I was the only one in town puting that stuff on but I owe the Big Mac some beer and bison barbq.

Far as advertising goes I keep the att yellerpage at $480 a mo around 45% of my jobs come from that along with their web page. Also I have been geting on the diy sites for over 10 years every now and then I get a consulant job but every time those Folks click on my site I get moved up in the ranks so now I get like 13000 hits a month I got several from China if you can belive it. Anyway I have landed maney jobs just because the Wallet saw me on some site.

You have to be cerfull how you post on those things but done right it can work for you, and of course its with the given you know what the hell your talking about. It works both ways I have saved diy a lot of money/time/ and head ake ers over the years. JonMon

You have to be careful how you post here too, many HO's browsing. Some of that info may be too much.

Curt

BattleRidge · 10-05-2009, 08:34 PM

Its hard to find a good strategy that works all the time. Last year I payed 800 for a year in the phonebookand did about 90k off of it. This year I put about 1200(I realize our phonebooks cheap) into it with a little bid larger add, I have only done two roofs off of it for about 15k total in sales. Problem is I kind of expected a similar return and have been slow because of it. So you never know, I just tried a bunch of different methods together and have kept busy month to month which is better than nothing.

Maybe you could draw back your ads in some of the publications and then put that money elsewhere. Print posters and put them in lumberyards with color photos or other good places. Just a thought. Doorhangers would be good for fences as well. Can you accept credit cards?

Anderson · 10-05-2009, 08:57 PM

I am no expert but I would say that you have to stay small and change things up a little. I will work for free rather than stay at home for a day, I did some habitat for humanity stuff last week. Not sure if anything will come of it but hey better than doing nothing.

deckman22 · 10-05-2009, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anderson

I am no expert but I would say that you have to stay small and change things up a little. I will work for free rather than stay at home for a day, I did some habitat for humanity stuff last week. Not sure if anything will come of it but hey better than doing nothing.

I'm the opposite, Al don't like working for free.

Kudo's on the habitat for humanity work tho.

Oh yeah back on topic, how's business? For me it's been kinda like Stone, good or even great one month to sucking wind the next.

I think folks still want things done, they're just not sure if they should spend the $. One day the talking heads are saying we're pulling out of the recession, the next they say we have 10% unemployment. It plays on the public's mind.

BreyerConstruct · 10-05-2009, 11:16 PM

Better than I deserve, but not as good as I'd prefer!

We're booked into December... but with only one crew, as opposed to the two I had at this point last year!
~Matt