Rise And Fall Of Construction Industry

JustaFramer

Don't be so sure a strong remodel market is when mortgage interest rates are high and the economy is strong.

Tin Cup

i'm with you on this Sheeter. the trickle down, trickle up, trickle sideways. there will be many who will still do well, can't judge by those few. Gotta stay away from debt, count the paperclips, make sure you are adapting. I think alot of folks were living on some fairly easy money, especially realtors, who's buying now ? the people in the best boat now are those with the cash to buy forclosures to rent to those who can't get another home loan, but be able to hang on to the properties till the market comes back around. my guess for most is five years. we're one down, four to go.

just my opinions from here in sleepy little Ohio.

Tin Cup

Brock

Oh yeah! Remodel will be ok. I went through the first one in 1980. New high rises halfway done and sat for 10 years, new homes rotting without buyers, exactly the same deal. Thing is I was framing at the time and had to switch to remodeling. All the builders left town or got hired on in the aircraft industry. Rates went as high as 12%! It was tough because I wasn't established. But now I'm ready for it and everything has come full circle. I remember back in the day, folks with existing mortgages were spending like drunken sailors. People will always change their home just as fast as their hairstyle. That will never change. At that time they were still putting in pools and driveways and bathrooms etc. All the while the tumbleweeds were blowing through the half finished subdivisions. They just couldn't sell or buy a home.

JustaFramer

You are right I didn't mean to sound like remodel with take a complete dump like new construction. I know what quality work with do for a remodel biz repeat biz. The only thing I think is going to hurt business switching to remodel is no establishment like you said. Coupled with the home owners that bought over priced houses I don't think it will be a free for all market.

Tscarborough

I have been through 3 construction busts. Real ones, as in, the last one out of the city turn off the lights. Not only were we able to survive, we thrived. Plan for it; save money. Save money. Save money. Get your overhead low, your prices high, and work to your strengths. If you do residential, branch out into light commercial. If you do light commercial, branch out into institutional.


The ones that go tits up are the ones drving new F250s every other year and hunting dove in Mexico, sails in Cozumel, and running their business on cash flow instead of profit margin.

__________________
It ain't Rocket Science unless you are building rockets.

Dawgnuts

what am I talking about? Are you kidding? Look up by counties how many permits are being pulled compared to the last 2 years. The commercial industry is dying slowly out here. We work in vegas and all of california.

There is work, but not that much and with housing being dead your getting all the house framers trying to jump on commercial and they are low balling crap and screwing up our market.

JustaFramer

The Carpenters Union in California in the last couple years grew their membership 30-40,000. Can't be that bad.

StarTrek1

<--

Yes, Warren Buffet is there negoiating a deal to build Modular Home there right now, He owns all the manufactured home sale coast to coast. its easy to see that when they made the adjustment to NAFTA that they (Rich Folks) wanted there is nothing stopping them from stripping out whats left of america and building it elsewhere. Bye Bye Jobs and industry.

sanditdesign

It's not NAFTA that's the big problem. NAFTA is the North American Free Trade Agreement which involves only the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Mexico has taken some manufacturing, no doubt, but China and SE Asia are the big drains on U.S. - and Canadian - manufacturing. Canada is still the best partner of the U.S. Not only doesn't it take jobs from Americans, it supplies jobs to Americans along with the major share of oil imports - much larger than the US gets from the Saudis. If people would start to boycott or, at least, look more closely at the crap from China, they'd start buying again from American and Canadian suppliers and keep more business within NAFTA.

StarTrek1

May, 6, 2008

Retailers Taking Their Medicine and Turning Cautious Over Growth

Retail Industry Experts Say Closing Stores and Pulling Back is the Right Move in this Market

The past couple months in retail real estate have been laden with more store closing announcements and news of retailers slowing expansion plans than we've seen in a long time. However, two retail real estate strategy executives, a Wall Street retail analyst and a leading Texas retail real estate broker, confide that closing stores and turning cautious over expansion plans may be the best thing for retailers to be doing right now.

Announcements over the last couple months include Movie Gallery closing another 400 stores; Charming Shoppes closing 150 stores and cutting expansion plans by 50%; Starbucks closing 100 stores and slowing expansion plans by 34%; Ann Taylor shuttering 117 stores and slowing store growth; Boston Market evaluating its real estate opportunities; Buffet Holdings sorting out its underperformers; Sprint Nextel closing 125 stores and 4,000 distribution points; Cost Plus World Market closing 18 stores; Liz Claiborne closing 54 Sigrid Olsen stores; New York & Company axing the Jasmine Sola brand and its 32 stores; Ethan Allen closing 12 stores; PacSun closing all of its 173 demo stores; and Talbots exiting its kids and men's lines through closure of 78 stores.

Others include Rite Aid exiting Nevada by closing 28 stores; Macy's closing nine stores; Krispy Kreme expecting many franchisees to close stores; Kirkland's Home likely closing 130 stores; CompUSA's remaining 103 stores being disposed of; Rent-A-Center closing 280 stores; Sofa Express closing 44 stores in bankruptcy; 84 Lumber closing 12 stores; Home Depot closings some call centers; Levitz Furniture disposing of 76 stores in bankruptcy; Pep Boys closing 31 stores; Lifetime Brands closing 30 stores; Big A Drugs liquidating its 21 stores; Home Depot 15 units and many, many more.