How's your work holding out?

[QUOTE=Chubminnow;460002]I hear ya...I work in electrical engineering for an A/E firm...during the past year we've had some nice fat projects (military and industrial), but right now we don't have a big fat golden egg on our plate, nor do we have one on the tarmac waiting for take-off. It's very much dog-eat-dog right now....and sometimes it feels like I'm wearing milk-bone underwear.[/QUOTE]

The trade is really going down hill. Seems no one these days knows how to read a spec. book. Cost's are being cut by short cuts, some short cuts i see are undescribable. Quality work is taking a back seat.

[QUOTE=coombro;460017]The trade is really going down hill. Seems no one these days knows how to read a spec. book. Cost's are being cut by short cuts, some short cuts i see are undescribable. Quality work is taking a back seat.[/QUOTE]

You got that right,I used to pride myself on quality work,now it's get-r-done anywhich way.pitiful.Don't know if you like to travel,but big job in Clarksville,TN at a place named Hemlock that produces one of the key ingrediants in solar panels getting going,pretty tight security there,no cell phones/cameras,tight background checks,etc.
Several $4,000,000 hospital jobs coming up in Cincy as well.

I work in the grain industry. I'm a superintendant at a grain elevator. We are slow but still getting our time in. Won't be long we will be busier than all get out. Money not the best but its a steady paycheck & I enjoy the job.

Jason

While it might sound good for the economy, I guess now is a bad time to start thinking about having a house built. Materials up, cost competition/price competition pushing prices down, sounds to me like owner risk in having a quality house built would be up. I'm being serious and not clowning like usual. Am I putting the pieces together wrong? Sounds like the builder gets pinched by lower housing market value, higher cost for material, and that to the consumer, that would make it that much harder to sort though builders to find the good ones.

Our hospital work has carried us as always but the bid market sukks bad. Folks are taking projects at less then we can buy the material for. It's a gamble for them since the game is get in the door and then get change order after change order at HUGE margins to make up for the loss of taking the project.
Terrible market right now. Work is there but you have to basically buy it.

[QUOTE=DJD;460073]It's a gamble for them since the game is get in the door and then get change order after change order at HUGE margins to make up for the loss of taking the project.
Terrible market right now. Work is there but you have to basically buy it[/QUOTE]

One of these days if you and I ever get on the same project...we'll participate in the progress meetings, everything's goin' fine, job's on schedule, no big problems, etc....then afterwards you and I will get together and you're gonna tell me what you found after they removed some of the ceilings, and I'm gonna tell you where we can use 1/2" conduit in lieu of 3/4". I like to give and take with no paper work exchanged....change orders plumb wear me out! lol, lol...

Heck, when we die we'll leave this world the same way we came in anyway, with nothin'. When all is said and done it's what we leave behind that matters most.

[QUOTE=HURRICANEBOB;460066]While it might sound good for the economy, I guess now is a bad time to start thinking about having a house built. Materials up, cost competition/price competition pushing prices down, sounds to me like owner risk in having a quality house built would be up. I'm being serious and not clowning like usual. Am I putting the pieces together wrong? Sounds like the builder gets pinched by lower housing market value, higher cost for material, and that to the consumer, that would make it that much harder to sort though builders to find the good ones.[/QUOTE]

You're sort of on the right track...material is high but...next year it's gonna be higher. So really there's no time like the present to purchase material. But yes, with so many contractors hungry like they are now there's plenty of them to weed through to get to the reputable one's. For instance, like DJD wrote, he's been doing hospitals for awhile now. I've been doing hospital work for a long time myself...but about three years ago or so when the threat of Nobama becoming POTUS started becoming reality and things started spiraling down hill like they did, well all of a sudden EVERY architect and engineer started claiming they knew hospitals inside and out.

On a separate note Bob, cemetary vaults will be more expensive next year too, just figured I'd throw that in for ya, lol...

[QUOTE=DJD;460073]Our hospital work has carried us as always but the bid market sukks bad. Folks are taking projects at less then we can buy the material for. It's a gamble for them since the game is get in the door and then get change order after change order at HUGE margins to make up for the loss of taking the project.
Terrible market right now. Work is there but you have to basically buy it.[/QUOTE]

You hit the nail on the head their DJD. Who gets the bid is usually who left the most out. Try make it up in change ordes.

[QUOTE=Chubminnow;460084]One of these days if you and I ever get on the same project...we'll participate in the progress meetings, everything's goin' fine, job's on schedule, no big problems, etc....then afterwards you and I will get together and you're gonna tell me what you found after they removed some of the ceilings, and I'm gonna tell you where we can use 1/2" conduit in lieu of 3/4". I like to give and take with no paper work exchanged....change orders plumb wear me out! lol, lol...

Heck, when we die we'll leave this world the same way we came in anyway, with nothin'. When all is said and done it's what we leave behind that matters most.[/QUOTE]

Conduit? Their stringing m/c like theres not tomorrow!

I work for the Armor center on Ft Knox and I lost my job today but I start a new one on Monday with the same $$. But there are 159 of my coworkers that are gonna lose their jobs on 19 August. I hope they all find work because they all have a good work ethic and they really gave their all at work. I can't stop thinking about them. I pray that everyone finds work.

The tire business is pretty good for us right now, but ultra competitive. We've got 9 distribution centers across the South...looking to expand to a 10th soon. We cover markets from the hills and hollers of West Virginia, to the cotton fields in Arkansas, to the Gulf Shore, with major metro markets scattered in-between. We've got enough boots on the ground that we can survive in areas where the economy is taking a toll and things are slow, because we're up in other areas that are recovering. We see pockets that are really depressed, while others are hopping. Rubber price increases, fuel costs, tariffs, etc have made the last couple of years a roller coaster. One month is off the charts good, one month *****....and everybody seems to be playing the "how low can we sell it" game as the tire manufactures keep increasing prices steadily. We keep having to lower our margins to meet competition and it's cutting into the bottom line, which makes it harder to give raises, hire people, etc. You have to get creative looking for other ways to cut cost, like investing in technology or process efficiencies.

But, can't complain. Cars, trucks, vans, big rigs, tractors, boat trailers, forklifts, garbage trucks, lawn mowers, earthmovers, mining ukes...whether they are brand new vehicles or used vehicles with a million miles on them, they've gotta have tires to move...and we've got warehouses full of em. I've got a job...doing the work of about 6 people sometimes and a little hard on the ticker...but hey, it's a paycheck. I get to meet a lot of cool people and travel.

[U]Coombro[/U] - running M/C, yea I know they are...in my mind it's ok for running vertically in walls, down to light switches and receptacles, and for whips, etc...but that's about it, unless it comes down to the price game of how low can we go. But then the job becomes cheap and poor quality at that point in my opinion.

[U]Tom[/U] - There's a lot of construction work going on out there at Fort Knox right now, military housing as well as commercial building off post. Glad you've still got a job to report to come Monday morning, and I feel for the one's who don't.

[U]Splitshot[/U] - One of these days I hope to put a mild lift on my truck and get me some of those bigger tires, what are those, 32", 33"? I bet they cost about the same as both arms and half a leg by now don't they???