question or speculation

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cschmid

cschmid

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So I see that Oil is at 93.50 a barrel and climbing..So how do you compensate for ever increasing gas prices? What do you expect to see happen to the housing and contracting market by Christmas time? I have heard talk of recession and am curious what it is like and what the outlook is in visioned in the short term market and if you are so inclined what do you think it will be like in winter and on into spring markets..
 
boboelectric said:
i say President Bush should quit stashing 50.000 barrels of crude oil daily,at our expense, and open the stratigic oil reserves to cool the oil market.
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All that would do is to deplete the strategic oil reserve. The price will continue to rise until demand slows. If the dollar would quit falling, and maybe rise in value, the price we pay would be lower.

The combination of increased demand and the devaluing of the dollar is killing us. That's what all this deficit spending is doing to us. I'm sorry to say I'm in the camp it's going to get more difficult.
 
cschmid said:
So I see that Oil is at 93.50 a barrel and climbing..So how do you compensate for ever increasing gas prices?
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Fuel surchage? It seems to be an accepted practice.
What do you expect to see happen to the housing and contracting market by Christmas time?
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Housing market will continue to underperform. Contracting in 'other' markets will be hurt (%profit) by the housing contractors looking for work (that old supply/demand thing).
I have heard talk of recession and am curious what it is like and what the outlook is in visioned in the short term market and if you are so inclined what do you think it will be like in winter and on into spring markets..
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Recession stinks. Hard to get work, harder to make money. I don't think we will hit a hard recession, maybe a tightening of the purse strings for a while.

Of course, all of the above are just my opinions.
 
If we don't end up in a recession I'll be suprised. But don't worry too much. I've been through a few of them and have learned to be ready. Don't rack up alot of CC dept., don't buy stuff on time (that almost killed me in '91), in other words get your bills paid up and hunker down for a bit of a rough ride.

As for work? Be prepared to do things you aren't used to doing. I my case we learned to vent the exhaust fans instead of pushing the work onto the mechanical guy, we did more telecom pre-wire and all of our own underground trenching (anything to keep busy through the slow times). We also had to work fewer hours on occasion, stuff happens. On rare occasions I even lowered my pricing so that my men would have a paycheck; if I didn't I could end up competing agaist my own employees for small jobs.

Didn't mean to paint a bleak picture. This kind of stuff is what separates the men from the boys. Flexibilty is key during the tough times.
 
hardworkingstiff said:
I think the OP has legitimate "Electrical Contracting" concerns.
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I agree, thats why the thread is still open.

But at the same time we are not going to have a thread about what that Democrat has done or what that Republican has done.

We certainly can talk about how we are going to prepare ourselves for the down turn that seems to be coming up fast.
 
growler said:
You have to cut a few corners.
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LMAO I like that should be good at 10 below..

You see everyone is affected and I am hoping to generate ideas to help our brothers out..We already do the whole job farm out little but at same time farm out enough to get recommendations..one of the hard things is when prices change so rapidly it is hard to firm up material costs..every one is surcharging and it does affect our bottom line..So lets up some ideas like better ways, better materials, labor saving..One of the ways I save time is with a garbage can saves labor on cleanup when do light fixtures..I flatten cardboard as I handle it for the first time save labor on big mess cleanup..
 
Thank You Bob..This was meant to help as fall rolls in on us and winter right on it heals and residential market is failing steadily..then the commercial market is going steadily in that direction and the industrial is already there..
 
iwire said:
Gentlemen, it's an electrical forum.

Please stay on the OPs questions and try to leave politics out of it.
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Any hope of designating an "Idle banter - non electrical / non-NEC related issues" section? Call it "Coffee talk." :grin:
 
As far as the fuel prices go...

I'm thinking about a "Go-Ped" with a small trailer to pull behind .

Either that or walk to work and pull a "Radio Flyer" behind me.:D

steve
 
I love it..I am not worried just wondering what you guys are going to do and just checking to see how your markets are doing..You dont want to answer dont..If you think it is not worth being here have one of the moderators close and remove it is no big deal..just thought some of the more sucessful contractors could give some ideas to the struggling contractors and do it with out knowing who is who..
 
hardworkingstiff said:
Yea, that would be GREAT!
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Lou, not that it is up to me to make that decision but I can tell you I think that is highly unlikely.

The moderators have talked about this before and it was not well received.

You can always use your PMs to talk about any subject you want with any other forum member. :smile:
 
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