Ok lets face it times are slow... I know that none of us wants to be reminded. I need ideas... what kind of things are people doing to drum up new work... I have been contacting some of the towns to see if they have any municipal work coming up around me.. we have been reaching out to architects, engineers etc... but we arent connecting with any decent jobs. I still see guys out there moving dirt, i know that we really aren't. I guess what i would like to know is does anyone have other ideas? We are equiped to do full residential site work, septic systems, water mains, sewers, storm and some smaller commercial, no big highway jobs but we have 30 years of experience under our belts. We are going to letter our trucks and start putting out signage.... thinking about getting certified to do unilock such as patios retaining walls, just something to bring some money in.:beatsme
I think the residential work will be fairly dead for a while with no consumer confidence. i do commercial masonry work and it is dead and getting worse with nothing to really bid. Where four GC's would be bidding a job now 20 or more are bidding. Some paving guys are bidding building construction and not doing a good job. There prices are nuts and they will get hurt. Even if Obama spends it takes a while for commercial projects to appear from design to the "Let's work" time. No real clue what will happen this next year but it looks sad at best. When I ask the masonry suppliers how is the residential work and they say it is DEAD, even in Sept. Look at car sales and that tells you about the consumer confidence. I would say keep trying to make new contacts they never hurt unless you don't get paid. Check out all new customers carefully so you don't get stuck for money. Sitting home is way easier on you and you equipment than working and not getting paid. People with high overheads and payments will be weeded out now if they are not well stocked financially. I see all the equipment going for dirt cheap numbers and it temps me but I really don't need to spend money at all.:Banghead
whatever it takes. liitle 1 day mini x jobs, haling snow moving snow, additions, remodels. it's tough cuz you burnt out calling everyone in the book to no avail. renogiating debt, low overhead and cash money rules. we are down over 60% it's depressing but the worme early bird gets the worm.. good luck
I plow snow every winter and just got this Chevy last winter and the CAT 3116 purrrrrz
Talked to a guy with a truck similar to that yesterday. It was just after the nice law enforcement officer pulled away. Seems the guy got a ticket for 1 over width, seems that if you do not angle your blade while driving down the road, you are not legal. 2 No tarp on his load, which was? You guessed it, salt. Best part, while the poor driver is getting written up for no tarp, the county trucks come flying by dropping salt. :beatsme Pecord Exc while talking to those munis, ever talk to them about maintenance contracts? I know some of the smaller towns here do contracts with excavators to do almost anything, from snow work, to water line repair and sewer repair work. Something to look into. Right now the outfit im working for is doing decent. We have a few small demos coming up, still working on an oil change/ carwash site. We just finished up our storm work yesterday. Still have a 2inch water line to put in. Then site plumbing. Building pad to grade for the carwash, footings for the car wash, basement for the oil change. Then we have a basement for an addition to dig. Then some small indoor concrete work. All in the meantime, snow removal.
Westchester usually does not get much snow. However it might be good if you take some business cards to the city/county engineers and give them a heads up your availible for various types of work.
The Dot in Michigan is pulling over plow trucks in snowstorms??? How old was this cop....18?
Not DOT, local police. It wasnt during a snow storm, but the aftermath, and it was a private plow, not muni. My guess is the cops wife is getting plowed by someone who plows snow, or someone in a plow truck pissed him off first thing that morning. As soon as he was done with the guy I talked to, he ripped out after another plow truck :beatsme
move some snow
I've been a Unilock Authorized Contractor for ten years, it normally makes up 50% of my income through the landscape season. I started seeing a decline in this work three seasons ago and this past season I did just two jobs. If it weren't for my maintenance accounts I'd be out of business. Lettering your trucks is something you should have been doing from the start, I can't tell you how many leads I get that start out "We saw your truck". The housing market is in a slump and you've got a surplus of contractors (both legitimate and not) vying for the same work. It's going to be tough no matter what you do.
We are doing Tank (as in tank farm) rebuilding at Marathon Refinery in Detroit as well as BP Refinery in Oregon Ohio. We jack the tank up...about 1 foot or so, then put the tank on "H" beams dig aound the base. Pour a "ringwall" under it. Then we put the tank on this new foundation and so on....new floor, new steel around flanges...exc. Long process and good crane, skidsteer work
We are in the same boat as you. We were set up to start a 130 acre residential development in the spring, but the developer is holding off until the economy gets better. I am gonna start hitting up sites like www.bidclerk.com com and dodge reports.
Hi guys & gals this is the first in my 3 post requirement untill I can start a new thread on my own, so that I can properly introduce myself. Long story short, contractor, excavator (80.000 pound class) owner operator since 1989 and an operator for many yrs before that. Forgive me if I don`t return in the next day or so, as I am lucky enough to be working right now so leaving the house at 4:45 am and home at about 6:30pm barring more than the daily care and feeding of the machine. Look forward to sharing and getting to know you all
In Jacksonville Fl. I see no less then 20 trucks (dumps/rolloffs/fuel) and pass 4 sites under development in a 4 mile ride from the hotel to the shop. I have NO idea why this town is so busy, but it is.