Sure Signs That Business is Slow....and My Prediction That a Few Deck Coating Companies Will Fold Before Long. In the meantime, it's the wild wes

Around here in San Luis Obispo/Santa Maria/Paso Robles area, there were a number of big projects going on...multi=family housing, apartments, production single family...most of it is stopped dead in their tracks, homes not selling, foreclosures way up, business down.

Went by my competitor's office in Grover Beach after looking at a small job in GB. I don't know how many trucks he has, but 7 of them were lined up side by side, idle in the parking lot out front.

Last week I was talking with the owner of a large manufacturer of deck coating materials; he was telling me that sales were off from last year by 40%.

I heard in last week passing that the owner of a deck coating company in San Clemente had his house foreclosed on by the bank...sure enough, a quick check of public records shows a "Reconveyance" title was recorded on May 12th. Sad to see a family down on their luck...

A Westcoat installer/general contractor related to me at at CAI luncheon in Orange County on Tuesday (6/10)that he was "way off" from last year.

One installer told me that their deck coating business is way down, and below grade work was now accounting for more than 70% of their business. He complained that companies he's never seen before in the deck coating business are now pushing in, seeking to increase their cash flow wherever they can.

I've seen that too, painters who now do deck coatings and waterproofing, general contractors who are doing their decks "in house" rather than sub out the work, in an effort to control costs and keep more of the pie to themselves.

These days it's very much "buyer beware" as low ball bids will grab a buyers eyes and they may be lured in by the scent of a low cost and one of two things may occur; one you'll get hit with cxhange orders for "work that wasn't included on your bid" because they ignored it until they had you in a contract, or two, you'll just get a crappy job that doesn't address all the issues you have.

Waterproofing isn't something one does when business is slow, waterproofing is something one does because it requires an expert and you as the contractor are expected to have that expertise.
If you don't have the required expertise to properly inspect and bid a job, please stay in your comfort zone and pass on the bid to someone who knows what they are doing...

I think we'll see a time not to far away when companies start dropping out, victims of over leveraged business and personal homes that they can't support with their current cash flows and income...