home builders
- Thread starter d2dave
- Start date
d2dave said:
Two of my friends were in the residental building market. Both were supervisors until the housing crunch. One went to work for a commercial builder as an estimator until he can complete his contractor's license exams, and the other is currently out of work. One went from building 65 houses a week to 6 a week to zero a week.
Everything sucks. I was in the residential water well field for a little while. We'd run the drill six days a week drilling anywhere from 7-12 wells. Now the driller is lucky to get that work in a month. Times are bad for everyone. If you still have your job youre lucky. I would say 90% of the wells were for new home construction. IN addition the introduction of municiple water hurts us also. I am worried about my job and I am working with wetland consulting company.
I can get you a job driving a beer truck or doing warehouse work. It has job security, unionized, full paid benefits and room for advancement. All you'd have to do is move to Buffalo.
I was at a party last night and I met the owner of one of the high-end builders in our area. He said things were fairly bleak, business was way down, even for him. He is on the fence about 2009 but expects 2010 to be the turnaround point.
My BIL is an owner/operator specializing in all things excavation down in Villano Beach (St. Augustine). He is a true craftsman, has little overhead and is not leveraged out. He says things have dried up down there but he's still busy. Most of his competitors are going or gone.
My BIL is an owner/operator specializing in all things excavation down in Villano Beach (St. Augustine). He is a true craftsman, has little overhead and is not leveraged out. He says things have dried up down there but he's still busy. Most of his competitors are going or gone.
I'm not trying to be a dick, but seriously. 10 houses a day?az_max said:
They didn't really think this could go on forever, right?
There's a new little cul-de-sac nearby, lots for 16 homes.
The first one went up, looks like a fucking barn. Who designs this shit?
priced at $650,000.
still sitting.
So, they built another.
And another.
3 "homes", at varying levels of done.
All empty.
Each with maybe 6 feet from the house to the edge of the property.
Why not 14 houses, and each gets 10 feet?
I'm sure it's not greed or anything like that. I mean, people must be requesting that builders put huge houses right up against each other, right? That's why people are waiting in line to move in, right?
Maybe not a good time to be trying to sell shit that's worth $300,000 for $600,000.
But what do I know. I bought what I could afford, so I clearly know nothing about the housing market.
jim-00-4.6 said:
No, you're not being a dick. They were building for all they were worth here. Verado, Buckeye, Gilbert, Chander, Peoria, Scottsdale... All over built with shoddy construction on postage stamp sized lots. There are large subdivisions of half-built homes and clusters of completed homes in a field of nothing. There are some areas where there is a 45% foreclosure rate in a subdivision.
The houses across from me actually overlap. All two story cracker boxes. I don't even think they used chipboard or plywood on the outside. 2x4 sticks, housewrap, chicken wire and stucco. Absolute crap for $230,000. I'll dig out the pics tomorrow. I think they're at work.
i'm in architecture now, and thank god, all my professors say those contractors design shitty houses. they (i'm quoting here...) "don't know shit about designing houses. they should just stick to building what someone qualified designs."
hopefully when i get out in a couple of years and get my degree there won't be much of a shortage for work by then. they keep teaching us that they way these contractors tear down all the trees hurts the neighborhoods. i agree. we're taught to never remove a tree from the lot (unless it's in the woods, but we still have to keep as many as possible). in fact, we're failed if we don't KEEP as many as possible.
that's not meant to bash anyone who is a contractor here, and probably doesn't have much relevance to the thread, but subdivisions suck. so does losing your job. good luck with finding/keep jobs in this market, fellas...
hopefully when i get out in a couple of years and get my degree there won't be much of a shortage for work by then. they keep teaching us that they way these contractors tear down all the trees hurts the neighborhoods. i agree. we're taught to never remove a tree from the lot (unless it's in the woods, but we still have to keep as many as possible). in fact, we're failed if we don't KEEP as many as possible.
that's not meant to bash anyone who is a contractor here, and probably doesn't have much relevance to the thread, but subdivisions suck. so does losing your job. good luck with finding/keep jobs in this market, fellas...
Small private custom home builders in my area are pretty much out of work. Large mass produced home companies going out of business
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/nov/07/village-homes-files-bankruptcy/
Small private remodelers and carpenters with a local client base seem to be OK.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/nov/07/village-homes-files-bankruptcy/
Small private remodelers and carpenters with a local client base seem to be OK.
I worked for a builder 4 years ago, within the past month they are all done, hopefully start back up in the spring. Another friend of mine was let go for the winter, he was installing windows/siding and doors. A Plumber I know has gone to working 4 days a week and had to cut health insurance.
A friend who took a job at a local paper mill because it was secure, is now day to day.
I was laid off from a construction fastening and pneumatic tool company last August.
So today I am ice fishing, we have about a foot of ice on my local pond, some people are driving out on it, having just paid off the rover, its staying on the ground.
A friend who took a job at a local paper mill because it was secure, is now day to day.
I was laid off from a construction fastening and pneumatic tool company last August.
So today I am ice fishing, we have about a foot of ice on my local pond, some people are driving out on it, having just paid off the rover, its staying on the ground.
I'm an electrician and while we haven't done a small house in a long time we're swamped. We're still doing the million dollar plus homes and commercial is still fairly good out here. Thank god for cell towers, they have been keeping us busy for a long time. We got most of the chicagoland area as well as northern indiana and southern wisconsin. When we finish up here there's a good chance i'll be going down to the gulf for a while. Hopefully it's enough to get us through this recession. A lot of the union companies are going under though which honestly doesn't sadden me much.
I have actually talked with two builders and 3 realtors in the area who swear the market is turning here now. Our foreclosure inventory is dropping, and the reasonably priced stuff is moving fairly quickly. My builder buddy ( who was a genius in hindsight - and sold off all of his lots a few years ago and stopped building residential altogether ), just started building houses again. I ran into another friend who owns a mortgage company. He is swamped. I don't know that we are out of the woods yet, but we are getting there.
well, lets all just stay positive and quit talking doom and gloom. maybe the positive attitude will be infectious. now is the time to support the small businesses. i believe the recession is media fueled and we should ignore it. of course, be wise with our money, but dont hide in a cave with our wallet. its rough, but im trying to stay positive about it.
I own a small carpentry business and I am getting very slow. Working the phones like a mad man, I managed to schedule a month of little jobs. Lots of discounts for return customers or new customers whatever it takes to generate work. Good friend of mine was laid of last week and his wife is expecting , his boss is going to pay his insurance through the birth, (feb1-2-3). Thought that was nice.