Construction Jobs In Your Area?
By stejhas
@stejhas (209)
United States
December 14, 2008 3:45pm CST
Just curious... My husband has been the owner/manager of a construction company in the midwest for the past 10 years... sure the business has it's ups and downs, but the construction industry seems to have FROZEN over the past few weeks! He (and a ton of his constractor friends) are literally Out Of Work! Like, NO JOBS - At All!!! Can anyone else relate? Is this just happening in the midwest, or everywhere?
5 responses
@max1950 (2306)
• United States
14 Dec 08
it's been like that here in s.w. florida for over a good year.no building means as your husband can tell you put's the masons out of work,painters,electricians,plumbers,carpenters,etc it all trickles down.titan concrete who is literally all over the world just closed another redi-mix plant here 2 weeks ago.****450,000 dollar homes are now being sold for 150,000 here.4 years ago a waterfront lot here went for 300,00o now 59,000 but hey gas went down 2.30 cents here. the existing homes here are being gobbled up for insanely cheap prices by the northern folks who come down for the winter.taxes for a 3000 sq.ft home on the water with gulf access is still cheap 2200 per year so thats great
1 person likes this
@stejhas (209)
• United States
14 Dec 08
yeah, I had a feeling this was going to be happening everywhere. Basically all of our friends are in the industry and it's hard to see everyone we know struggling to find something to do for work. I used to be the book-keeper for the company, but lately all I've been doing is helping look for and apply for jobs. I think we have finally come to the conclusion that our business is going to have to be retired... at least until the economy turns around.
As far as the housing market goes... sounds like your area is one of those most drastically affected! WOW! Hopefully those that CAN buy the properties up will be able to prosper in a few use with profitable re-sales! ;)
@max1950 (2306)
• United States
15 Dec 08
i figure sooner or later maybe a year and 1/2 things will start changing here so if you have the means to pick up a million dollar condo for 200,000 and change and in most cases the realtor is picking up the closing costs here and have a little xtra for taxes the turnover will be tremendous.i'm saving my nickles and quarters and soda bottles.:}
1 person likes this
@ronaldinu (12422)
• Malta
30 Dec 08
Move to Malta. There are lots of constructions going on the island.
@missybear (11391)
• United States
14 Dec 08
I live in Vegas and there seems to be construction going on everywhere.
They always building more casinos and houses everywhere.
I know it's gotten a little slower this year but i think there is plenty of work.
1 person likes this
@stejhas (209)
• United States
14 Dec 08
That's great that LV is still prosperous... Although I'm shocked that the casinos are still making money. We were in LV a little over a year ago and I was suprised at all the changes that were made since the last time I was there... They're definitely trying to make it a more family-oriented atmosphere... guess it must be working!
@dlr297 (5409)
• United States
25 Sep 09
My husband has been in the construction business now for about 35 years. We raised our family on it, and we were pretty well off being able to do things we wanted, and we were able to put some money in savings.
My husband was the owner/manager of his own company for the last 20 years, and was always able to keep any where between 5 to 10 crews of drywall hangers, and finishers busy through the years. Not a big company but a good one.
You are right it is a business that goes up and down, but we always had work.
The drop off here started in or around August of 2008, and it is not getting any better yet. Over the last 14 months or so we have had only about 5 houses to do so we have been doing them ourselves just me and him. He has not been able to put any of his crews anything, and most of them are still with out anything.
Most of his builders cant build anymore because they are sitting on too many unsold houses. and some have even gone bankrupt.
It was a good thing that i always saved when things were good and i had enough put away to get us through most of this.
You posted this almost a year ago...Is it getting any better for you. I hope so. We have 1 house and 8 apartments coming up in the next few weeks after that i do not know, and another builder says hes going to start building again after the first of the year. Maybe it will start getting better, maybe not.
