Here we are at the end of August and the painting season seems to be starting and stopping. As was predicted here, the repaint market is only doing well if you have provided excellent customer service when you were really busy. Fighting for new customers (without referral) is really difficult for the TV watching public that believes the news readers. Creating cash flow by bidding too cheap is only going to further the problem. Bidding less than $200 per 8 hour man day is foolish. We were bidding that much (and getting it) during the last recession. Remember it? We worked fewer days than some, but as they were bidding $100 per man day, they had to work twice as many days (and weekends) to make the same amount of money AND IT COST THEM MORE TO DO SO. They had twice the gas, oil, tire rubber, etc. Twice the away from home meals. Twice the supervision cost and headaches. How does that make any sense?
OK Keith, off the soap box. Some will never get it, or have the intestinal fortitude, or business sense to survive.
OK. Have you noticed the downtown Sacramento area? Notice the new commercial buildings? The new high-rises? Some of these are being built right next to other properties that have vacancies. Are these big developers crazy? Or do they know something? Here is what I've researched. Sacramento is rated in the top 10 cities for being attractive to the new desired workforce. These folks range from 25 to 45 years old and this is what they are looking for in a city. They want to be close to the following. Theatres (film and stage), parks, large shopping malls, restaurants, fast food, indoor recreation (bowling, indoor racing, billiards, gyms, etc) , outdoor recreation within a 2 hour drive (boating, asterisking, snow skiing, hiking, biking, etc). Sacramento has all of that. <by the way, Forbes is a great place to find this information> In fact, Sacramento has been rated 8th in the nation for these things. Being half way between San Francisco and Tahoe is a great advantage. It's why my bride made us move here in 2000. The information I gleaned is that this major workforce will come into its own by 2015 and will be firmly entrenched before 2020. These companies that have time and money to plan way ahead have not slowed down and it looks to me like they are ramping up their properties so that the companies that look to Sacramento will have existing facilities to move into. A few of our customers are reporting bigger years than 2006 and 2007. These guys are all in the new commercial field, but that leaves room in the commercial repaint area open for competition. Getting established in the commercial market takes time. Large property owners are skeptical of transient contractors. You must be consistent and you MUST return phone calls. Some property owners/managers will take advantage of the slow market and try to get cheap prices. These are the customers that you DON"T want. They will hammer you for every dime and you will struggle to break even. If you don't make money working, stay home and enjoy your family. The contractors that we know that are still really busy are the folks that returned every phone call and turned in every bid that they were asked to EVEN WHEN THEY WERE REALLY BUSY!! When you do this, you create a sense of stability, honesty, integrity, etc. If you are really "too busy to return phone calls", you are telling a potential customer that you don't want or need them. Great customer relations!! NEVER stop advertising or promoting. When you are really busy, you should return calls and bids, just increase the price!! If you get the job, you will love it. If not, you have still continued the image that you should want of being a "businessman", not an unskilled laborer/painter. The notion of "having to bid cheap to get the job" is the thinking of a laborer, not a businessman. "I don't make any money on each job, but I make it up in volume" is a joke. Get to understand that.
My father had a saying that he lived (quite well) by. I never lost a dime on a job that I didn't get. Make it your mantra.
