Busiest in 4 years.. Recession over.. official

[m3fitter]

I'm Booked with large multi room projects until March, there's a buzz in the air.. who's doing what and who's noticed the difference ?

 

[TT Tiling]

all good here ,booked up till late may ,and could work 7 days a week down here ,turning things away
two weeks off for xmas and cant wait

 

[Peter]

Good work TT, private domestic work or builders/contracts?

 

[jonnyc]

To be honest I've not noticed a slowdown in Manchester! domestic work just keeps coming!!
I've passed quite a bit if work on to other lads aswell...

i was speaking to mark buckley who is manchester based amd someone i have known for at least 15 years and he said its been tough up your way last few years
do you know him and his dad?
he is recommended by a number of stone companies that recommend me down south anda good man.

 

[jonnyc]

I just want to add something, to what Andy has quite rightly said, location is everything, some areas of the country have picked up yet others are still in a deep recession. However the market may be picking up but the rates are still at recession levels...I havent seen a shift there, thats for sure.

Lynn

Lynn ,i had two quotes accepted last few months without questioning the cost and a deposit paid without me even issuing an invoice to book me in !!!
first time that has happened for 3 -4 years
so to me that is a sign that we are moving towards a better place!!
that said i think that although we could be looking at better times ahead we will never reach the levels of before this recession.
that period of say 6-8 years before recession was crazy and i had a strike rate of 95% of quotes accepted over a particular year.
but it is important to note that i never charged more in the good time

 

[Ian]

new van bri!!
wtf
how old is the beauty in the picture!
surely a work van is just that and judging by your current van your private drive will be something tasty.
i always buy new and write them off after 7 years.
I have employees that share my vans so they do not get looked after as well as you might.
but to me a vauxhall vivaro sportive or similar is a good compromise and i do not feel the need to change every few years.
if i did i would not get much money for them because they are full of adhesive but still mechanically good because i service regular

That little yellow number is 7 years old now, it's in near mint condition. I look after it really well and anything it ever needs it gets, it's had a new clutch, pads and disks, ball joints, bearings, battery, steering rack in the last 18 months and it gets serviced every 6 months, it'll be a great buy for someone. I just fancy a new one, I don't have a car (yet!), the wife has a company car so a van is my all round vehicle.

 

[jonnyc]

That little yellow number is 7 years old now, it's in near mint condition. I look after it really well and anything it ever needs it gets, it's had a new clutch, pads and disks, ball joints, bearings, battery, steering rack in the last 18 months and it gets serviced every 6 months, it'll be a great buy for someone. I just fancy a new one, I don't have a car (yet!), the wife has a company car so a van is my all round vehicle.

i am astonished that you have had to have all this work done for a 7 years old van like mine .
that does concern me
my old nissan primastar was serviced once a year and i had no problem with it till about 100k miles an then it was mainly electrical.
i have a few vehicles but i havd always found the primastar to be the most reliable

 

[Ian]

i am astonished that you have had to have all this work done for a 7 years old van like mine .
that does concern me
my old nissan primastar was serviced once a year and i had no problem with it till about 100k miles an then it was mainly electrical.
i have a few vehicles but i havd always found the primastar to be the most reliable

It's done 104k now and the stuff that's been changed was all that it came out of the factory with according to my mechanic so, I don't see it as being that bad really. It probably costs me £500 a year to maintain it on average. I had an astravan before this and it was constantly breaking down, this has been a great van and I will definitely be getting another one next.

 

[stusgsx]

My vivaro is nearly 10 years old with 160k and I've not serviced it for 6 years! Honest! Looking at treating myself to the new transit early next year

 

[Andy Allen]

It's done 104k now and the stuff that's been changed was all that it came out of the factory with according to my mechanic so, I don't see it as being that bad really. It probably costs me £500 a year to maintain it on average. I had an astravan before this and it was constantly breaking down, this has been a great van and I will definitely be getting another one next.

i'll part X my van for yours Bri when you want to get rid of it ...:smilewinkgrin:

 

[Ian]

i'll part X my van for yours Bri when you want to get rid of it ...:smilewinkgrin:

No problem, I'll give you my van and a grand for yours. I know it's a cheeky offer for such a classic :lol:

 

[Andy Allen]

No problem, I'll give you my van and a grand for yours. I know it's a cheeky offer for such a classic :lol:

that sounds fair enough, you'll have to spray it white though...i'm not driving round in a skip..:lol:

 

[jonnyc]

My vivaro is nearly 10 years old with 160k and I've not serviced it for 6 years! Honest! Looking at treating myself to the new transit early next year

why would you want to change to the new transit?????
like for like the ford is so more expensive
if you want to up your image i would think spend extra money on a web site or similar.
]i have a transit 2006 that was voted european van of year but it is like a morrocan sardine can!!
the build quality of the nissan/vauxhall.renault is far greter than a transit.

own a transit and a nissan/renault/vauxhall and you will know the difference

 

[stusgsx]

But the new transit is awesome!

 

[Spud]

it is busier out there and I am seriously considering doing some house bashing site work at the moment as a subbie again as I am liking the idea of weekly payments and less stress and paper work
I am weighing up whether it would close the door on the few good customers who I have and putting my eggs in one basket as a subbie

 

[TT Tiling]

Good work TT, private domestic work or builders/contracts?

all of the above ,things going well down here

- - - Updated - - -

Good work TT, private domestic work or builders/contracts?

all of the above ,things going well down here

 

[Pebbs]

Aww someone spoke to soon I think, now the goverment have taken a u-turn on this first time buyers mortage scheme, I see the big house main contractors share prices went spiralling down yesterday. We could all be back to square one in a month.

Lynn

 

[Ken Bruty]

I've not been on for a while guys because I have been so busy, in fact flat out since March 2011!, BUT the phone has stopped ringing and I've lost two big jobs down to price which I wasn't charging over the odds for to start with because I price fairly and I needed to get these to get me through xmas, I'm concerned now because since I started I have never been this quiet near to xmas and I certainly haven't been doing anything wrong. I don't know if anyone else in Northants, Beds, Bucks is the same or whether they need to shift some work to someone who really cares about their work and customers, and doesn't cut corners. I have got some work promised for next year, but that could be any time up until June.

 

[jonnyc]

ken this happens to most of us at one point in time or another.
i got hit beggining this year for first time ever and only thing that got me through was loads of cleaning/reseal stone floors for old customers at discounted rate but kept my five employees in work.
this coming jan the reverse and dont know how i will cope from feb till june
best of luck

 

[Dougs Third Go]

Hotel has just thrown in a 35m2 wetroom to be done before crimbo too, onwards and upwards