Work suddenly went quiet

[Dan Maynard]

2 hours ago, PatrickFirwood said:

Phones hardly ringing for us here too, works almost dried up. Luckily we're a small company so with not many overheads so we can get by for a while. Must be the cost of living going up that's got people more cautious about spending? This time last year I was booked up 3 weeks in advance and getting a lot of enquiries. 

I think it's cost of living, and the fact that travel has opened up so people who haven't had a holiday in two years will spend on going abroad.

[Peasgood]

My real job is growing apples, making them into juice and selling it.

Last week I did not have one single order which is very unusual, it might happen in January when things usually go quiet but not at this time of year. Normally my customers order on a Monday and I had just one order today, very unusual.

Personally I am OK, it doesn't impact me in a great way financially but if the trend is across the board then people are really going to struggle. Hope I am wrong but I think really bad times are coming.

Plant potatoes as quick as you can is my advice.

[David Cropper]

Other side of the coin for me at the moment. I stress, at the moment. We went to Portugal 12 days ago for a 6 day break. On my return I had 14 possible clients who had contacted me via answer phone, email, Facebook work page or by my website. 7 were emails received whilst away, I responded by saying as soon as I returned home I would be in touch. Managed to get 8 of them, I refused 1 as he was 195 kms from me and another 135 kms away, even though I stipulate my travelling distance of 110kms from home. I never get that many enquiries in the normal run of things. As an aside, this year so far my client base has been roughly 60% French and 40% British and assorted nationalities.

[Hodge]

It's definitely slowed down for me, luckily I'm booked to the end of June and work it slowly coming in. As someone said I think with the cost of living and travel being on the cards most people would rather spend on a holiday rather than trees. We just need to tighten our belts, trim the fat and ride it out.

[oldwoodcutter]

Yes a definite downturn is the topic of conversation coming in from my fellow tree firm owners locally .
Not too much we can do about it, the sporadic invitations to quote that I’ve had this past few weeks have come to nothing, and I’ve noticed they’ve already been done when I’ve passed by again.
Finding good workers is hard, and even harder to keep them, but I’m afraid they’re going to leave this time and we may not see them again in our rough and tumble world of tree work.

[doobin]

I’ve had two people contact me looking for work in the last two days. That’s a sure sign something is up. Especially given how hard it’s been to get workers over the last year. 

[Ty Korrigan]

Soon be time to bring the low ball into play and do it 'for the wood'...lol!

I've had an "I'll ask my wife" response to one small quote this morning which is considerably more than the dark silence from 90% of the other quotes I've done in the last few weeks.

[5thelement]

It doesn’t help when the UK now has its highest rate of inflation in 40 years.

[Thesnarlingbadger]

Been dead quite for us the last few weeks. I’ve had work booked in and it’s starting to run quite. Just done 2 days actual work this week and spending the rest of the time sorting out paper work and getting on top of some welding and other bits I needed to do around the yard. I’m not to bothered because we always go a little bit quite once nesting season comes in and the phone has stated to ring a bit more this week. I have work booked in for next week and the following week now but I feel more comfortable when we have 6 weeks booked up which is fairly standard for us the rest of the year. Plus we have a couple of tenders in at the moment and a couple of site clearance jobs booked in for July. So things always turn around. I actually enjoy it when it goes a little bit quite means I can get down the pub on a weed day when it’s not packed (every cloud). Just try and enjoy the quite time and sprang the time sorting stuff you can’t usually get on with because before you know it you’ll be back to 7 day weeks and pulling your hair out because there’s not enough hours in the day.

[pie eater pete]

On 17/05/2022 at 08:17, Hodge said:

It's definitely slowed down for me, luckily I'm booked to the end of June and work it slowly coming in. As someone said I think with the cost of living and travel being on the cards most people would rather spend on a holiday rather than trees. We just need to tighten our belts, trim the fat and ride it out.

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