As the end of 2013 draws near, I am curious how busy are you?
How did 2013 compare with 2012?
What are your projections for 2014?
I started my solo career in September of this year. I have to say that God has blessed me and my family with steady work from the day I started. Mainly working on farms and a couple small construction sites. If I can keep up this pace I estimate to have a 60-80K year next year Lord willing. Not bad I would say for not having any steady clients to start out with.
Matt
Keep plugging along. Referrals from your satisfied clients will do more to help you than most anything else.
I have had so many distractions and cruddy weather to make my backlog seem impressive. Had I been able to work all along at a normal pace the past couple of months, there probably wouldn't be a backlog. So, although it seems that I am overwhelmed, it is a curse of my own making. Still, the money is rolling in quite nicely.
It's funny that you post such a question. As this year has been a breakout year. In so much as comparing 2013 to the last few.
Ever since 2002, every year has has been bad. Esp the drop off in 2007-2008
We made drastic cuts in PR starting in 2008, dropped all benefits (vacation, insurance, holidays & retirement)
Had we not made such cuts, the company would have gone under.
2012 was better that 2011
2013 has been better than 2012
The trend line is indicating an upward swing
I considered selling my firm when everything went to pot in 2008
But I figured that there are no buyers
I stuck with it, and here I am now
turning a profit and life is the best its' been is a long time
I'm now considering selling and getting out
Now that there is worth in this profession and my firm
Any takers?
😉
2013 was marginally better than 2012, although 2012 was decent.
I would second what HC says about word of mouth referrals.
I have always said that word of mouth advertising is the best kind, plus it is free.
Also, never pass up a chance for some marketing. Today I stopped at the site
where I staked all of the stemwall corners on a custom home and talked to the
concrete crew. The head guy had never worked on a foundation that had hubs and tacks
set by a surveyor. He said that it made his life much easier. I also learned that
he is subbed out to the general contractor on this job, but will also be doing the framing, etc. and recently moved here from Idaho with his crew. I gave him one of my cards and wished him and the crew a Happy New Year!
Hope all of you have a Happy and Blessed New Year!
Scott
This has really been a breakout year for us as well. We started the year as a 50% residential 20% Commercial, 15% Municipal and 15% construction surveying firm. At the end of this year we are around 60% municipal, 20% commercial and 20% construction. I have not accepted a residential job in the last quarter. Our gross is up a huge amount and profit in these projects is significantly higher than the residential we were doing.
2014 looks great for us. We are starting a 18 month NYS contract in January, and we have a lot of big projects already lined up (right now we are booked into mid-February). Things are looking good for us. We've even seen a big spike in the residential requests and we will probably be hiring someone to work mostly solo so we can take a few more of those locally again.
Tom
> As the end of 2013 draws near, I am curious how busy are you?
Twice as much work as staff; I'm having to hire subcontractors to even come close to hitting my deadlines.
I was looking to have a year at least 10% better than last year, but then about a week before Thanksgiving everything just stopped. I basically did one project in December that is worth mentioning, and thus I will probably end the year about 10% down from last year. All my bills and taxes are paid, and have my head above water, but I'm not really getting ahead. Not much on the books for next year as of yet, just waiting for planning reviews to be finished on 3 projects (fine tuning final plats).
Hopefully 2014 will be markedly better than the last 2... I could really use it.
Happy (upcoming) 2014 to everybody!!
Carl
2013 was great. We barely survived 2009 & 10. 2011 was a little better. 2012 we started making money again and 2013 was a nice increase.
I actually enjoyed Christmas shopping this year, as I did not have that feeling in the back of my mind that I should be saving to make it through the winter.
Happy New Year.
Scott
We had a two week slow period in February 2013, but it has been balls to the wall since then. We are running 8-10 crews and the winter of 2014 looks to be one busiest that I have seen.
IMO, one of the keys to our success was firing some of our clients.
>
> IMO, one of the keys to our success was firing some of our clients.
:good: :good:
