how are you all finding business.
busy or quiet.
what trades are doing well at the moment.

'kin awful still

Crazy busy for the last 6-8 months. We do a lot of work for BT. I could work 24hrs a day and 7 days a week if I could be arsed.

This years been pretty good so far – revenue just slightly over target but costs much lower than budgeted. We've even recruiting for several roles.

Not sure it's generally true for our sector though (IT consulting and managed services) as we're getting quite a few approaches from people at competitors who've either been laid off or are expecting to get axed.

crazy – the University I work at (a post-92) is experiencing a 30% + increase in UCAS applications in a single year + even higher growth in postgrad

Where I work, business is booming, with plans to more than double the work force within the next 9 months, as theve just got a couple of big contracts, and there's still a couple more in advanced talks.

Slow but improving. Got a couple of decent sized jobs coming up.

I'm multi trade and multiskilled doing full house refurbs, kitchens, bathrooms, joinery, plumbing, electrics, pretty much everything except roof work.
It was mad untill xmas, but since then I've mainly been doing small handyman type jobs.
Manchester based

Awful …… since they had a major clampdown on calling cards in phone boxes last year 😥

Quieter than last year so far, but it'll pick up. Even considered going to London for work but ernie scared me off 😯

fine at the moment we got a new 5 year grant at the start of the year
and the institute iteslf has won a lot of big grants recruiting new staff members etc

but our finacial people are reckoning a lot of government funding will be cut after the election possibly leading top lay offs

though i dont trust finacial bods opinions so right now id say pretty good

Dreadful in the electrical trade, really bad.
With people not buying, no extensions, conservatories, re wires etc.
And the industrial sides dead as well, not many companies expanding or even wearing out what they've got.
I built my businesson the back of quarrying and the aggregates industry, but when recession hit they just stopped no one it seems wants roof tiles, sanitary ware or bricks and mortar.
I suppose I'm dealing with the base level businesses and they ain't getting help anywhere.

Grim. I've been in business 12 years and never seen anything like it. It makes me feel slightly better that it's not just me.

Around here (South West), most people I have spoken to over the last month are on their arses – this was confirmed to me by my bank manager this afternoon.

Howdens and B and Q,totally dead,and they seem to have got rid of a lot of staff as well.

B and Q,have choosen this time to introduce a new trade scheme, big fancy catalogue, and dedicated trade entrance, you choose what you want and the staff fetch it for you,pity they sacked the staff to start with,oh and the prices have all gone up,much more expensive than TOOLSTATION.COM.

Oh and the muppets from the directory companies have stopped ringing,pretending to be your best ate and saying could you do more work etc.

Mowed out. Order book full for 18 months.

Busy for us.

Now booked into April for workshop diary.

Picked up almost vertically from Jan and Feb – lot's of pent up demand.

It's good.

It will pick up slowly!

Its not been bad, january was quiet, but then that was no surprise, February has been up on last year by about 30%, and this month isnt too bad, lots of workshop jobs and repairs, and hopefully the new shop will be open in April so lots to aim at this year, taking on a few new staff, though quality staff are hard to come by, had to do some poaching.

So is C2W good for you guys I assume it's here to stay?

oldgit – not really.

we give away 10% to cyclescheme then pay the VAT then it costs us workshop time to build/PDI then give a free 6 week service.

In the meantime we have to wait 5 days for the payment to reach our account after sending the voucher away…

Not the best but it brings people in over the year for more accessories and service work which we can claw back the lost margin on.

It's good for getting more people into the world of cycling and we view it as a long term customer coming on board – we make something from c2w in the long term but not the short.

Not to bad, It was slow in Jan but rolling on well.
I dont feel you are going to get the free spending
and confidence for a few years to come

(Exeter area)
bike shop busy, loads of (cyclescheme) sales, and the workshop is rammed.
cycle training busy busy busy and getting more busy by the minute.
🙂

Nice and steady although I'd like a few more commissions booked in but that's always the case….

I'm a self employed furniture maker/boat fitter. Summer is a busy time usually as I get more boat work in and there's no better place to be when the sun is shining 🙂

We dont do a lot of C2W so its not made much of a difference.

Swamped, recruitment is through the roof right now.

Really busy, the recession doesn't seem to have affected us too badly – been flat out for last two weeks. (design agency – advertising)

Busier than ever. Outside projections for new products are huge, big meetings to determine how we are going to deal with it. Working in top end hi-fi manufacturing.

Who do you work for Rich?

I used to be in hifi stuff.

Construction. Dead on its arse and only getting worse.

The amount of lads on their arse is just depressing.

I've had to lay off nearly all our guys and taken a big paycut also.

It's been total madness, spend most of the day firefighting what to order, sales are up 184% on last year. I just don't know when I'll next get to sleep.

It's been the worst 12 months I can ever remember. Then again I am one of those rare people who do manufacture something that's British.

This little new business venture however seems to be on the up http://emmyjane-design.blogspot.com/ 🙂

I'm in the print business and things are very steady.

To be honest being 'steady' in my trade is very good at the minute!!! Printers are dropping like flies.

What line of work are you in Ton?

What's annoying is that I've just reached the point where everything is paid for, no business loans, no overdraft but sadly no work. I just need to hang on for the balance to tip a bit.
Is it massively generalising to assume that all other businesses are doing well because no ones spending their money on bricks and mortar and all that's associated with it?

aerial, satelitte and cctv wholesaler.
and with the digital switch lurking in yorkshire, you would think it would be very busy.
but to be honest it is not, we are probably 25% down on last year so far.
we deliver nationwide, and the installers all over the country are in the same boat.
it appears people are not spending their cash.

I'm in the private medical device business and its been quite, but picked up in the last few weeks so I am hoping the trend will continue as confidence grows, unless the media start reporting doom & gloom in large portions again.

Wow! how depressing. Well we've had 15 new customers this week & we're guaranteed their business for at least 2 years each to the tune of about 25K a year each, give or take. We'll probably get another 12-15 next week too, then when our extension opens we'll have another 300 (yes 300) customers within about 10 weeks of opening which means we'll have about 800+ customers on our books!
And that's just one prison.
Wer'e doing great thanks.

😆

Well I'm an IT contractor (does that count?) and I've been pretty damn lucky due to being good and useful 5 years ago which has had really positive effects. However most of the other contractors I used to work with on that job have got jobs now too – things don't seem as bad as they were last time the sh*t hit the fan.

Ridiculous silly busy here. Working longer hours than ever. Company turn over breaking new records and the fastest growth in our sector (Retail). Not really sure why? Think its because our business model lends its self to investing in longer term growth in a recession.

we were dead in jan,feb a bit better…unfortunately itll take till may unitl weve paid for the slump…shame cos it was on the back of a great year! lots going on this year though! im very optimistic…..off to fort william with a stall as usual,website is expanding,2nd shop nearly signed,new staff/training…its all good!

Corporate Events.

Busy up to Christmas (as expected)

Manic Jan/Feb/March, which is unusual. Margins are bloody tight, and cashflow is appalling, which means that the hard work isn't showing much benefit. Too many freebies/at costs/mates rates in return for exposure and advertising too.

Missus works for a budget supermarket chain. They're doing *really* well… 🙂