After being semi retired for 10 years and playing in real estate here last year I actually took a job in Houston, moved everything...was laid off after 3 mos, tried to get something else but after a couple of months we lost our lease. Thank God I was paid enough to come out ahead. Moved back to Destin, had a home here, 2 weeks after moving back i get a call to go to work in Houston....sorry charlie, I am not coming back...Here it is dead with places closing faster than they opened. Real estate is dead, no jobs and people leaving, no tourists, little fishing customers...pretty sad.
We quit bidding work, we were wasting our time to try to make 10% at the end of the day and then have to wait 30-90 days to get paid. We have had three walmart neighborhood stores pending between Tampa and Orlando for over a year that we won the bid for grading, irrigation, and landscape on and we don't believe they are ever going to move on them.
Value Engineering? Sounds like a concrete competor we have who is pouring 4" slabs at a 2-3" depth at the center of the floors. It looks good, no hazzle, job site cleaned up, no change orders, and no problems. They went to put down tile on the floor and the moisture content of the floor was 98%. Building sits finished without flooring and unable to occupy. They called us to fix the moisture problem, we looked at it and explained that even if we saw cut it, removed old slab, and re-poured the entire floor it wouldn't be right. That's why we quit bidding, it appears to be quality and the problems don't show up until it's to late. One of our other competors in landscape has been landing alot of work with one of the general contractors who we have worked for, for about 5 years and has gotten the majority of it. Come to find out over the last 18 months they've been planting nursery stock, one and two container sizes smaller than what the plans call for. We had a dentist office ready to go, per plan, and they got this other company, to do it for $6200.00 cheaper on a $38K job. We could have done it for that price also if we planted 1 gallon plants instead of 7 gallons. No wonder they beat us on price. We are tired of the game playing, kissing azz for 8-12% and getting under bid by jokers that think they know what they are doing.
This same general contractor turned around and re-contacted us about three jobs which have been completed by other companies in the last year, that we lost the bids on for concrete, grading, irrigation and landscapes and wanted us to fix the screw ups, we declined on everyone, one of which is the one I described above. There's another new office building over in Oviedo, FL that the floors aren't even level and they wanted us to come in an level them, after we lost the bid for $12K less. Now they have about a $50K problem to fix and it will NEVER be right, unless they bring in a D-10 dozer.
We have a contract to sign and the sale of the biz should be final on 1 Nov....
Good Luck Gents, I'm moving North, back into the South ASAP!
Yep same thing here Gunboy, sheet rock, landscaping, paint everything, the locals are leaving and what we have left are piss poor contractors. GL and send guns South!
The problem Gunboy is I'm not from aroud here and I have the wrong skin tone. There are job's here I just can't get anyone to talk to me. Every application That I have filled out want you to list the last 3 addresses. I tried to turn them in with only my current address but they make you list them.
Thought you used to do Law Enforcement type work?
