Is it really that quiet out there?

[All The Gear]

For every job enquiry 1 get these days I seem to get 2 from blokes looking for work. Anyone else finding the same? Same for other trades too?

[royaloakcarpentry]

Busy here. Lost a few jobs already thi year because I couldn't start as soon as the client wanted.

Where abouts you based?

[All The Gear]

Im in West Sussex mate. Im pretty much flat out myself too but have never known so many blokes looking for work.

[haveagohero]

We're busy here too. The people who are moaning about not having any work are the ones who are too lazy to go out and look for it!

[Bikergirl]

I've been out dropping business cards through letterboxes every day this week, did 4 quotes on saturday, and spent 4 hrs today with my OH putting postcards on every shop noticeboard and in every shop window we could find. Been putting in a few extra hours at my evening job, too.

Two quotes were for 2-3 hour jobs, one for a job that the lady wants done 1 or 2 days at a time over the next few months, and one for a guy who wants a weeks worth... next month when he's away.

I've been dire. In Jan I had 22 days of work, but quite a few of those were 3hrs one place, 3 hrs another. Since the beginning of Feb I've had 2 half days of work, and that's it. I have 2 hrs+2hrs tomorrow, maybe a day (paid) at my mum's on Tuesday, and maybe I have a job for the following 7 days, but the guy's not got back to me. After that, a couple of 2 day jobs, then the week's worth in March is all I've got booked.

[haveagohero]

At least your trying to do something about your situation Bikergirl. What sort of work do you do? posters are a good idea, when i started up i made some up on my pc with little tear off strips at the bottom with my phone number on them, i found that quite a few people took a little strip then phoned me a few months down the line when they had a job that needed done. How long have you been trading? my first 9 months were fairly dire and then it was as if someone had flicked a switch and the phone never stopped ringing (for long). We get a lot of work from leafletts posted through doors, we found that the more we put on the leafletts the more work we got from them. So instead of just putting "your company name" - "general builders" put a list of the main work you do, so you would have -

Exterior services

Dashing, Rendering
Patios
Decking
Fencing
Landscaping
Block Paving
etc.

This seems to get people thinking about what work they have that they have been thinking about getting round to for a while rather than just the image of the type of work they think you do.

I use SK Print Design and get A6 leafletts 10,000 at a time for £55 and single sided design is £35 a time but we get a lot of work from 10k flyers!

[Crooksey]

All the Gear where abouts in West Sussex? I have turned a few jobs away recently being to busy