Is business booming in your area? Here at the CSI offices, we’ve heard from members who are working unusually long hours, feeling overwhelmed, and trying to figure out how to manage it all. Here’s how they’re making it work.
“The whole west coast is swamped with work. But more critical than the quantity (at least to my mind) is the disorganized character of the projects.
Due to large backlog on the part of the subs, pricing is coming in higher than owners have budgeted, so projects are delayed while we go through cost cutting exercises, or projects are scaled back to accommodate a budget.
We all remember the slow period, so no one wants to go back to that, but if you ask folks on the west coast, we all say we are ‘crazy busy.’”
Anne Whitacre FCSI, CCS, LEED AP
“Business is booming and as a National Sales Manager, I concur that most of the country is still in the midst of an incredible construction boom in the commercial sector.
All major cities are desperate for qualified staff in the field, offices and factories. Business owners are increasingly becoming more creative and open to alternate hiring practices to fill the many employment holes with their teams. At Trex Commercial Products, we are proactive in our hiring and training to ensure we have qualified staff in all areas to keep our production and office capacity running smoothly.
As for pricing, I work very closely with owners/architects to set correct budgets as the design phase of documents so there are no surprises when it comes time to start the construction process.”
Shelly Farmer
“Our firm seems to be quite busy nationwide. When I saw a couple of former c-workers this past weekend from my prior employer, they said that they and their staff are working crazy hours here in western NY (environmental engineering firm) and were having trouble hiring people with decent qualifications.
While overwork certainly has its drawbacks, it's a lot better than having not enough work, and right now it's probably accurate to say ‘business is good or better.’”
Kevin O'Beirne, PE, FCSI, CCS, CCCA
Join the conversation.