May
14
     

Lucky To Be Alive

Posted (Stonehenge) in Business on May-14-2008

The business, that is.  I knew 2007 was rough on a lot of my local competitors and suppliers, but because we seemed to be clicking right along with plenty of work (those of you who know me well know why that is), I never paid much attention.  The last few days have been an eye opener that’s made me feel both happy and more than a little unsettled.

I drove to one of my main perennial suppliers to pick up a few shade-loving vines, and as I pulled into the drive, I noticed that all of the hoop houses were down.  As I got out and looked around, there were literally thousands of 4″ and 1 gallon pots strewn everywhere, filled with soil and previously alive perennials, now just baking in the sun, having not received water in who knows how long.   If there was an Old West perennial ghost town, this was it.

I got back in my truck and visited another supplier who had what I needed, but also knew some of the back story; the owner was now working as the lead retail guy for a new, very small retail branch of an only slightly larger landscape construction firm.  Along with that news, they also told me of a large outfit in a neighboring town that had gone belly-up over the winter.

It jarred me a little, and I couldn’t tell you the route I took back to the job site, because I was trying to tabulate all the casualties our local landscaping industry has suffered.  So far:

1 of the largest companies in the area laid off 5 crews.
2 of my smaller competitors went out of business.
1 perennial supplier went out of business.
1 big competitor went out of business.

This is all in a market of maybe 150,000 people.  I guess I’m feeling pretty fortunate that we have enough work in the pipeline to potentially justify one new hire.  But knowing how hard the economy is hitting our industry, I shouldn’t enjoy that feeling for too long.
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Comments:
VoodooChile on May 17th, 2008 at 5:44 am #

I can relate. I visited 2 large Illinois wholesale nurseries in the past week, to load up my trailers with woody goodies for jobs. I’d been to both many times before, and was up and gone at the crack of dawn in hopes of being close to the front of the line. 7 a.m. at the first, I was 1 of 2 trucks getting loaded. Same time at the second, I was the only truck getting loaded. Both these nurseries have always been buzzing with activity on previous visits, with multiple trucks getting loaded, frequently lines to wait in before your turn, and always efficient hustling Hispanic help moving the material. And that was the strangest thing, watching the help quite obviously stroke it, nursing the clock because clearly there wouldn’t be enough to do that day…the third week of May, high season.

Stonehenge on May 17th, 2008 at 8:12 am #

It’s interesting to me to chat with anybody in our field or related fields right now. Everyone has always asked “How’s business?”, and the reply was almost always “Good! Real good!” But this year, people are asking with a different tone, like “You gonna make it this year?” And when I return the question, I hear about a lot of hard luck stories. I think the shakeout will continue this year and into the next.

doug70 on July 27th, 2008 at 10:35 am #

It’s now July. Thought this topic would be loaded with comments. The spring rush is over and it’s thin for new work. We’re looking at some good projects, but not as many inquiries as usual.

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