With all the talk of the economy going sour, it occurs to me today that there is one bright side for those of us who have faced problems finding craftsmen to do small renos. I remember a few people talking about how hard it is to find a skilled person for small jobs because there was more money to be had taking the big jobs. Maybe the words "no job too small" may pop up more frequently.
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It may not make a huge difference to those of us with smaller renos, we'll have to see. Calgary is showing some effects with oil prices and all but I'm not sure how much yet. I heard they expect the new home market to soften while the renovation market expands (people keeping their houses and improving vs moving). So the trades will have to start taking the 'not a new build or quick flip' jobs again (which is what most of them prefer over working with home owners). Meanwhile there could still be a lot of competition to get them with people like me who have had jobs hanging for a couple of years due to no trades.
In the US the trades have felt a serious decline for a couple of years now and many will work very reasonably without the whining we get here. I gave up trying to find trades who will work for something less than 3 times their normal rates on smaller jobs so it will do my heart good to see some of them looking for work. If it goes like the US, people may even put off doing the big reno jobs though and then people like me can get their bathroom tiles without having to do it myself or pay through the nose to have it done (imagine, I was quoted up to $5000 to tile my bath area with white subway tile...sheesh, a whole 60 sq ft).
Although a recession kills jobs, one thing it usually does is up the customer service. I wonder if places like Home Depot just didn't let that slide a bit too much and when people decided they were going to spend less and spend it with stores they had a good experience with they just kept walking past HD. I know they sure pushed their luck here with some of their practices during the boom and here's hoping they adjust their attitude as things cool off. I sure don't shop there any more if I can avoid it. There are a lot of people in the US who have had it with HD if you check the DIY forums. They really shot themselves in the foot there and sure have in Calgary too (at least with me they have).
I live in Sk, where the economy is booming we can't find anyone to complete our reno's every trade is busy building new.I have been waiting forever, my name on 3 contractor's lists, just seems it will never happen, only so much dyi we can do without a tradesman, very frustrating.
If the auto industry isn't fixed real soon, things are going to get very ugly in Ontario.......thus filtering into retail, dentists, manufacturing etc.
I hate to say this but I hope so. I heard on the news that Home Depot didn't make as much money in the last quarter due to people putting their home improvements on hold.