bignoel Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 my brother works in the building trade and all his work team have been laid off .he has rang a few people he knows and he is getting the same reply most of them have been laid off. my mate a small builder said he is in trouble no work for his men and he is looking at canada. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plumbob Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 I heard from a site agent that the houses they were building at the moment would be built up to roof then boarded up un finished. He also said the plumbing and electrical contractors had axed 90 of 300 work force and told the rest that they were getting a 10% paycut. I personally havent been affected as yet with work booked into next year, but if things do go quiet I will make some work by buying a cheap house and tarting it up. The economy seems to run in roughly 14 year cycles and will bounce back in a couple of years but our first step to recovery is to get shot of bumbling Brown and Alister Badger Balls. Im not a a big tory I feel all politicians are equally untrustworthy, but I think anyone could do a better job of running the country, the present bunch of w****** are so out of touch with real hard working people. Rant over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njc110381 Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 I'm a little worried myself. I'm a self employed gardener, and things are going quiet around here too. To make matters worse, I'm moving into my first house in two weeks! The only positive note is that my girlfriend is a teacher, which should be a rock solid job that keeps paying reasonably well no matter what. I don't remember the last ressession, but have been told that times were really hard for tradesmen like myself. I'm ******** bricks to be honest. Really hoping I dont end up working in tescos or sleeping in a tent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Sweepy Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Yes some of are work (sweepys)involes building sites .At the moment we seem to be losing one a day We ok.But if it carry on like this .Then Sweepy will have to start looking at cutting back on staff. when you work force is made up of married men with young families. Were do you start . suzy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJN Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Yes some of are work (sweepys)involes building sites .At the moment we seem to be losing one a day We ok.But if it carry on like this .Then Sweepy will have to start looking at cutting back on staff. when you work force is made up of married men with young families. Were do you start . suzy Youngest first ? last in first out ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chard Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 It's a ******* disaster area for me. We're downsizing houses (or trying to) and backpedalling on our business. We're having to work harder and harder for less return and I'm not interested in doing that . I've a got a **** off great mortgage, which I now struggle to pay and I want a smaller house, no mortgage, and a "no-responsibility" job. I'm fed up with working my harris off to stand still (or go backwards). It's a shame, because this is my dream house, but at the end of the day it's just bricks and mortar and not worth killing myself over. I think this country is in for a VERY rough ride, so I'm readjusting my situation now, rather than later. Tin hats at the ready, chaps . I have my WD37596423075485 trenching tool ready Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldrick Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 All the major estate agents and surveying firms are laying off staff. The Partners here have begun the cull of estate agency staff. Thankfully the farm management and surveying departments are safe, but there is a much greater expectation on us now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
76Lincoln Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 i'm starting to notice a difference over here in NI also, i was talking to a couple of builder friends at the weekend and at the moment they're al right but no new contracts coming in. My personal opion is the scandalous price of fuel in Britain is partly to blame. Home heating oil is now 300 % more expensive than 5 year's ago, electricity has just increased here by 14% with another rise of 17% in a few months time, water rates coming and also general houskeeping bills are up to, but at least the government say we are on target with inflation !! Having said that above i do think a lot of people have brought problems to their own door step, with the boom in house prices a lot of people started borrowing way too much money thinking it was theirs to borrow and had a god given right to drive 2 new cars, and all the latest this and that, i'm not a miser but surely grown adults must have known that cheap borrowing couldn't last for ever, did they not realise that the banks do need paid back, i have every sympathy for young families trying to sart a home and family but i think many problems have been created unneccesaryily. I'm self employed and realised that when the going was good make the most of it but remeber in every business there is down time too which you have to be prepared for. I hope the above didn't sound like a sermon but just my opion. ps Britain is ridicously expensive to live in, if my wife would go i'd immigrate in a flash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 (edited) A Resession is brought on through fear...... Everyone talks about it and about how worried they are, and then that person tells someone else, then it spreads like wild fire, everyone stops spending as they think they need to hand on to their money longer... It ..... Get the fat useless waste of space Gordon Brown out of No 10, and put someone with at least half a brain cell in there... i mean, fancy going to the arabs and asking them to reduce the sale price on fuel for us, as its getting too expensive for consumers.... hahaha what a joker, when the government is creaming 86% tax on it....... Its a joke... Then imigrants are flocking here from bloody everywhere, sitting on there ***** and creaming on the dole..... to the lot of em, im moving to the USA in the next few years, just waiting for the GREEN CARD to come through, then its avanti... All because of this up country and the cost of living here.... Peace Out Edited July 9, 2008 by Axe SWEARING Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonno 357 Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Yes some of are work (sweepys)involes building sites .At the moment we seem to be losing one a day We ok.But if it carry on like this .Then Sweepy will have to start looking at cutting back on staff. when you work force is made up of married men with young families. Were do you start . suzy Youngest first ? last in first out ? Can't do age its discrimative Work is merited on performance and attendance Jonno Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Yes some of are work (sweepys)involes building sites .At the moment we seem to be losing one a day We ok.But if it carry on like this .Then Sweepy will have to start looking at cutting back on staff. when you work force is made up of married men with young families. Were do you start . suzy Youngest first ? last in first out ? Can't do age its discrimative Work is merited on performance and attendance Jonno Ye so basically flog off the slacker first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Baldrick the farm side should be good at the moment as farmers are making money at the moment, we're seeing it a bit but not badly but estate agents etc are up a creek without a paddle and a lot will go bust this year. Personally I'm renovating a house at the moment and its never been so easy to get good tradesmen and actually sensible prices out of them so there are plus points to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimdfish Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 I should be selling quarter of a million bricks a day. sold just 4800 today jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axe Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Its a chilling tale to be sure. Our phones have only rung twice today and my lads are sitting in the workshop twiddling their fingers. We are down on last year though it was a record year for us. Work over all is steady but we are not making any investments, such as new cars etc. The ageing fleet will stay as it is for now. I am still convinced that this has been bought on by public hysteria and panic orchestrated by the Bank of England and Government to keep inflation down without having to raise interest rates and face a possible recession. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayward Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 For me the other end of the stick !! Not the smelly end lol Just purchsed a little house to add to my investments @ the same price the same houses where changing hands for in 2004 ouch ... and theres a bitter / sweet scenario that due to all the uncertainty in the building trade i can negotiate a little harder with suppliers than recently and then theres the fact if i need to pull my pals in Im not going to feel guilty paying mates rates as theres little to no overtime on offer for them so there more than glad of the work just now even tho i always charge mates rates to all my palls trade or not !! I do feel that theres a considerable amount of blame to be placed on what i term a media led recession , This herds the sheep into a belt tightening mission and forces them to take stock of there financial position ... Theres been a vast downturn in property sales this is due to many many factors put you finger on exactly which one and i will ask ya to pick my lottery ticket numbers lol its not a easy a saying its this or that ..... Theres on thing i can tell you people are playing safe and banking there assets by this i mean there not splashing the cash for fear of not being able to replace it .. That and the fact that the knock on effect of fuel costs are forcing everything up and you have what i would say is a slump would i say recession ASK me in 3 years !!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markm Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Luckly I work with children so people will keep having them, I've got friends from carpet fitters (never done a single job in 2 weeks, used to work up to 10 hours per day) builders (who have very little on and they are all small jobs), plasterers (sitting on their backsides). Its the start of something big this. I only thank my lucky stars I have a small (ish) mortgage cos I can see negative equity becoming a massive burden for folk in this country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden22 Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 (edited) We have slowed down but are still fairly busy. Our business is not sales-driven really, and is becoming less so as time passes. Fortunately therefore we are still doing OK. I think that negative equity on a fairly sizeable scale is becoming more likely, and think that even now the full scale of the economic mess has not been revealed. The media is doing its usual job of spreading ignorance, but our problems are real, and are not caused by media despondency. Robert Edited July 9, 2008 by Maiden22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 yep as said its media led, my brother in law used to be an estate agent and he was made redundant within a month of this kicking off and his ex employer is about to go bust in a big way. Simply put this alleged credit crunch hasn't much of a basis to it except its allowed banks to rapidly increase the cost of borrowing, there simply aren't masses of people in the UK defaulting on mortgages and those that are have good reason as the banks are screwing them on their standard variable rates which they cannot move. Fuel has been hammered by speculators bunging their money into that market rather than the property one as its more lucrative at the moment and food prices well that is a joke why should bread have jumped up by 20% when you get about 1500 loaves per tonne of wheat that costs £60 more than last year. Supermarkets banks and the government are taking the total **** out of us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markio Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Well it seems we're being told that the housing market slow down is to be blamed on this general economic slow down, so if that's the case they didn't these financial/economic guru's see this coming? Didn't any of these numpties figure out that house price rises year on year of such ridiculously high percentages at some point the general public (and in particular first time buyers who keep the market alive) will simply not bother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden22 Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 (edited) . Edited March 9, 2009 by Maiden22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zapp Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 most of them are as thick as pig****. The majority of so-called experts are nothing of the kind, and exhibit alarmingly sheep-like qualities. Amen to that! The moment I hear the phrase "experts are warning" or "experts predict" on the radio or TV, I stop listening altogether. ZB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 Isn't it just a bit funny that the estate agencies have been creaming it off the top for years and now the housing market slows down they all go pop. If they hadn't spunked all their cash on Audi TT's and sitting in wine bars then they could weather the storm. It is their fault for selling houses at ridiculous figures for so long, when they far exceeded their actual value. I bought my house 13 years ago for a little over 50 grand, the one accross the road has just sold for £181,500. If that doesn't exceed the rate of inflation then I'm a chinaman. (bad choice of phrase I know) Bring the recession on, It won't really worry me. The so called financial experts are only really experts in one area and that is lining their own pockets. I hear that Wimpey have their backs against the wall after speculating 500 million pounds on land that they now cannot afford to build on or sell. Tough **** as far as I am concerned. They have had it good for years and a company of that stature should have known better. It is greed that will bring this on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden22 Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 (edited) . Edited March 9, 2009 by Maiden22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axe Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 The property boom was certainly driven by the Estate Agents and Banks and for that I have no remorse for them. I remembe walking into our local estate agents for a valuation on our property, he told the value but said he could get more as the market was strong. The Banks, well, they bent over backwards to lend people money, if they had maintained proper credit checks and assessments, there wouldn't be any such talk of a Credit Crunch. Either way, I don't welcome any form crunch or recession. It's no good for anyone, even if your sitting sweet with little or no mortgage. It will affect us all in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markm Posted July 9, 2008 Report Share Posted July 9, 2008 food prices well that is a joke why should bread have jumped up by 20% when you get about 1500 loaves per tonne of wheat that costs £60 more than last year. Very true, in fact remember about 5 years ago when there was a bread war on, supermarket loaves were 18p. Pheasant pellets - £150 more per tonne this year, again wheat £60 more, what about the other £90? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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