State of the economy - Good or poor?

[bobbi o]

anyone feeling any pain yet in the credit crisis? apart from increased costs/late payers etc i havent yet noticed a downturn in the work load for this time of year. believe jan-march 09 may be a testing period but too early to tell yet.

[lutonlagerlout]

still working away but haven't laid a patio this year??

discretionary spending has been hit hard.

also noticed the prices of stuff rocketing up

everyone i speak to is nervous about the economy,well apart from the dossers down the park
LLL

[Dave_L]

Still busy although the price of fuel/haulage/materials has increased. Materials I think we have had 5 rises this year to date.

[seanandruby]

still working away but haven't laid a patio this year??

discretionary spending has been hit hard.

also noticed the prices of stuff rocketing up

everyone i speak to is nervous about the economy,well apart from the dossers down the park
LLL

They will feel it to tho because alcohol, fags etc will go up in price. but the dole money wont rise. How will they cope? :laugh:

[Dave_L]

But they'll still be able to afford gas-guzzling cars, plasma TV's and Sky!

[newbuyer17]

DOnt wish to hijack this thread, but believe my question is relevent.

I'm curious how a recession will affect building costs (for home extensions)

We currently need a bigger house. At the moment the cost of extending = the cost of the value we will add. Now in 3 years time the value of the property could drop ~30%, so it wouldn't be worth extending if the building costs were still the same.

But I figure labour costs would be far lower in a recession. But the materials would still need to be bought, which appear to be going up from what you guys say. Probably due to fuel/inflation etc, but if there was a recession would the merchants not have to cut materials prices to get sales?

Interested in the views of those in the trade, especially those that remember the 90s. We'll not be doing anything either way for a couple of years, but starting to think moving would be more cost effective.

[Rich H]

Labour rates might go down a little but, speaking from my own perspective, there's not much to give. I don't know many trades that are minted, and there's never a lot of fat in my quotes.

Punters might find it easier to get people to quote properly and promptly, but for most of us we've still got mortgages to pay and food to put on the table, so I can't see a big shift.

Mrs H will still be asking for the same amount of money at the end of every month!

[Pablo]

No way could I drop my labour rates unless my staff took a pay cut. Maybe the builders who work on percentage cut of budget may have some room for movement. Would moving really be cheaper than extending when you add in all the additional costs like stamp/ solicitors/ estate agents Hips etc. Then when you're in you'll need to redecorate flooring/ kitchens/ bathrooms/ paint/ curtains/ shelves/ lights/ furniture/ wallpaper maybe a driveway or fix up the garden you name it. Many thousands of pounds that no-one really budgets for when housebuying. You could get lucky and find something that needs little work but it'll still be expensive. Even if an extension cost 40 grand and it added 30 to the house it's only really cost you 10 it'll cost you more than that to move. It's one to think about though I'm in the same boat and one week I'm going to do this next week I've chaned my mind. Nightmare.

[lutonlagerlout]

we often do extensions where i think to myself"why didnt they just move?"

good neighbours is 1 reason to stay put
good schools
location
but if you want an extension to pay for its self you need to add a bedroom and revamp the kitchen and bathrooms
just getting a bigger lounge or dining room is not cost effective

LLL

[bobbi o]

word on the street from a leading financial adviser i met in the pub is:









50% up front,CASH is king

[flowjoe]

Cash is king ! Long live the king (with VAT of course)

Thats the bankers (cockney rhyming slang) sorted out then.

Lets hope that now we are shareholders in our banking system our kids will not have the opportunity to borrow/lend/lease/expect/want all that has been offered far too easily in the last decade or so.

[bobbi o]

Yes,to correct myself i of course wasnt advocating that contractors should avoid their tax liabilities,just that if they have accumulated some wealth over the years,that they should pay attention to in what form it is deposited.

we dont know how this will all pan out (i'm sure the advocates of the new world order do) but why trust others to look after our hard won gains in this current climate ?

[seanandruby]

I am lucky enough to have a wife who spends enough to keep us from having any savings. she invests heavily in....shoes, hand bags, cosmetics etc:

[lutonlagerlout]

I am lucky enough to have a wife who spends enough to keep us from having any savings. she invests heavily in....shoes, hand bags, cosmetics etc:

welcome to my world sean
i find it vaguely irritating and amusing in equal measure that the meejuh that for the last 10 year has been telling us to spend spend spend ,is now full of stuff like " how to beat the crunch" "ten easy ways to swap your house for a packet of cheese and onion crisps" and " 5 sunday dinners from roadkill and weeds"
as my mrs says "they run with the hare,but come back with the hound"
LLL :;):

[lutonlagerlout]

no respite in sight down these parts.
a lot of good lads are signing on round here now for the first time in 17 years or ever

i still cannot fathom why we, the british public bailed the banks out,and now they are turfing people out of homes they have been paying for, for years and years

its happening to a m8 right now,18 years he has had the house but he just got knocked for 20 K. main contractor went bust

now the very same bank that we gave billions of quid to has given him 2 months to pay or he's out

summat not right here ???
LLL