How were you affected in 2008? Canadian asking...

timmysaint

timmysaint

New member
Location
Ontario
Hi Guys,

Don't want to pry here, and more a 'tree-business' question, but how was your business affected in 2008 with the housing meltdown and what not. Our company is small, but looking at maybe expanding with another truck. No debt- we struggle sometimes, but still manage to feed a couple young families families, clothes, housing...etc. Anyway, we do rely on at least 70% residential work, and I've been following the news and it looks like our housing market is wobbling - I think the decline in the news was 25% in the last two or three months???? I think that's a lot... maybe??? No one seems to be panicking, though, and business is still steady. So, maybe it's nothing.

Anyway, my question, then, is what did you guys do during the US housing collapse? Did you stay busy enough, or did things shut down. Did you take cash out of the bank, just in case, or what? I don't want to be too paranoid, things are good, you know.

Any advice.

Thanks...
 
A very large percentage of my work comes from the housing bubble. Toronto money buying houses in Hamilton.

I think the problem is systemic and that the USD economic system is on the verge of collapse.

I have no expertise and have believed this for 10 years.
 
I was not a business owner at the time. But the company I worked for struggled for some time. They had a TON of debt and had to make the payments and keep people employed. This too was a small company of 9 field workers. They laid off 5 workers. They had three crews and they went down to 1.
The owner cashed in all his assets to be able to swing it if needed. They got through it. Not sure how much he actually needed to use of those assets. My personal opinion is that he was not set up to deal with a situation like that. They lived on best case scenario. Not the best way to go.

But they are still in business and gross over 3.6 million a year.
 
treegongfu said:
A very large percentage of my work comes from the housing bubble. Toronto money buying houses in Hamilton.

I think the problem is systemic and that the USD economic system is on the verge of collapse.

I have no expertise and have believed this for 10 years.
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Yeah it's a bit crazy. I'm definitely not an expert- no one else seems to concerned but I don't want to get blind sided with a sudden heavy duty truck payment! My wife on the other hand has become of a prep-nutter since the little ones were born.
 
Oroboros said:
Where are you ? Ontario? GTA ? Some markets are over priced and could use an adjustment.
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GTA. Yeah I think the cheapest place in our hood (which is pretty ghetto) is close to half-mil. FYI you can't leave a door unlocked without getting your car raided at night. Not like it's uppity posh here.
 
ROYCE said:
I was not a business owner at the time. But the company I worked for struggled for some time. They had a TON of debt and had to make the payments and keep people employed. This too was a small company of 9 field workers. They laid off 5 workers. They had three crews and they went down to 1.
The owner cashed in all his assets to be able to swing it if needed. They got through it. Not sure how much he actually needed to use of those assets. My personal opinion is that he was not set up to deal with a situation like that. They lived on best case scenario. Not the best way to go.

But they are still in business and gross over 3.6 million a year.
Click to expand...

Tenacious! I love when it works out for a fella like that!!!!
 
I heard that Toronto real estate rose 30% last year. 30%! Sounds like an adjustment. Or maybe a glut of stock ? Lots of people are selling and heading for the hills.
 
In 2008 we didn't notice a drop in sales, though my business was structured quite a bit different than the traditional at that time. On the contrary we were probably up 25%. But again the way we were structured gave us great opportunity for growth even in and economic downturn.
I don't feel our business has as much to do with the housing market as you might think. We work for some newly purchased homes but very seldom. I attribute that to a new home buyer being broke (or close to it) for a couple years. I feel we are more inline with fuel and other essential items because these all eat up disposable income. If we get a cold winter they pay more to heat their home, now less to pay us.
All that said, markets are different all over the country/world. Rural New England could be in a huge slump and cali is booming, and the other way around. You just need to be able to forecast, adjust and move forward. After a few years in business you should have an idea of when you will be slow, when to hold onto your hat, when to save everything and when spending is right. Pay attention, you will notice slow downs well in advance, because the writing is on the wall... in your books!
 
We had a much harder time when diesel prices went bonkers than we did with the housing market.

Although, truth be told, most of my customers have money coming out of their ears and are kind of recession proof. Less calls from middle class folks re "sick" trees although EAB treatment requests were pretty strong.

One thing we did notice that folks focused on maintaining their properties rather than adding enhancements/installs/construction/plantings etc
 
I was in lawn care at the time and I didn't notice much of a difference in business, people still didn't want to cut their grass and they still had a job. They were upside down in their mortgages, but, they still were making payments and mostly employed. I lost some business as some people did lose their jobs or were forced to take lesser paying ones, but I also picked up some business mowing investment properties that investors bought when things tanked.

I got out and joined the military, however, after getting back into the business when I got out, I noticed that between 07 and 17 lawn care prices are exactly the same, if not slightly lower, and it's more competitive. I'm new to tree care so I don't have anything to compare it too long term, however, I know it sure seems a lot easier for me to pick up tree jobs than it was for me to pick up lawn accounts, and I can net way more per hour.


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