Covid economy non real estate | GTAMotorcycle.com

Covid economy non real estate

N

nobbie48

Well-known member
Site Supporter
I was talking to a service contractor earlier today and his business has taken a dump. He does a lot of school / medical faciity work and with lock downs and budget challenges the work coming in has cut back drastically. He also looks after some fast food chains and it seems they have switched away from teenagers to older employees and they are easier on the equipment so less breakage. He lost a few good employees because they were anti vax and his clients want vaxports.

He's personally OK because he has assets and no debts but the value of his business has tanked.

A Toronto Blog that pops up on Google is regularly posting about long established businesses , many of them restaurants, shutting for good after 40,50, 60 years.

The stock market has a few bad days or weeks and then comes up roses again.

The renovation market seems hot but how much of that market is underground?

Outside of restaurants and gyms what else is suffering in general or are the failures indiscriminate?
 
Last edited:
Tooling+automation for the automotive industry has been going crazy. Scheduling has been thrown for a few loops but that's all.
 
My industry has been up by 10% in sales and volume despite shortages and supply chain issues BUT profit has taken a crap due to inflation on every aspect of the business.
 
Good question. Outside of my friend with the restaurant, I know people that have generally seen a net benefit in their own businesses.

Plumbers, electricians, carpenters, and tilers are all happy as prices have gone through the roof for their services and they’re making a killing.

My wife’s home cleaning business has seen an uptick, but as she’s 6 months pregnant she’s obviously slowing down. People are even giving her larger tips on top of her fee.

When she stopped cleaning after baby #2 she had clients calling every month and had effectively more clients then before she stopped.

My dentist also said it’s been insanely busy and he’s opened up a second practice to deal with it.

I know very few losers in this economy, but I’m sure there are a lot more that lost than have won.
 
mimico_polak said:
I know very few losers in this economy, but I’m sure there are a lot more that lost than have won.
Click to expand...

The unemployment rate and the general labour shortages suggest otherwise ... but absolutely, there have been many who have lost ... restaurants, cinemas, gyms, etc.

I know of some restaurants in the previous opening-up period who didn't open their dining room because they couldn't find enough staff.

I am going on a little road trip around lunchtime today to support a small restaurant that I'd like to see survive.
 
Agree with you 100% @Brian P.

I’ve had the same discussions with friends in construction and they refuse to accept that that are poor people around, or more poor people than rich.

But they only deal with rich people with Lambos, multiple properties, cottages and large businesses. So their view of reality is skewed.
 
I think a lot of it has gone underground with so many people collecting the free money for those 2 years or whatever it was, and working for cash on the side. I know of a couple. A couple other who went back to their home country while collecting it too. Go Canada!
 
I graduated during the pandaemic as a older student. We were all worried about getting a job but turned out most of got jobs 😬.

Most common job they went to was software development work.
 
Winners and losers for sure. Work in a restaurant where you can shift to take out, ok . Work in a nice restaurant where the dining is an expeirence and presentation matters , does not translate to a box. Take out needs the cooks and a gal to take orders, the wine steward? gone, wait staff, gone.
Anything tourist in Niagara falls ? cooked. Summer employment in water parks, cooked. Any jobs in live theater , arts , bands, ; cooked.
Being in sales for restaurant supply , steak houses , your unemployed.
Reduce capacity by 50%, guess what, you still needs the cooks and a bar tender , but half the wait staff.

Now if your selling RV trailers , boats , paddle boards , hot tubs , your new problem isn't who to sell to . its where to get inventory.

And the rich got richer in this mess, kitchen companies are booming, trades working on homes didn't miss a shift. Even if you look at office space where you can't get out of a 10yr lease, everyone is working from home, you still make tons because the electric bill in 10% of what it was, you cancel the cleaners and theres another few k a month the company keeps , printer cartridges, coffee, it adds up to tens of thousands in the corporate pocket.

I had a phone call with my favorite cabinet maker to the stars on Friday, he's looking at the best material to panel the walls in a frieght elevator in a private home in Aspen. Not the people elevator, its done in herringbone white oak. This is the equipement elevator to get skis to the second floor equipment room from the garage , because the garage is for cars , silly me. Winner and losers in this.
 
I have a few different points to reference.

1) Kid in Plumbing/HVAC business - bananas. Struggled in the beginning with supply chain challenges, still there but rapidly adapted made shortages work in his favor, now making bank like a plywood guy.
2) Kid 2 - Home/Building services, with significant business in rest homes. He's getting used to Ramen and and Lakehead beer.
3) Kid 3 - Hospital Nurse... bananas. All she can eat OT, rotation allows 10 day FIFOs at plywood salesman rates.
4) Wife - Banker. BAU.
5) Me - industrial products... better than usual. Would be bananas supply chain could get us materials in the pre-pandemic 60 days timeframe instead of the current 180+ days.
 
We just turned down $250000 job. They wanted it done by June. Not going to happen.
 
Allistonfjr said:
We just turned down $250000 job. They wanted it done by June. Not going to happen.
Click to expand...

Not when you probably can't get half the supplies until then!

In my little corner of the economy, the situation is forcing end users to change their component specifications. Sure you want that specific Allen-Bradley interface module? The one A-B stopped quoting an ETA for because they don't know when they can get one? We can get you a different brand no problem, same function, looks different and uses different software to configure it, but we can get one next week ...
 
Brian P said:
Not when you probably can't get half the supplies until then!

In my little corner of the economy, the situation is forcing end users to change their component specifications. Sure you want that specific Allen-Bradley interface module? The one A-B stopped quoting an ETA for because they don't know when they can get one? We can get you a different brand no problem, same function, looks different and uses different software to configure it, but we can get one next week ...
Click to expand...
Getting material has been a challenge at times, but to this point we've managed the situation. We presently have 7 months of work sold in front of us. These jobs have deadlines that we can't miss. Unlike most subcontractors, we are never late.

Everyone is busy. If the client needs a job that size done in the next 4 months, a shop would either have little work, which means they probably are not very good or they will lie, saying they can get it done in time, knowing they can't.
 
I sell steel and business has been booming. Like lumber our prices skyrocketed and briefly plate was limited. From when I started in September of 2020 to end of last year tubing had tripled. Stock seems to be good now and pricing is starting to drop a bit.

Most of our customers (contractors, fabricators etc) are super busy. Since we're in cottage country and people are able to work from home, means more people are spending time away from the city and living in the cottages.
 
Last edited:
Try buying a Generac home standby generator in Canada. Zero available. They tell us April we "should" see them.

I ordered an 80kw generator last November 2021 they tell me it will arrive in late 2023 haha
 
SunnY S said:
Try buying a Generac home standby generator in Canada. Zero available. They tell us April we "should" see them.

I ordered an 80kw generator last November 2021 they tell me it will arrive in late 2023 haha
Click to expand...
Wow for both timing and energy required. That is a bigass standby generator (assuming it is going on a house). Still air-cooled? At what point do people switch to liquid-cooled?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom