If your business is like most, the end of 2009 may pose more questions than answers for 2010.  Having limped through this season most contractors are glad to have 2009 behind them.  The forecast for 2010 seems to be a question mark.  I've heard from some folks that they see a little more work on the horizon but projecting far past the first quarter still seems to be a crap shoot for most.  Several economic indicators point toward recovery in 2010, but the construction industry certainly appears to be one of the last sectors that will rebound. 

Though the construction forecast for 2010 is still fuzzy, I'm happy to tell you that Power Curbers has specific, good news for you.  At World of Concrete, we'll unveil the 5700-C with our new "Max Package."  The 5700-C-MAX is an extended version of the 5700-C that includes larger crawlers, repositionable right post, and all crawler steering.  The 5700-C-MAX expands the range of the 5700-C to include variable barrier wall, center pour concrete paving up to 12' (3.65m) wide and offset paving up to 8' (2.5m) wide.  Best of all, when finished with your large pour, the 5700-C-MAX retains the ability to turn tight radius, transport at legal width, and has all the features that have made the 5700-C the number one selling curb and gutter machine in the world.

We're excited about the 5700-C-MAX and what it will do for our customers.  It comes on the 25th anniversary of the introduction of the 5700 series.  Come to World of Concrete in February and help us celebrate 25 years of the 5700 with the kick-off of the 5700-C-MAX! 

Given the situation contractors and manufacturers of construction equipment find themselves in, it's easy to question why we're in this industry.  For me, yesterday was a reminder of why I love what I do.

A customer drove in from several states away to pay us a visit Wednesday.  He'd been meaning to come see our new facility for some time and a rare break in his schedule allowed him to get away for the visit.  We spent the day talking about his business, our machines, molds and little bit of everything related to slip-forming - and more importantly to life.  He's been a great customer and a real success story, entering the curb business with a used 5700 in 1998. Since that time he's grown to a three-machine company and now owns a 5700-B, 5700-Super-B, and a 5700-C.  The most gratifying part of his visit was when he told me, "Power Curbers put me on the map.  Now I'm the guy in the area that everybody looks at."  It wasn't a boastful statement, simply a fact, a result of his hard work, street smarts, a devoted wife handling the office, and good folks working for him.  He thinks that we put him on the map, but I see it differently. He, and thousands of other small contractors like him around the world, doing quality work, treating folks fairly, growing their businesses are the reason the 5700-C is number one in the world.

Ed, thanks for coming in.  Your visit reminded me why we do what we do.  And by the way, thanks for the order of the new 5700-C.

For the rest of you, our doors are always open.  North Carolina BBQ and a cold Cheerwine will be waiting for you.

Each day I receive a slew of emails from marketing companies, equipment magazines, and sales gurus announcing "How to Find New Business in a Slow Economy."  Ninety percent of them say the same old things about the importance of advertising, the value of cold-calling, and how better days are right around the corner.  I'm sick of hearing these pitches so I promise I won't offer secrets on how you can find a 50,000' subdivision or connect with a dozen new developers.

Instead, while things are slow maybe there's something you can do for your future and your company's future that you've brushed aside during busy times.  Have you really given time and consideration to succession planning?  How much longer do you want to work?  Who will take the reigns for you and keep what you've built going?  If you were gone tomorrow, who would run your company?

Over the past 15 years, I've seen and heard from many contractors who struggle with these questions.  Many contractors look forward to turning the company over to a son or daughter who've "grown up in the business" spending time on jobsites since they were toddlers.  We all know that sometimes these folks don't develop the necessary business skills to match their construction knowledge.  I've seen one contractor retire three times only to come back and bail out the company when he found his son incapable of running it.

 There are also the all-too-common problems that can arise when your next generation, siblings, can't get along and cause business problems to explode into family crises.  (See the Carolina Panthers)  Sometimes those problems are caused by incompatible personalities, jealousy, or greed, but they may also be due to a lack of organizational structure.  Have you structured your  business around such a volatile situation?

Finally, we have one customer who's made it clear to his kids that they are not welcome in the business.  For him, it isn't about wishing them an easier way to make a living, but that the business is his retirement.  When he retires, he plans to sell it, maximizing his return without having to give something to family or help them get into the business at a bargain price.

You probably have a little more spare time than two years ago.  For most of you things will really slow in a few months with winter around the corner.  Take some time and give some thought to where your business will go after you leave.  Better yet, bring in a professional to help you devise a plan to ensure that your good name remains, long after you've gone fishing. 

 Special thanks to Regional Sales Manager Steve Milam for contributing to this entry.

I've written in previous posts how the current economy's created situations I thought I'd never see in our industry.  Well-established, curb and gutter contractors struggling to keep one machine busy and dedicated slip-form contractors jumping into decorative concrete, walls, and barrier have become norms this year.  Some folks however, have been able to turn the lack of demand into a positive. 

On a recent trip to the west coast, I met with a long-time Power Curber customer who told me that he was about to leave on a family vacation.  "This will be the first summer vacation I've had in 13 years in business," he told me, actually looking forward to a lazy week at a mountain resort with his family in mid-season.  On that same trip another contractor told me of plans to turn a hobby into a enterprise, launching a business buying/selling Hot Wheels cars.  Across the country other contractors have found time to coach Little League baseball teams, complete a home-improvement project, and in one case, buy an ice cream truck.  No doubt, they'd all prefer to have the old problems of "how to get another 4,000' poured tomorrow", "keep the general off my back until I can get there," and how to manage a business when being "busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger."  But, given the circumstances, many folks have taken it in stride, looked for ways to take advantage of having a little breathing room in their schedules, and found ways to enjoy, not resent, rare free time in the summer.

Faced with pre-bid meetings in a room filled with 25 contractors instead of 6 or 7, many folks have taken to the adage of "I don't need to pour for the practice" or "I don't need to run the machine for the suntan."  What are you doing with the spare time created by the downturn?  Re-organizing your equipment yard again, surfing the internet, bidding everything in sight, or are you learning to enjoy the sound of quiet? 

"Now this is not the end.  It is not even the beginning of the end.  But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."  The words were uttered by Winston Churchill in November, 1942 during the dark days of World War II.  The Allied forces had just invaded N. Africa and began notching several key victories in that theater of the war.  Optimists began asking if this turning of the tide signaled the end for the Axis powers.  Churchill recognized that there were many battles to be fought before Hitler and his legions would be stopped.

Over 60 years later, many of us seem to be asking the same question regarding the economic meltdown gripping the U.S. economy.  We all seem to be looking for signs, something to signal that the turnaround is upon us.  A few economists even went as far as to announce that the recession had ended last month.  All of us have different measures for determining the health of our economy - unemployment rates, GDP, the Dow Jones average - are frequently cited.  In the US, given the close connection between curb and gutter and subdivisions, housing starts is one of our best measures.  Activity from the past few months indicates that housing starts may have finally bottomed out.  Single-family housing starts increased by 14% from May to June and existing home inventories dropped by 3.5% during that period.  Estimated numbers for 2010, though nowhere near the 2005-2007 levels, show that housing starts should increase by 35% from 2009. 

 The end of the recession?  Hardly.  The beginning of the end?  Probably not.  The end of the beginning?  Let's hope. 

One of the things that  has impressed me from conversations with our customers recently is how many of them have diversified over the past year.  Many folks who were purely curb and gutter subcontractors have made ventures into stamped concrete, poured walls, box culverts, and barrier in order to compensate for the scarcity of available curb work.  My first thought upon hearing this has been skeptical.  Are those concrete sectors really in any better shape and curb and gutter?  Is it really a good idea to jump into a new field during times of tight margins and to challenge folks who are already pros in those areas?  After my initial pessimistic reaction, what really strikes me is the spirit, the entrepreneurship, the willingness to risk, of these contractors.  This is the same spirit that allowed many of them to become very successful curb and gutter contrators, who, through no fault of their own, found themselves in a downturn that forced them to look elsewhere.  By expanding their services, they'll be stronger companies with more to offer to general contractors when our economy rebounds. 

 Perhaps one overlooked area for you to expand is into extruded curb work.  Extruded machines, which Power Curbers invented in 1953, are still popular today.  Though extruded curb is most often seen in warm-weather climates like Florida and Arizona, its used in nearly all 50 states and in many countries.  Simple to operate, easy to transport, and requiring a very small crew, an extruded curb machine may be just what you need to help fill your workload until normal workloads return.  To learn more about our PC-150 or 440-XL please vist our "Extruders" page or our archives from past "Power Curbers Profiles," both of which can be found on the Power Curbers website.

The construction equipment world, or at least 200,000 folks from that world, descended on Paris April 20-25 for the Intermat trade show.  For those of you unfamiliar with Intermat, it works in a three-year rotation with Conexpo and Bauma.  Size-wise it comes in a little larger than Conexpo and somewhat smaller than Bauma.  It truly is a crossroads of the world with heavy European attendance, moderate African and Middle Eastern visitors, and a few North Americans and Asians.

 After experiencing a less than optimistic crowd at WOC in February, we weren't quite sure what to expect at Intermat.  We were glad to hear that although not robust, the construction outlook in Europe appears brighter for 2009 than in the States.  Though Spain is suffering through a terrible crisis, with unemployment there hitting 14%, comments we heard from French, Belgian and other Europeans painted a fair picture for this season.  Countries with oil and natural gas continue to be bright spots in the world economy as many of those countries are making significant infrastructure improvements. 

 In addition to the valuable time spent with customers and dealers, shows like Intermat give us a chance to hear industry news from other manufacturers.  Specialized manufacturers like ourselves seem to have fared better over the past year than heavy machinery folks like those involved in earth-moving.      

Last night while watching my beloved Wake Forest Demon Deacons steal a great road win at Maryland I was dumbstruck by the supposed basketball expert giving us color commentary on the game.  When Wake Forest switched to a 1-3-1 half-court trap, no mention was made of how/why it caused Maryland problems.  Wake's comeback came with their 7'0" center on the bench.  That apparently went unnoticed too.  Maryland's crowd, which was rowdy in the first half, appeared to sleep through most of the second half.  This too, barely received a nod from our expert.  Instead, we were treated to 100 renditions of "The committee is watching.  Maryland needs this win to get into the national championship."  Wake Forest needs this win for a high seed.  You can't win a national championship without getting a high seed."  Yes, the fact that Maryland is a bubble team and Wake has a legitimate shot at a #2 or #3 seed in the tournament has been kicked around for weeks.  Thanks Mr Expert for pointing that out ad naseum. 

I have to believe the network producing the game could find someone out there who could give us a little insight.  How about a few comments on how Wake was able to grab so many offensive rebounds, a little player analysis perhaps, or even what each team was trying to do in their offensive sets?  Surely there are some retired coaches (junior high even!) out there who could educate viewers as they watch the game.  Come on networks, give us someone worth listening to while we watch.    

 Thanks for listening.  Now, back to curb and gutter machines. 

I went to the show with modest expectations but was glad to see a strong turnout in our booth this year.  We entertained visitors from nearly every state and over a dozen different countries.  The outlook for the year ran from "we have no backlog of curb work" to "we're adding people" and just about everything in between.  Clearly, the passage of a stimulus package is on everyone's mind and will be a key factor in seeing how the year shakes out. 

For those of you who made the trip, thanks from all of us for visiting our booth.  Without a doubt, reconnecting with long-time customers and in some cases meeting new customers face to face for the first time is a highlight of our year.  Enjoy some downtime for the next few weeks.  Cold, wet weather won't be with us much longer and we'll soon be pouring concrete again.

Next week will be my 15th World of Concrete.  Around the office we refer to World of Concrete, or just "World" all the time and think nothing of it.  Away from Power Curbers its a different story.  When telling friends that I'm heading to "World of Concrete" for a week I get lots of strange looks.  "What is a world of concrete" and "That sounds like something Homer Simpson would go to" are a few of the nicer comments I've gotten over the years.  World of Concrete, though, is one of my favorite weeks of the year.  Catching up with long-time customers, answering questions about the curb business for a new prospect, and of course just watching people stop, trying to figure out what a 5700-C is, make it a great week for me.  Whether you're coming specifically to buy a piece of equipment, see what's new in concrete, or are just looking for an excuse to visit Vegas, there's no other week quite like it for contractors.  We'll be there in the Central Hall booth 5814.  Whether you want to see a 5700-C in person for the first time, run an idea by us, let us know about a machine problem you're having, or just rest for a few minutes, we'd love to see you.