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?