For those in the trades – contractors, plumbers, electricians, landscapers – there is almost always another job lined up. Many times, there are a number of projects in the queue stretching out for months on end.
Just a month ago, it was a hard way to keep a business going if the next week is an unknown. Now it’s an even scarier situation in the age of social distancing, self isolation and unprecedented unemployment.
So at a time like this, that constant practice of setting up future work is proving to be crucial. With some people being laid off and more and more people making the switch to working remotely and practicing the guidelines put forth by the CDC to keep people apart, the chances of immediate job needs in private homes are becoming a little more tricky to secure.
At the current moment, many local contractors are reporting that work is steady and will be over the next few months – but that could change on any given day. The uncertainty of how long social distancing and stay at home guidelines will be in place has caused some potential projects to be put on hold or canceled all together, but so far not as much as one might think.
For Bob Areias, owner of Plumbusters in Rindge, work is steady with some new construction that is still moving forward while the world has essentially been put on hold in many respects.
Areias, who has a team of five licensed plumbers, said that so far he has been able to get his crew 40 hour work weeks, only slightly down from the typical 45 hours his team would get this time of year.
It’s getting into remodeling season, but already Areias has seen two bathroom remodel projects canceled for the time being.
“A bathroom is a good three days to a weeks worth of work,” Areias said.
Areias said that at this time of year they typically have twice the amount of work, but “some people are very scared of having anybody in and out of their homes.”
“And a lot of people are out of work and don’t have money to spend right now,” he said.
For Areias, it’s a wait and see approach with hope for the future.
“Who knows what’s coming in the next few months,” he said. “Day by day it’s getting worse, but we’re still hanging on as much as we can. It’s going to be tight.”
While future work is obviously a concern, the ability to do their jobs safely is also on Areias’s mind. He said it’s getting harder and harder to find the protective gear – masks, gloves and hand sanitizer – they need.
“It’s making it very difficult for us to do our job,” he said. “Because we really have to protect our customers and ourselves.”
Areias said they are still doing service call work and scheduling jobs, but it comes with a different set of questions, most notably if the home owner has traveled or is sick. They are taking precautions, like using bulk heads for basement access and ensuring that customers give the proper distance when in homes.
At Our Town Landscaping in Hancock, things are setting up to be an “exceptionally good spring” according to owner George Lohmiller. The lack of snow late in the winter allowed them to get out in mid-March compared to the typical first week in April and so far he hasn’t seen any cancellation of services.
“Everyone we got a hold of about our services have said yes,” Lohmiller said. “We thought that people might want to do their own raking, but that hasn’t been the case, so actually things are looking really good.”
The world of landscaping is set up perfectly for the current situation. All of the work is done outside, so no need to go into private homes, and social distancing is the norm on the job site.
But Lohmiller and his crew have added some extra precautions. They no longer meet at the shop to sign in, rather doing so through text messaging, and are now in the practice of taking personal vehicles to jobs.
“The crew came up with that idea,” Lohmiller said.
In addition to the annual yard maintenance, Lohmiller said they have a lot of stone jobs lined up.
“It’s pretty good to be a landscaper right now,” he said.
Jason Dysart, owner of Grace Electric in Jaffrey, said the company has been “pretty fortunate to keep things moving.”
He said there’s been a decline in service calls, but hasn’t seen a disruption in the work that was planned over the last few weeks. He said they’ve agreed to four or five new jobs since the coronavirus pandemic put major restrictions in place for the state.
Dysart said that they’ve been able to catch up on some work at businesses that typically created scheduling conflicts due to open hours, but are now shut down.
Since a lot of their work in commercial and industrial, Dysart said those jobs haven’t been affected, at least not yet. But initially, he didn’t know what that list of essential workers might look like.
“I was hoping we’d be on it,” Dysart said.
He said two of his employees who are older and at higher risk decided to take some time off, but that his crew of 20-plus are still working full week’s worth of hours.
“We feel very blessed to be in this position,” Dysart said.
Gerry Donaghue, owner of GT Donaghue Construction & Metal Roofing, LLC in Dublin, said while he has a number of jobs lined up that will allow his company to work well into the summer, there is still concern.
“The hardest thing is watching the stock market,” Donaghue said. “It changes the opinion on what people will spend money on.”
So far only one customer has put their job on hold. “He said I’d rather wait. I don’t want to spend the money right now,” Donaghue said.
While Donaghue made the switch to specialize in metal roofing around the time of the recession in 2008, he still takes on other projects and sees more people seeking home offices in the future.
“People are sitting in their homes and finding flaws every day,” Donaghue said.
Things seem to be staying steady in the interim, but Donaghue is fully prepared for what the coronavirus pandemic could mean in the future.
“It will affect us in the long term,” Donaghue said. He said 2019 was his best year in the last decade and had high hopes for the coming year.
“We thought 2020 would be that and a little bit,” Donaghue said. “But that goal changed in three weeks.”
Now he’s looking to 2021 to get back on track.
What the pandemic doesn’t affect is his team’s ability to work.
“I can’t do to my dentist, but I can go to your house and work on your roof,” Donaghue said.
He has started using Zoom to meet with customers and has found the value in it.
Donaghue said he is fortunate that he has so much work already on the schedule.
“If I had to book out next week, I’d be worried,” he said. “Even I was concerned, but as I started contacting people, everybody just said lets be careful.”
Jarvis Adams, owner of Jarvis Adams Plumbing & Heating in Greenfield, said he’s fortunate that a bulk of his work typically comes for service calls, which are usually issues that need to be addressed.
“I’m thankful we have a business that keeps us going,” Adams said. “Service work has always been our strong point and things are always going wrong with plumbing.”
So far he hasn’t seen any cancellations and just sent out a bunch of quotes for potential jobs. Only time will tell if customers follow through with projects.
“I have a feeling a lot of those may be put on hold,” Adams said.
With those projects that they’re work is just a piece of the puzzle, Adams said they’re making sure to get the work done as scheduled.
“We’re making sure we stay ahead and not holding anybody up,” Adams said.
While business isn’t booming, Adams said they’re busy enough and using any extra time to catchup on items on the to do list that seem to get pushed off when there just isn’t enough time in the week. He has spent time taking inventory of what they have on hand and making sure to order extra parts.
“The thing I worry about is making sure I have enough supplies,” Adams said. “There’s a lot of different thing you need, so we’re making sure we’re well stocked.”
He’s definitely noticed a shift in how they enter the home.
“Some people don’t really care, while others meet us at the front door and say the basement door is open,” Adams said.
As of last week, John Wheeler, owner of Wheeler Construction in Peterborough, said he hasn’t seen any drop off and doesn’t anticipate any.
“Today I don’t see a change,” Wheeler said. “But things can change.”
Wheeler said he has several months worth of work lined up and hasn’t heard from any customers looking to delay projects or canceling outright.
He said that jobs will likely depend on occupancy as the coronavirus pandemic continues, with new construction and existing remodels where the owners aren’t there making things a lot easier to navigate in the world of social distancing.
“It will be different from business to business,” Wheeler said.
What Wheeler has seen is a shift in how some aspects of his business take place. At the recycling center, he no longer has to go inside to get his receipt, rather just calling from the truck after dropping off waste. Many places have shifted to curbside pickup, which has actually helped streamline his ability to get materials.