Bookings / Work Load

[Mojo]

Just wondering how everyone else is doing for bookings / work.

I booked two jobs in today and that is about it for the month. It has been dead as can be.
Last year at this time I was booked 5 weeks out and was sewing 7 days a week and installing 6 days a week just to keep up.

This year has been horrible. Paul and I were talking on the phone the other night and he was saying it dried up again for him as well.

I was thinking about putting my wife out on a street corner again but the last time I did that it didn't work out very well. She was gone all night, came home in the morning looking like 10 miles of bad road and then laid $ 23.10 on the kitchen table. I asked her who the bastard was that gave her 10 cents and she said " all of them "......... :o....... ;D

All joking aside how are your bookings going this year as compared to the same time last year ?

Chris

[bobbin]

Great question, Mojo.  I have a "straight job" and it's become increasingly frustrating for me to deal with poorly maintained machinery, an increasingly cluttered and dirty workplace, and "work orders" that are virtually non-existent.   But I feel I have to stay there for the sake of "security".  And I hate that feeling of being someone else's vassal. 

I have a small and loyal alteration clientele (who know, like, trust me, and have "connections") but have done no self-promotion with respect to my other manifest skills/abilities.  Clearly, there other veins to mine yet I haven't done it.  It's all caught up in getting myself up to speed with computerized book keeping, on-line banking, and all the rest of the stuff that is so alien to me.  I get so frustrated and overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I don't know about that is pretty much unrelated to the stuff I'm GOOD at. 

[jojo]

Wow, sorry to hear that, Chris. I've only had my shingle out for a couple of months, but already I have more work than I can handle. When I was hunting for customers, I posted a question regarding marketing, and got a lot of good suggestions. The best one was to post an ad (with pictures) on craigslist, not in the services section, but in the for sale section , i.e. advertise for auto upholstery in the auto accessories for sale section, furniture upholstery in the furniture section. I did, and within one hour of posting, I got three calls!

Bobbin, I was working for a guy who overcharged his customers because he was the only game in town, and he was a very difficult guy to work with, a micromanager. I finally decided if I'm gonna work for an a**hole, it's gonna be me. And I'm making a lot more money.
It's a little rough at first to get situated, but it's so worth it!

Jo

[Mike8560]

Been stating busy with small cover jobs we did get a big job to start soon prrobly. Ouldnt wait any longer there getting bad   

[bobbin]

I just finished a nice job for a brand new customer.  It's my hope that they will be pleased enough with my work to send some more my way.  Next hurdle is to master the billing and proper accounting with my "new system".  (yikes). 

I have a nice cushion job for a very pretty wrought iron patio set in the pipeline.  And a round, full length table cloth with a corded lower edge.  And a call from a local laundry that wants to set up an alteration/repair account with me.   It's all very promising, but not enough to make me "up and quit" just yet. 

[sofadoc]

a local laundry that wants to set up an alteration/repair account with me.   

I'm curious to see how that works out. Seems like it would be tough for the laundry to "mark up" your fee, and make a profit. In the old days, they just paid  "slave wages" to someone in the back room.
If you guys can agree on price, I'll bet you'll have all the work you want. I hope it works out for you.

[bobbin]

You nailed that one, Sofa.!  I'm wonderin' the very same thing.  I have no problem doing alterations/repair work, but my days at minimum wage are long since gone, thank you.  I know how to measure, fit, and construct a sport coat and it took years to learn how... I will "cast not my pearls before swine".  Now... were they to offer me cash on the barrel head we might be able to "talk turkey".  But in all likelihood that won't be part of the deal. 

[sofadoc]

In reading some of these posts regarding workload (as well as countless other posts in the last few years on this discussion board), I seem to draw these conclusions about auto/marine business vrs. furniture business:
1) There's a lot MORE people wanting car and boat work done.
2) There's a lot MORE people DOING car and boat work.
Hence, ergo, there's not enough work to go around.

I feel blessed in the furniture biz. People always ask me "How's business?"
My answer is always the same "More than I can do".
BUT, it would take only ONE competitor to move into my town, cut my business in half, and I'd probably be on the street corner, next to Chris's wife (and I doubt I'll take in anywhere near $23.10).

[JuneC]

I'm up to my a$$ in alligators.  Pics coming (I promise).  Boats are really good at wearing out the upholstery/canvas. 

June

[Mojo]

I'm up to my a$$ in alligators.  Pics coming (I promise).  Boats are really good at wearing out the upholstery/canvas. 

June

There is nothing like the Florida Sun to beat vinyl and canvas to death. :)

Chris

[baileyuph]

Very busy here, of course it is due the diversification.  Classic cars are down, boat interiors were down the last three years but now they have put that off two long.  We had ice and snow and the cold that goes with that, ironically (to me anyway) I had a lot of that type of interior work in work and waiting.  Got some more this week.  People are getting their boats fixed, those who can afford it.

As I said, classic car is down but I got two large restoration jobs, both convertibles waiting.

In a word, busy and more so than before the recession.  Furniture reupholstery is down but the repairs are going through the roof.  Believe me folks, if you haven't gotten into this work, this new stuff is broke the day it is shipped.  It has to be fixed, so I have tons of that.  This work includes upholstery and a large part of it is wood repairs.

There is perhaps one reason for all my work, like I said diversifed, but I don't believe there are as many doing what I do.  Any who, if every dimension of my work was at a peak, quite frankly, I would just have to punch some different keys.  

In spite of the picture I paint, I do see soft spots in the economy.  Some customers come and want things done but they just can't afford the  repair.

Hang in there Chris, why do you think you are seeing a big pull back in work?  Is it the location, a regional thing?

Yes, that alligator feeling is frequently noted this way.

Doyle

[ragtacker]

I have more work than I can handle due to word of mouth advertising.  (Of course, I do only furniture, and the occasional boat cover repair - trying NOT to get into boat work - anyone want to relocate to the Hudson Valley?)  That said, I am a very small, one person shop, and, as I mentioned previously, am trying to slow down.
Jan

[sofadoc]

Furniture reupholstery is down but the repairs are going through the roof.  Believe me folks, if you haven't gotten into this work, this new stuff is broke the day it is shipped.  It has to be fixed, so I have tons of that.  This work includes upholstery and a large part of it is wood repairs.

Ain't it the truth! I show NO MERCY when it comes to charging the stores for repairing the cheap crap. Hey, if they're going to cut into my business by selling that stuff for half (or less) than I charge to re-upholster, then they're going to reward me handsomely for fixing it. It's such easy money, I wouldn't care if I didn't have anything else BUT repair work.
Most common problem? The factory shoots 50 million frame staples into one side of the wood, and completely misses the adjoining board on the other side (wouldn't have mattered if they HAD hit the other side, the staples are too short anyway).