Business is picking up.

[kodydog]

Slow start to the year but business has been trickling in. Picked up 3 jobs today.
Been working on some unusual pieces lately.

This small wing chair in a furry white fabric. We tried to talk the customer out of this fabric but she insisted. I really didn't know how it would turn out, I've never used fabric like it before. I was surprisingly pleased with the results.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/x386/EdwinNorthuis/0/DSCN3248.JPG

And these two deconstructed chairs by Restoration Hardware. I'm not a big fan of this style, it looks like something is missing. The customer was happy and that's all that maters.
https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/x386/EdwinNorthuis/0/Restoration%20Hardwear.JPG

How has business been for everyone else?

[MinUph]

January was pretty dea. February picked up a little and things are getting busy again now.

[SteveA]

That furry fabric is good for my customers - my workmanship matching patterns will excel !
Business is OK but not where it should be.  Sometimes when there's nothing a job comes in for that day in the eleventh hour. 
Contrast that with the years when you were booked weeks in advance ?  It's getting better but slowly -
SA

[gene]

I'm very busy. I just got the go ahead for two wing back chairs. I won't be able to get to them until May.

I have always joked that I stay busy because other upholsters are retiring or dying. I'm not going to joke about this any more. I called a guy last month to see if he would take a sofa that the customer wanted sooner than I could get it done. I thought if he was slow he might appreciate the work. I had given him a job in December of 1918 and he does great work. It turns out he died a few weeks before I called.

Last year was slow and I really enjoyed that. It seems I'd rather worry about paying the bills than have to get out of bed early on cold mornings. :-)

I do not like Restoration Hardware. It's sells so that is all that matters. That's awesome KodyD that you got to reupholster a piece.

Finishing 6 dining room slipcovers. I'm glad I learned how to do slipcovers. I don't do a lot but it's nice to have a few extra jobs that I would not have otherwise.

gene

[SteveA]

 - slip covers - tough stuff - I never tried it except for arm covers - I probably would have to learn how to sew first ?  Guys getting older - Gene - how's Keith - don't see him here anymore - tell him to stop by once in a while -  glad you're busy - I'm hanging in there but would like it to be more busy

SA

[65Buick]

Very unusual Kody. Yet I have seen a trend towards white fabrics like boucle. Was that an upholstery fabric, or ?

[kodydog]

I really don't know. It was 60" wide. It was her third attempt at a decent fabric. The first was way too thin. The second stretched like spandex. The final decision worked mostly like upholstery fabric. Sewing was a problem. As you can imagine the hairs kept getting caught in the seam. We spent a lot of time picking them out.

We told the customer making welt with that fabric would not work. We considered using a normal, color matched fabric for welt but decided it would get lost in all that fur. We built the chair with no welt.

She dated the chair to over 100 years old (a family heirloom). As you can imagine dust kept falling out. This required many uses of the blower nozzle as I was putting on the new fabric. And every time I used the blower hair would dislodge from the fabric. This was a little concerning to me. I envisioned bald spots in short order. But she told me the chair was going into a back bedroom and would get little use. Cutting the pattern left a mess on the table.

[gene]

SteveA: I talked to Keith maybe a month or so ago. He is doing well. He said with all his grandkids and projects around his house he can get busier now that he's retired than when he was working, if he isn't careful. He's still involved with the woodworking club he helped to start 35 or so years ago. He's the kind of guy that loves staying busy.

[Mojo]

Business has been nuts for January and February for both companies. Our overall revenue is up 45 % for those 2 months. We have had several days where we shattered single day sales records by huge margins. We have been back logged since Jan 1 and our staff a few times had to work 6 days a week to get us caught up. On top of that I have been slammed with a crazy event schedule. I did 5 in just 7 weeks time. I hit the road, do a show, back home for a week, reload products and hit the road again.

Then Covid 19 hit, the stock market tanked and things slowed on the awning side. Our RV service company has gone nuts and we ended up having to add another technician. We are booked out till June on service work. Scheduling has gotten dicey as we have coaches coming in and out constantly. Making things worse is we have gotten some real big and complicated jobs in which tends to throw a wrench into our schedule.

Overall I am happy. We plowed all the extra cash into retiring debt from the purchase of our new facility and we are going into this pandemic and slow down with a decent cash position. I do look for things to get ugly in another 30 - 60 days. I just loaded our show trailer, had our bus all set and was pulling out today for Tucson to do a big RV event. They just cancelled and it looks like all our other events this spring and summer may also get cancelled. I don't mind as the cost to do one show out of State is very expensive. We may not being doing shows but neither are our competitors.

We brought on an executive director last year and he has done an amazing job cultivating and expanding our dealer network with the awning company. Just as things starting slowing on direct orders our dealer orders picked up. Strange.

All 3 companies are in the black and I am just getting ready to start a 4th company. For the time being we are in good shape but I am watching this pandemic real close as well as the stock market. 90 % of our client base have 401K's and when the market tanks they tighten their belts.  That is the headache for us business owners......... Riding the rollercoaster. Feast or famine.

Mojo

[SteveA]

I know what Feast is because that's how business always was for me. I worry about Famine but never been close to it.  I have seen business fall off to levels that scare me but following a slow down it picks up again.  So what's different in our business that wasn't here in the 80's when money was flowing ? And man did it flow !
  The internet - ability to order merchandise out of your State - DIY - the new generations don't repair stuff like our Parents did or the frame style is obsolete - younger folks have so many other bills there is never extra money in spite of the tremendous salaries they make ?   Isn't repairing/renewing better than disposal ?  Just a few random thoughts !
Hold on because I see a few months of belt tightening with this virus for our trade that already had some issues to overcome
SA