How the Market Looks

I saw an interesting poll result provided by W&D Weekly that polled people within the industry that posed teh question on whether or not they experienced an "Opening Day" as far as when they started to see sales boost up from the slow wintery months. Those results are below and are right on par with what I, as a recruiter see in the industry with the job market really starting to heat up this month! It should be a great year, even with all teh many dismal articles and industry gossip you hear of layoffs and downturn in housing market.

Survey Results for 04/04/2007: (From W&D Weekly email newsletter)

If your business experiences an “Opening Day” each year, around when does it start?

April 1 - 33%

We don't experience a “season.” - 30%

March 1 - 20%

May 1- 15%

A different time - 2%

For years, industry people have talked about “the season.” Much effort goes into designing new lines and getting new equipment ordered and tooled up so products are ready to roll when the new season starts. Assuming that it was different from region to region and market to market, I knew there wasn’t one date for all window and door companies to kick off their new selling years, but inspired by the start of baseball season I figured I’d ask.

A good portion of you doesn’t see a “season” in your business at all, and that makes sense, given the climate in much of our country. I’m sure that’s a blessing in many ways, especially when it comes to managing a workforce.

Among the specific choices, April 1 pulled more votes by far than March 1, May 1 or “some other date” as the date things go into high gear. No matter which day they selected, I suspect respondents are a little apprehensive this year. Most involved in the new construction business probably expect to be, at best, a little light this year, and some may be bracing for worse, given the state of the housing market. I know more people are definitely pinning their hopes on remodeling and replacement. There are still question marks, however, when it comes to homeowners spending big money on projects and fix-ups. Let’s hope we start to see that activity as we come out of the winter thaw.