Winter was harsh for the landscape. A lot of bushes were damaged or died. Trees were left full of dead branches. Maintenance work, normally done in the winter months waited for suitable weather.
Spring was late. Soil temperatures took a long time to warm up, trees were late to leaf, and the clean-up/repair work overwhelmed landscapers.
Now were mid-summer. The maintenance and repair work is caught up and the first rash of new construction and installations is reaching an end. Jobs for the rest of the summer are a little slower but contractors are closing enough to stay many weeks ahead.
2014 is going to be an odd year. The first half was definitely slower than expected. Partly because of weather and because of economic factors people are just now realizing happened. Our economy actually contracted in the first quarter. Not what people thought was going to occur.
Winter and the slowdown are over now. Â What do we expect for the rest of the season?
Housing
A mixed bag. Single family house construction was a bright spot the past couple of years. Our industry does well when single family housing is strong. So far starts are down. While some say starts will catch up in the second half, others are saying we should temper our enthusiasm.
The NAHB Index dropped again for the Midwest to 47. Anything below 50 is considered negative. Richard Moody, Chief Economist for Regions Financial Corp, says, “For anyone tempted by the shiny headline numbers to conclude all the recent worry about the state of the housing market was much ado about nothing, we suggest you curb your enthusiasm, at least for now”.
Housing is living the slowdown many predicted. It is however a temporary condition. Demand for housing is strong. Prices are rising and inventories are falling. Younger home buyers have credit and productive career issues, but overall people are looking to take advantage of the low interest rates. Housing starts will improve the rest of the year.
For multi-family housing, the start is way up. Before getting too excited, that’s how the multi-family sector is, boom then bust. At least for the near term there are plenty of apartments and condos being built.
Commercial
Publicly funded projects continue to drop off. Privately funded site continue to increase. However both are spotty. Depends on where you are. Expect about the same conditions you’ve seen the past couple of years.
Landscape Renovation
New construction evaporated with the recession and is slowly coming back. Renovations exploded. People know they won’t be “flipping” their house soon and retirements have been delayed. Folks are staying put. Which has a positive impact for the landscape world. Because people are staying in their homes longer, they want the living environment to be upgraded.
Landscapers have been doing well upgrading landscapes. Hardscapes are a bright spot. Along with landscape renovations come lighting, irrigation, and water features. Drainage too, an unnoticed aspect in a landscape, has been growing.
Staff
Here’s a tough one. The recession killed 1.1 million construction jobs. So far only about 400,000 have been regained. The entire construction industry is having trouble finding people to handle the growing workloads. The biggest question many contractors face is “Who is going to do the work?”.
The average age of a construction worker 20 years ago was 30-something. Last year the average age was 44. Which means a large number of current workers will be retiring or unable to continue working in the next few years. Few young people are entering the building trades.
A primary reason is perception. Parents want their kids to go to college and/or take “professional” jobs. The landscape trades in particular are viewed, at best, as summer jobs. Young people think that any job where you get dirty or have to sweat is not a “professional” job.
How wrong. Look at the owners and key staff in the landscape trades. Most have made a good living in an interesting industry. Working on a crew is where they all came from.  It’s a lifestyle that I enjoyed my early years.
I know from my own kids and their friends that many young people are struggling to find jobs paying what they believe they are worth. Yet we have good landscape contractors screaming to pay good wages for good people. Somehow our industry has to outreach to get more young people involved.  Otherwise, there is no answer to who is going to do the work.
