I'm in the midwest and we starting to feel the pinch. Custom is doing okay; we've had better summers. One of the hardest part is getting the new products in (like TV's and receivers for the 2003 year)...paying those bills on top of the norm. I was just wondering what the rest of the US was like.

Downtown Manhattan is showing quite terrible retail figures. The custom side of the business is still very strong, but most NY buisinesses are highly dependent upon retail performance. Things out in Jersey, Long Island, and Westchester country are also suffering, but are not as dependent upon retail figures, so many are benefitting from the surge of new construction that the area is experiencing.

Actually, we are doing well in Westchester. I have done more proposals for custom installs/home automation in the last two weeks than I did in all of June. It's funny, I keep hearing the same thing from clients "I met with the guy from ***** Electronics, but they never gave me a proposal." Also, GE Smart is trying to create a presence in the area, but I have heard the same line used about there company "I met with the guy from GE Smart Systems, but they never gave me a proposal".

Up here in coastal New England biz is quite good, seems everyone wants to live near the ocean. Starting to see alot of tear-downs.( buy a house for $500k and put a $2-5 million in its place.) Not seeing as many small jobs for the middle class guys, but the high end homes are more than making up for it. Goes to show you that when the middle class starts to tighten the belt, the rich still have money...and I am happy they are spending it with me. BTW We dont do retail, custom only.Things may be differant up here in retail.

We were a little light in end of June through July with work, but it is starting to pick up again, but it is slow to do so. We are in Northeast PA.

We are doing a lot of finish work right now on jobs from the 1st and 2nd quarter of this year.

JJP

Custom installs in L.A. show no slowing in the near future .
The last 4 years has shown a dramatic increase in business.
There is no more seasonal work , the whole year is maxed out .
The rich will always be rich . (God bless em)

We saw some slowing in July, but have turned down over a 100K worth of business already in August (unable to meet timeframes required by the projects). It seems like people got a little nervous in July with all of the problems with the stock market, then got tired of waiting and decided to go for it in spite of the market. We are now unable to accept any new work until late September. I think when people get nervous about the economy, they have a "wait and see" attitute until things look better or they get tired of waiting.

It would have been nice if it wasn't so spuratic. In July I would have been able to take on the work, but now everybody wants it at the same time and I can't do it. Some of the deals I expected to close in July are comming in now, along with the new ones that we were expecting in August. I am reluctant to commit to additional techs with the possiblity of having to lay them off later. Meanwhile I am making some other installation companies very happy with free referals.
I expect to give away $150 to $175K worth of work in the next four to six weeks. It makes me sick to think about it, but I guess it's better than being slow.

it may be a function of the "i'm going to spend it while I still have it" attitude... At least that's what some of my customers say...