New Years is always a great time to recap the previous year and project intentions for the new year. 2013 was an interesting year with many re-starts of projects that had been put on hold by various clients due to the economy, finances or simply schedule. This included both larger and smaller projects and developments. As 2013 was winding down, we began getting a lot of calls from clients who wanted to start planning for some significant projects in 2014. November and December is typically not the time of year that we get these calls so this was very interesting.
Residential clients seem to be clustering in 3 camps for going into 2014:
Holding onto the family house but wanting to modernize, expand and improve the home with major renovation and additions.
Wanting an upgrade to their home but not finding what they want in the marketplace so they are contacting us for a new custom home built to their dreams and goals.
Savy shoppers are finding great existing homes with “good bones.” These clients are contacting us for assistance in customizing the home to their needs and their lifestyle.
We are also seeing another interesting trend with our residential clients regarding materials, fixtures, and furnishings:
Some clients are wanting full-services, meaning Green Sand selects all materials, appliances, light fixtures etc. and submits to the client for approval.
Other clients are saying they love to shop and would like to select materials, appliances, light fixtures themselves. In this case the role is somewhat reversed and the client asks Green Sand for our professional opinion. Many times this involves shopping trips with the client with is fun.
On the commercial side, it appears that it is a good time to open multiple stores. While on the development end of the business projects are heating up. Finally, despite Government sequestering, we continue to have a steady stream of Federal work.