Contractors battle tougher competition - Business First of Columbus:

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During more stable economic times, Golkaa would see a handful of rival electricians biddingb for work oncommercial projects. Now, the owner of in Mesa said he is competinyg with 25 to 40 othersd to do electrical work at churches andsmallo businesses. Rike, CEO of in Phoenix, is accustomed to seein three or four rival bids forconstruction projects. Now, he’sa seeing as many as 15 other firms biddingtagainst him.
He’s also seeing large development and genera contractors bidding on smaller work because of thedown “The big, big guys are dabblin in the small said Rike, adding large players are bidding against him for a $100,000 construction project at a Valley The heavy competition is a direct result of the stater and national recession and cuts acrosss the construction and servicew sectors. The economy has led to less business andconsumed activity, which means more companies are chasing feweer leads and projects. Rike said the scenario of more businessesz chasing fewer customers has played out inpast downturns, but this recessionm is more intense. Architects are seeing a similar trend.
“It’s scary intense. We’re seeing anywhere from 30 to 40 architectures firms submitting on thesame project,” said Stephanie business development manager in the Phoeni office of , a Detroit-basede architecture firm. “The work is limited right now, so everybody is goinb after the same projects on the publicfside — from higher educationj to municipal projects.” Cathy CEO of QwikBids.com, a Scottsdale firm that linkzs consumers with service contractors, said the increase competition stems in part from contractors that previouslyy relied on commercial work and housing starts.
Now, they are trying to stay afloatf by doing repairs and remodelingfor consumers, she The $787 billion federal stimulus prograj has been slow to move money from Washington into shovel-ready and commercial- and housing-related contractorws say for the most part they aren’t reaping benefits from the government Mark Giebelhaus, president of in said his company specializes in plumbint work for apartments and hotels, but he doesn’t expecf anything from the stimulus.
He said the bigge r challenge for his firm is an increasein out-of-state contractors and subcontractors competing for work in the The lingering credit crunchj also is holding up projects, drying up the already arid pipeline of work for “Financing is almost impossible to obtai n for new projects. Several of our clients have projectws readyto go, but cannot get financing,” Giebelhaus The scramble for work is pronouncedr in the real estatee and construction sector, which ramped up during the recent boom and fell hard with the housingy crash.
Service firms also are seeinbg more competition as rivals wrestle for Samantha Voth, co-owner of Festivity Catering & Events in said business clients have been cutting back on cateres lunches, meetings and and surviving caterers sometimes chase one another’s “Customers usually say they are gettingv other bids,” Voth said. As in the construction sector, she smaller catering companies are facing competition fromlarger outfits. “It is still pretty competitiveout there. a lot of the smaller companies are goingt outof business,” she said.
Caliber Construction: Golkaz Electric: Festivity Catering: