When Business is Slow, Take What You Can Get

Sometimes when business is slow, you find yourself taking jobs that aren't really your M.O. Well, lately business has been slower, so we took one of those jobs this morning. Now, to be clear, the job was hooking up the duct work to the ventilation system for a paint booth. This, in a sense is exacactly what we do and should be no problem. The issues for us were that the application was more commericail, with 18" spiral duct and a system (i.e. ventilation for a paint booth) that we were unfamiliar with. However, we knocked it out in a few hours, the job came out great and we went home paid and happy. All in all a good day for K & E Sheet Metal and a lesson that sometimes doing something you never tried can bring new business opportunities.

Here's a few pics!

Top of The Paint Booth

Connection to Outside Exhaust

Total Project

Articles of Interest

Here are some of the blogs and articles I have found interesting over the last few days. Today was a slower day, so I got some time to catch up on some reading I had missed.

• Cash For Caulkers - Leaky Air Duct Work |  Air Duct Cleaning Blog
• Cash for appliances: More cash in RI, more appliances in CA | Consumer Reports
• JP Morgan Continues Commercial HVAC Optimism |  Wholesale Observations
• Recycling Your Air Conditioning Units | NYC Air Conditioning
• Credit Cards Take From Poor, Give to the Rich | Wall Street Journal
• Apartment Rentals Surge in U.S. on Home Foreclosures, Job Gains | Bloomberg

Duct Tips: Sealing Your Ductwork For Efficiency

Tips for anything are a dime a dozen. This tip is no different, except that it can save that dime over and over again.

If you have an older duct system in your home, chances are the joints of the trunk duct and pipe aren't sealed properly. This can make your heating and cooling systems run less than efficient over the long run. Costing you money.

The good news is that simple things can be done to help the efficiency of your heating and air conditioning system. One of the most important is the previously mentioned, sealing of the duct joints. This is an extremely cost effective way to save on heating cooling costs over time. Plus, it's an easy job for anyone and can be accomplished in a relatively short amount of time.

First, I am providing a PDF link for the recommended best practices when sealing your ductwork. The document provides a great overview of the process and reasons for sealing your heating and air conditioning systems. Pictures accompany much of the descriptions for a better understanding of what is being explained.

Best Practice - Duct Sealing Overview

Now for some visual stimulation. Since I am no video making genius, like many of us I went to youtube and found a simple video to help illustrate my point. Enjoy!

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• Leaking ductwork can require costly repairs (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Want to beat the summer heat? EPA offers cooling tips (content.usatoday.com)

The Week Of The Locusts!

Our fabrication shop has apparently become some sort of breeding ground for insanely sized locusts and maybe bees. I'm no insect expert, both could be locust, I don't know. The first one looks like a bee to me. However, I haven't seen a bee this big and I live upstate in the mountains. All I know is, I feel like I've been disposing of insects more than fabricating sheet metal these days. If this continues I may be in the market for a Geiger counter to check radiation levels.

I don't know if this is a wasp or a locust. All I know is that it's giant.

This one died because a bird attacked it just inside our overhead door

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• Cannibalism could avert locust plague (news.theage.com.au)
• Swarming locusts need larger brains (eurekalert.org)
• Australia faces plague of locusts (windsorstar.com)
• Swarming 'swells' locusts' brains (news.bbc.co.uk)

Local Markets Will Continue To Suffer

Being in the business of heating & air conditioning for residential applications is challenging when the housing market continues to decline. Today's news won't help the situation. New York was not one of the hardest hit housing markets by far and there was news recently that the Glens Falls job situation was improving, if not stable. But that doesn't change the fact that, if the country continues to decline, then the news will focus on problems and that will hurt the confidence of buyers in any market.

When people turn on the evening news in Glens Falls they see that housing is bad, the markets are bad, BP oil spill, you name it. Even if they are in a good place financially, this weighs on there conscience when it comes to buying a new dish washer or putting in a new furnace. This is bad for local business as a whole. Whether your a local restaurant, corner shop or sheet metal fabricator. Micro-businesses like mine and others suffer from the problems of the masses, even if the town is stable financially and employment is good.

The bottom line is that the countries problems aren't getting any better. I follow the markets on a daily basis and things aren't looking great. Is there progress? Some, but not enough to create more jobs and make people optimistic about the future. Even if people in Glens Falls, Queensbury and Saratoga Springs have solid jobs and aren't as bad off as the rest of the country. That doesn't mean they won't hoard every last penny and find ways to save just as much as someone with less. Which means that local businesses will continue to suffer and so will the housing market, job market etc.. If people can't buy a new dishwasher, they're surely not going to be buying or building a new house.

No Break In The Heat Or The Slump

The heat here in the Glens Falls, Queensbury area has been scorching for the last two weeks. Not just dry heat either, it's been humid. Which usually means that our phones ring off the hook with people wanting air conditioning as soon as they can get it. This however has not been the case.

In the past when the heat has been this intense, we would be working what seemed like around the clock. People would call in the morning and want air conditioning by evening. Oh how times have changed. The recession has brought new rules to how the game is played. People are accepting the heat more, keeping there finances more in check(which they should) and maybe buying a window unit at Home Depot for $150. In fact, I heard a story from a colleague the other day about a women buying a few of these same units. She actually had central air conditioning, but it wasn't working. She received a couple of shady quotes and decided to buy three new window units, rather than research someone better to fix her already existing air system. This type of attitude does not bode well for business. She was willing to pay upwards of $500 for supplemental air conditioning instead of paying a reputable service man. She went with the guys working on the side who have basic knowledge, but not full knowledge. You know, the ones who are doing $3000 jobs for $1000. Undercutting guys like us. It makes business very challenging and hard to keep alive.

Heat or no heat, business has changed and so have the customers. I have learned a lot from the last two years of recession. Most of which is not to under appreciate the boom times, like they'll be there forever. Times are still a bit rocky but there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Those same people getting work done for 1/4 of a fair price will be calling when their systems break down from faulty installation. When they call, we'll be ready. Business is business and you have to adapt to everything daily. Now we must make a more concerted effort to search out consistent business. Get our name out there and show that we do a great job, for a great price and we stand behind our work.

Don't forget to check out the new website  
kesheetmetal.com

K & E Sheet Metal Now On Facebook

A slow Monday has persuaded me to start a page on Facebook for the company. With business being slow and Facebook becoming an ever increasing source of networking, I decided to start the page and see what happens. Many businesses are turning to social networking as a way to connect with customers and friends. If we can do the same it can only benefit us. I hope that anyone reading this will look below and "Like" us on Facebook. If Facebook isn't your thing you can follow us on Twitter as well.
K & E Sheet Metal LLC

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