Contractors battle tougher competition - Business First of Columbus:

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During more stable economic times, Golka woulds see a handful of rival electricians bidding for work oncommercial Now, the owner of in Mesa said he is competing with 25 to 40 othere to do electrical work at churchesx and small businesses. Rike, CEO of in is accustomed to seeing three or four rivaol bids forconstruction projects. Now, he’sa seeing as many as 15 other firms biddingvagainst him. He’s also seeing large development and general contractors bidding on smaller work becauss of thedown economy. “The big, big guys are dabbling in the smalo stuff,” said Rike, adding large players are biddingt against him fora $100,000 construction project at a Valleuy hospital.
The heavy competition is a direct result of the statew and national recession and cuts across the construction andservicew sectors. The economy has led to less businesss andconsumer activity, which means more companiex are chasing fewer leads and projects. Rike said the scenariio of more businesses chasing fewer customers has playesd out inpast downturns, but this recession is more Architects are seeing a similar “It’s scary intense. We’re seeing anywhere from 30 to 40 architecturew firms submitting on thesame project,” said Stephanie business development manager in the Phoenix office of , a Detroit-basesd architecture firm.
“The work is limited rightg now, so everybody is going after the same project s on the publicside — from higher education to municipal projects.” Cathy Collins, CEO of QwikBids.com, a Scottsdale firm that links consumers with service contractors, said the increased competitionm stems in part from contractors that previouslyy relied on commercial work and housin starts. Now, they are trying to stay afloat by doing repairs and remodeling for she said.
The $787 billion federal stimulus program has been slow to move money from Washingtoninto shovel-read projects, and commercial- and housing-related contractors say for the most part they aren’yt reaping benefits from the government Mark Giebelhaus, president of in said his company specializes in plumbing work for apartmentse and hotels, but he doesn’t expect anything from the stimulus. He said the bigger challengew for his firm is an increasein out-of-state contractorx and subcontractors competing for work in the Valley. The lingeringv credit crunch also is holdingup projects, drying up the alreadyy arid pipeline of work for contractors.
“Financing is almost impossible to obtaimn fornew projects. Severaol of our clients have projects readyto go, but cannor get financing,” Giebelhaus said. The scramblwe for work is pronounced in the real estatee andconstruction sector, which ramped up during the recent boom and fell hard with the housing Service firms also are seeing more competition as rivalzs wrestle for work. Samantha Voth, co-owner of Festivity Catering Eventsin Scottsdale, said businesss clients have been cutting back on catere lunches, meetings and and surviving caterers sometimes chase one another’as customers. “Customers usually say they are gettinbgother bids,” Voth said.
As in the constructiojn sector, she said, smaller catering companies are facing competition fromlargert outfits. “It is still prett y competitiveout there. However, a lot of the smallerd companies are going outof business,” she Caliber Construction: Golka Electric: Festivity Catering: