This year must be a record for us for jobs in limbo. It's so frustrating to have to wait for this or that to begin a job. Even little jobs are getting that way. We've got some jobs that are hung up getting variances on permits or waiting to be reviewed by municipal committees.
We've got a state job that has been pending for a couple weeks until various agencies have time to review them. I swear even the smallest job has a customer wanting a sketch. I'm about ready to snap. Chill pills no longer have effect.
I'm tempted to hang a sign on the office entry door:
For Fast Service, decision must be made within 10 minutes, no sketches, no committes -- just place the order, pay in advance and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out ... Congratulations -- your job has just made it to the beginning of our to do list. Thank you and have a good day!
Do others share in this struggle or am I just getting too old and crotchety. Here I am surrounded by all this technical crap, and making a sign should be easier, but instead its harder. What's with it? What happened to simplicity? Take me back to the days when I kept my jobs clothes pinned to a rope and to the days when customers just dropped things off and said they'd wait for my call.
Posted by Eric Houser (Member # 4461) on :
All of the above plus waiting up to 60 days to get paid sometimes AFTER the job is done!
Eric
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Bill, I think I have the world record for job being in limbo.
This is the timeline....
Jan 2005... the lease manager for the local office of a national leasing company e-mailed me in Mexico to let me know that 6 trucks were going to be rotated for a large business in the city. They would be ready for mid March. Cool!!!
Mar. 2005... I bought 100 yards of vinyl for the job. Never heard another word until.
Sept. 2005... I got the call that the first 2 trucks were ready for lettering and the rest would be in in October. I lettered the first two trucks near the end of September. Never heard another word until.
August 2006... I got an e-mail 2 weeks ago stating that the last four trucks were in and would be ready for lettering within a week.
I still haven't seen the final 4 trucks.
So far it is 19+ months since the first contact on this project.
GOTTA be some kind of record???
[ August 17, 2006, 02:57 PM: Message edited by: Dave Grundy ]
Posted by Dusty Campbell (Member # 4601) on :
I've got a ton of jobs in limbo. But being a one man show, I'm still slammed. I think most people are putting their money in their gas tanks. Thanks Exxon.
Approvals seem to come in bursts. Maybe they all meet on the second Tuesday of the month or something.
I figure it won't be long until other industries start putting pressure on the oil companies to quit reaping their record profits. Or on the other hand, maybe once they have ALL the money they'll be happy.
If this is considered political, let me know and I'll delete it.
Posted by David Wright (Member # 111) on :
How can you put this on the oil companies Dusty? I suppose all our problems can be tied to them somehow if you try hard enough.
And yes Bill it is getting tougher especially with municipalities piling on the regulations.
Posted by Jeff Ogden (Member # 3184) on :
Yes Bill, I get timelines dragged out too. It sure messes up trying to plan ahead. What's gonna happen, you know, is they're all going to come in at once. It happens every time !
Posted by Dusty Campbell (Member # 4601) on :
When I talk to clients on a very real level and they tell me they can't afford it yet because people aren't spending as much in their stores and they're spending so much more for gas, I just figure they're telling the truth.
I know I'm not spending as much in stores, and I eat in alot more than I used to but I'm spending much more at the pump, it seems to make sense to me.
Posted by Bobbie Rochow (Member # 3341) on :
I have jobs in limbo, too. Too bad it took so much work to get the layouts done.
I also have a 5' tall iron rooster primered & ready to paint on a trailer in my driveway!
Posted by Bill Diaz (Member # 2549) on :
Maybe that's it -- when I was by myself, I ignored the limbo stuff, but with others around relying on me, I'm scrambling more to get things lined up. Now I'm more aware of the limbo stuff and it sucks, but as a society we have more selections and people are throwing everything into committees all the time to hash things over.
Man, you can hash things out until you're blue in the face, but hopefully not on my dime. I hate when people pick your brain and take their sweet time doing it and take it into committee and wonder, and wonder and wonder.
My next t-shirt is going to have "What If" in huge letters on the back with a bunch of funny customer replies I'm hearing lately. It should be a big seller at letterhead gatherings. I'll have to put the design into committee first I suppose to see what everybody thinks ............................................................NOT!!!
Posted by Jill Marie Welsh (Member # 1912) on :
Oh man I hear ya. When Stevo was here in April we bid on a job. Just got the go-ahead Tuesday. I won't start till they cut their check on the 1st of September. A government jobsite sign...deposited on, materials bought...waiting for the final proof approval. A window lettering job, design supplied by the marketing firm in a format too new for me to open...I did email them about this last week. A $1900 job I completed the first week of June for a 30-day-net company... Got paid last week! love....jill PS But at least they all are future jobs!
Posted by Ken Henry (Member # 598) on :
Here's a theory to consider regarding jobs in limbo:
Technology has speeded things up. The bybroduct of all that speed is "more free time". This means that bureaucrats, committee people, regulators, and even decision-makers have more free time than ever to ponder and overthink projects. They must do so to justify their jobs and positions, or face the alternative of doing more work and becoming more productive. Some do exactly that, and they're the ones who fast-track into the higher positions. Unfortunately,we get to deal with these types less frequently, as they rise to positions where they delegate the smaller decisions to those who continue to occupy the positions that we collectively deal with on a day-to-day basis.The bureaucracy is maintained, and preserved, but has more "free time" with which to make everyone's life more difficult by making even more senseless regulations.
Then again, there's always the "summer vacation period" that often brings things to a screetching halt. Paperwork will often sit on the vacationer's desk for a 2-week duration, and nobody else will accept the responsibility of approving anything on that desk untill they return.
[ August 17, 2006, 05:54 PM: Message edited by: Ken Henry ]
Posted by jack wills (Member # 521) on :
Call Joey, dial #1 for herbs.
Jack
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
Today, a customer signed the contract on a rush job from March.
Posted by Brent Logan (Member # 6587) on :
Preachin' to the choir. I haven't done one damn job in the past 2 years that didn't require a sales sketch done on the computer and emailed as a PDF. 20 yrs ago you could get by with a thumbnail sketch on a cocktail napkin.
Posted by Joey Madden (Member # 1192) on :
well Bill, bet ya didn't have those problems when you just did 100% pinstriping and lettering on vehicles Posted by Ray Rheaume (Member # 3794) on :
Have home for two weeks and already have 4 jobs in limbo. Not the best way to earn a living, so today I'll call some of the involved parties and do a little friendly butt whoopin' to get things moving again.
The one thing I have never liked is when someone says "I need" and slowly (if ever) commits to doing anything. I no longer get my hopes up on what people say they need. I focus on what they order. Rapid
Posted by Rick Beisiegel (Member # 3723) on :
Got you beat, Dave. I installed a second story window graphics package at the local university in 2003.
Before the actual installation, he handed me my original quote fax stamped June 1997. He said, "you may want to update this price" The delay? Committees! Oh well.
Posted by Don Hulsey (Member # 128) on :
I think I might have you beat too Rick.
I received a PO on a wall sign 2 weeks ago. I "kinda" remembered figuring the quote. I look through the files for a while, and there it is, dated July 15, 1999. I called the customer to inform them of the price increase over the past 7 years. The reply was, "Discard that PO. We will have to think about it, and get back to you." Still no new PO.
I did inform them that the new price is only good for 30 days, and if they wait another 7 years, it will probably go up again.
Posted by Kissymatina (Member # 2028) on :
Hahahaha Don. Are they really that stupid or oblivious to think the price hasn't changed in 7 years? That's the best joke I've heard all day.
Posted by Bill Diaz (Member # 2549) on :
You're right, Joey.
I'm re-thinking some of the little pain in the ass projects that will never make me famous as now necessary to pay the damn bills. Yesterday a guy came in to have some stickers put on a bug shield. Although I hate that kind of project. He's ready, so therefore, I'm ready. He moves to the front, and the committee guy's work order moves to the back where it belongs -- tucked in under a rug, behind the trash barrel, smothered with turpentine.
You may have noticed, I'm anti-committee wondering, reviewing, fact finding consortiums. I aim to punish them. They are the cockroaches of our industry. If you see one, you know there's a couple hundred scrambing behind close doors, reaking havoc at our expense. I say arm yourselves and beware -- look the enemy in the eye and let him have it. Defend thyself before it's too late!!!!!
Posted by Dusty Campbell (Member # 4601) on :
Ugh, I have to do a proposal for a committee that's meeting next Tuesday. A monument sign that my contact said he wanted "As many options as they could have". They're getting one.
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
After a slow summer and literally MILLIONS of dollars of jobs in limbo I'm a little frustrated too here in Yarrow. In my case its on account of PARTNERS... which is pretty much the same as committees in my book. One job has been in limbo for 8 months after they HAD to have a very expensive and detailed proposal in only 8 days. We were paid for that... and then the job was immediately approved pending a final start date...
I just KNOW they will all say yes on the same day... take a number please!
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