Recession Hits Lower Mainland Paint Industry Two Years Later

When the recession hit in 2008 and construction ground to halt, the architects, engineers and “first in” trades felt the hit. Many firms downsized and some closed up shop entirely. The city resembled a ground hog infested field with giant dormant holes scattered throughout.

The finishing trades were lucky. Construction projects nearing completion continued and that meant that the dry-wallers, painters and flooring trades had a couple more years of work.

Well, its 2011 and past projects are now complete. While the engineers, excavators and steel firms are getting busy; the finishing guys are twiddling their thumbs waiting for the buildings to go up.

What does they mean for a company like Wolfgang whom focuses on re-painting buildings? The new construction paint firms have flooded the re-paint market. There is excess capacity in the market and no increased need for paint jobs. Classic supply and demand: supply goes up, demand stays flat or drops and prices follow suit. In other words, the bottom has fallen out of the market.

So we are going to have a couple of lean years until some new buildings go up and the new construction guys re-enter the market that they know best. Lean years are in business ok. A tight market forces better systems, tighter overhead, fine tuned strategy and outside the box thinking. Not to mention, some weaker players leave the market all together.

Of course all this is good news for the consumer. Excess supply is always good for the end user. If you are looking to have your building painted at a deep discount, now is the time. You are going to pay at least twenty percent below market price. 2011 is probably the best time in the past ten years to have your building re-painted.