workforce (Colorado Springs, Fort Carson: sales, foreclosures, mortgage)

[Margart]

My husband has been a carpenter for many years and has much experience in building in the States and abroad. We would
like to know if there is any building going on in Colorado Springs. We
took a trip there a year ago and just fell in love with the area. Thanks
for all info, fans of Colorado, Margart

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by Margart

My husband has been a carpenter for many years and has much experience in building in the States and abroad. We would like to know if there is any building going on in Colorado Springs. We took a trip there a year ago and just fell in love with the area. Thanks for all info, fans of Colorado, Margart

Homebuilding is way down here, as in most places. However, there is some work being done here, and Fort Carson is in the midst of a multi-billion dollar expansion that won't be done until 2012 or thereabouts.

It will be a lot easier if he can come out here alone, find work, then bring the rest of the family. If it's just the two of you, with no home to sell on your current end, and enough cash to get you by a couple of months, then you might just risk it and come on out.

[FunBunch7]

I'm in the mortgage industry and one thing I have done is "move with the times". When the prices peeked I did refinances...now that there are a ton of foreclosures, I do purchases.

Have your husband make some inroads with some top producing Realtors...when they get someone in a house that needs ALOT of work, the Realtor will recommend your husband for the job. If you have a network of say 8-10 Realtors, that should keep him plenty busy.

I have a "handy-man" that used to do major jobs for Builders but here in Phoenix the building has slowed BIG TIME. I personally recomened him to 4-5 clients per month...not to mention the action he has with his Realtors.

I'll be moving to COS June 1st.

[reginhild]

When housing sales are down there is usually a rise in home improvements - has your husband done contract work doing home improvements for individuals?

[Margart]

Originally Posted by reginhild

When housing sales are down there is usually a rise in home improvements - has your husband done contract work doing home improvements for individuals?

My husband is an amazing carpenter. He remodels and builds from bottom
to top and can do every stage of housebuilding..makes cabinets..he´s got
tremendous talent. I´m an American citizen and he is Icelandic ,,he has a greencard and with the world recession going on it´s very difficult in the
country that we reside in as of now. We own our own home but at this time it´s difficult to sell...maybe rent. We are checking out what is best
for us..thanks for your help, I appreciate it very much..Margart

[reginhild]

There was a huge amount of homebuilding going on in Colorado Springs before the housing downturn. The massive projects of new homes seem to have come to a standstill. Because we had very large housing growth and now little, I expect there are a lot of people competing for few jobs in this area currently. Seems like the time to look at new options to be competitive instead of trying to seek work where everyone else is seeking work. With the carpentry, I have not seen a person at one of the home shows here who is specifically a carpenter. There seems to be lots of "all purpose" or general contractors that show up at the shows and say they can do your whole basement etc... I think more homeowners will likely start contracting out all the specific jobs instead of going with general contractors to do the subcontracting.

Maybe come up and visit the homeshow or the home & garden show or one of those and see if there will be any competition if you arrange for a booth. ...as I said, I have not seen anyone advertising just for carpentry at the homeshows in the past.