It looks like things are finally starting to pick up here. We’re getting more calls, more prospects. We still have remodel work, but a lot of the calls are for new construction. That’s a good thing.
Most of the work is residential, but a fair amount is commercial. A lot of times it’s small jobs — hotels, motels and some apartment complexes looking for renovations and new construction.
For several years, we had seen very, very little new commercial work, especially motels and hotels. They just weren’t building. Now all of a sudden they’re starting to build some. A lot of these jobs are coming from out-of-town companies building here, so it isn’t necessarily local money.
Residential is still much stronger versus commercial, but still it’s encouraging that they’re letting go of their money and starting to do something. That gives us some hope.
On the residential side, the upper end is starting to pick up, and the reason is that they can buy a lot for a song. A $1.3 million lot now can be purchased for $600,000, so that obviously makes it much more affordable to put a $1 million or $2 million house on it. We keep in touch with the high-end architects, and they now are starting to get busier.
We still have not seen production housing pick up much yet in Tucson. That obviously is the bread and butter for some of the lower-end pool companies.
