Hard Times For Brickies!

The Recession officially came into being last week and as if we needed telling the general public are tightening their belts and cutting back on everything but essentials, so the poor old bricklayer is once again sidelined and finding it hard to get enough work to survive. When I logged into Mybuilder.co.uk it was brought home to me how much competition there is now for work and for some of the jobs posted there, there were about 30 tradesmen tendering, as compared to 3 or 4 this time last year.. A lot of younger married brickies with big mortgages are going into steadier jobs(if they`re lucky) with the old reliables such as London Transport and British Rail hoping to ride out the recession and return to the building sites again when times are better. So how can we increase our chances of getting work?



1..Use the internet to your advantage by putting up a simple website and optimizing it
for the search engines. This is not as complicated as it sounds and will be of enormous help
to you in the coming months and years ahead.

2. Be very professional in all your dealings with customers and always turn up on time.

3. Again remember to use all the free advertising on the internet to get your message out there
All it takes is a little time and patience.

4. If you have any qualifications such as City and Guilds etc make sure it is firmly stated on
your website.This tends to inspire confidence in you as a tradesman.

5.Ring up your local newspaper and haggle with them for a rock bottom price on your advertising or any special deals they might have. Get friendly with them and you will save a fortune.

Remember even in recessions there will still be work for people who are willing to up their game and put some extra work into marketing themselves.It will mean going outside your comfort zone but the rewards will be well worth it.
While these simple steps will not guarantee that you will become a millionaire while everyone else goes under it may just dramatically increase your chances of getting steady work in these difficult times.