I work for a large builders merchant and within the last week we have been running about like flies with blue rear ends very very busy.
There doesnt seem to b e many houses being built but theres plenty of little jobs, extensions etc being done.
Anyone busy in other sectors?.
We’re busy, just started another new run this week, to Belfast, which is the second to start in the last couple of months. We don’t have enough drivers in our department to cover the work now but there is a freeze on recruitment so the agency are going to be busy and a few more of the agency lads are going to have to dust off their passports.
naw,dhl estimate freight to drop by 30% for the next 2-3 months,which is proving to be the case at mossend.suits me 
I largely distribute concrete lintels from the manufacturer to large builders merchants- the blue one and the green and yellow one- and every branch I go to has laid staff off.
Of the three manufacturing sheds, two have been mothballed and we aren’t expecting that to change this year. Individual merchants may have a busy week from time to time but generally, the whole construction industry is on its knees.
We(Hanson) seem to be fairly busy…As has been said the small builders are still building and there is alot of social housing being built especially in London.
Lets not forget that this is the quiet time of year…and we are in a recession. B&Q and wickes are fairly busy.
We MUST get the housing market moving again to get us all out of the ■■■, thats what got us in and thats what will get us out!!!
If we say that we are ALL flat out, do you think that might make the people buy stuff?(ie give people confidence in the future) Then we might get out of this mess…maybe not 
where I work (HDNL), parcels seem to be dropping.
I’ve been doing the same route for about 2 years now and ALWAYS had more parcels than I could handle, but lately, I’ve not had my target
The plant hire is not in a good way as you’d expect with companies folding or reducing their operations left, right and centre.
I’m pleased to report that although we are having ups and downs, we are ticking along OK. Transport wise I’m fairly busy, certainly not looking at the wage slip wondering where the overtime is.
its been a quiet couple of weeks but freightliner have a couple of new contracts which are starting to pick up.
Still ticking away on the trolley dollies for the time being. Probably one of the safer places to be at the moment, given the current climate. Although you never know what’s round the corner do you !!
The plumbers merchants are quieter than last year but still ticking over which means I’ve still got a job supplying them. New build side of things is stone cold dead but a very small percentage of our business relies on it, so the drop hasn’t been significant.
The real crunch is getting the monies in, its sent one or two of our customers into bankruptcy but our company seems to have a very very tight leash on this, I think now is the time for keeping on top of your debtors, we’re transaxing cheques at the drop 
, can be embarrasing at times but necessary.
work picking up at my place, always slow jan/feb from but from march onwards we normally gearing up to running at full capacity again and trucks going out full and coming back even fuller. Plus over the last 3 months we have picked up well over 50 near customers, people still getting married and staying in hotels etc etc, keeps me out of trouble anyway. 
TM rung me yesterday morning asking if i wanted a run out that afternoon, was on last day of my holiday. so took missus with me - cant turn down O/T nowadays.
The printing industry seems ok, we are nearly always going out with a good load of paper on our lorries
After letting some drivers go in the past few weeks, we now have more work than drivers to do it, lets hope it stays like this and we can get some of the lads back.
our place has gone a bit busier on the general haulage side, the steel side is totally dead and several drivers have been paid off and their units are up for sale
and the factory removals/hiab side is so busy its unreal, they are talking about getting another one in and sticking me on it full time 
Were very busy,have just taken on 3 full time drivers to cut down on agency lads but we have had 7 agency drivers in every day so far this week and today one lucky soul has been running backwards and forwards to hill hire milton keynes hiring in 7 fridge trailers so we must be getting busy as they wont get extra kit unless its the last resort
Coffeeholic:
We’re busy, just started another new run this week, to Belfast, which is the second to start in the last couple of months. We don’t have enough drivers in our department to cover the work now but there is a freeze on recruitment so the agency are going to be busy and a few more of the agency lads are going to have to dust off their passports.
Passports for Belfast??
TC
It would seem we have more than we can handle. I lost my Mate today. As of tomorrow he is a 7.5 tonner driver and I get one of the lads from the yard!
They are putting 2 more 7.5 tonners and two more 18 tonners on next week and talking about replacing mine with something a bit bigger!! A new artic unit and driver started today also and there is talk of 2 or 3 more! Has the price of rubber skyrocketed or something 
I am running just about max hours every day! Just hope it continues…
Silly season on animal feeds till the end of April but that’s fairly normal. Our mill’s getting busier though as we’re doing more and more blended feeds. Not complaining, it keeps me off the dole!
we’re also very busy on animal feeds and on the porridge oats , bth raw oats in and finished cereals out.
Usual fo this time of year though and the cold snap has really helped, just hope we can keep it going all year
i run toolhire for one of the big merchants (blue) and i have a had really good jan and feb is on target to do the same ,small builders seem to be busy and more in the pipe line.
i think it depends where you live ,but what there is we are having fight to get 