Current loss of jobs in architectural field, makes me wonder when the situation will improve? Does anyone have any clues as to when the hiring process will begin? How is the stimulus package affecting the architectural and construction industry?
I have seen the stimulus working around me. The one architecture firm near me that is flat-out right now is busy because of stimulus money and I spoke with a PM at a larger landscape architecture firm last week and they are also busy on stimulus projects. However, I think these are isolated cases and the majority of firms are not seeing stimulus stimulation.
A few of my other architect friends are seeing commercial projects start to move again. High-end residential (where I work) is still flatline.
wait, you want a date certain? if anyone knew, they'd be buying lottery tickets. on that note, let me remind everyone that Powerball is up to 74 million...
Arch08, I believe we're in for a long road to recovery. I was working for a company doing primarily educational work, we were picking up more "stimulus" jobs than any other firm in our area, and thought we were somewhat immune to the slowdown. Unfortunately, those stimulus jobs have been extreamly slow getting on the table. The company has now laid off 50% of its staff (including myself) and nobody knows where the bottom is. Personally, i'll be going back to school to ride it out there.
i've heard the following sentence recently: "flat is the new up"
i think that our industry will face a new reality once this is all over, and i hope it will respond successfully...(that's the scary part)
back to the subject on the thread:
not much sign of stimulus money affecting our industry here yet...we are all watching for signs that a infrastructure heavy A/E firm in our area will get busy...so far nothing...perhaps due to so much of the funds being transferred through the states has added more bureaucracy and time to the process...
in my experience the stimulus money really isn't doing a whole lot to improve growth in the industry. many offices who have lost all of their commercial and residential clients are not trying to compete for the education jobs that previously was not something they would have done. it's pretty depressing seeing 50+ offices compete to get a reroofing and ada improvement project.
all in all, I think were going to be sitting in the bottom of this open grave for a long time praying that someone will just put us out of our misery already.
regarding the "stimulus" most of the good long-term architectural infastructure stuff wasn't really in the bill. mainly because those types of things weren't "shovel-ready". roads were shovel-ready. an architectural stimulus would be a WPA, CCC, TVA style program building the new rail/mass transit/green energy infastructure. no one has even broached that subject. meanwhile private enterprise will continue to be slow because most places there is a glut of almost every type of real estate. and if there isn't then you need financing and the TARP funds went straight to the banksters bottom lines because it didn't contain strings.
my guess would be late 2010 at the earliest. but that is an un-educated guess...
personally, I agree with titalwave1 and don't see much possibility of a strong uptick among the rank-and-file design firms until late 2010, at the earliest -- especially for firms heavily committed to commercial work, which will derive zero direct benefit from the government's stimulus package. I expect the upturn will be spotty and sporadic and protracted.
sorry ... I know that's not what you wanted to hear !
one thing to watch ... there are mid-term elections in late 2010 ... I would not be surprised to see strong efforts by the Federal Government to keep stimulating the economy so positive results are becoming apparent prior to that election. I also would not be surprised to see Republicans in Congress fight tooth-and-nail to prevent that from happening.
I agree with titalwave. LATE 2010 at the very earliest is when things might start really picking back up in architecture. This is the most devastating economic crisis we have ever seen this lifetime. And it only appears to be getting worse.
I work for an architecture magazine and you can get a sense for how the architectural/construction industry is doing but the amount of magazine subscriptions we've been receiving, which is not as many as in the previous years. Also, a lot of firms who have been renewing for 2 years are now splurging only on 1-year subscriptions. You can see that everyone is trying to cut back wherever it is possible - and I personally don't blame them one bit.
Everything sounds scary, so no hiring untill end of 2010..
Also as soon as the jobs show up there will a lot of people claiming for one..it is going to be a tough road ahead.
It's been said that "if the stimulus doesn't work, the taxpayers pay for it. And if the stimulus does work, the taxpayers pay for it." Hard to argue with that.
A lot of the posts here seem to imply a fairly direct link between economic recovery and the stimulus package. I doubt that this framework represents reality.
A stimulus is an temporary and artificial means, and these programs have always had historically poor results.
The work "created" by a stimulus may cause an apparent upswing in the economy, but that upswing typically tapers back down when the stimulus money is used up. So the program forestalls the inevitable for a time, but doesn't really solve anything.
A huge segment of small to medium-sized businesses are made very uneasy by giant-scale government programs. It creates a very tentative, wait-and-see kind of atmosphere because certain parties are handed benefits but not others. The stimulus is already one such program... with healthcare "reform" looming ominously large.
Even if things start picking up in mid 2010, when will growth start to occur that will require new hirings? 2012? 2013? 2014? Could be a while. Enjoy the ride.
I am not aware of any impact of the stimulus in wisconsin to date in AEC.
Jul 22, 09 4:29 pm ·
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Any possibilities of improvement?
Current loss of jobs in architectural field, makes me wonder when the situation will improve? Does anyone have any clues as to when the hiring process will begin? How is the stimulus package affecting the architectural and construction industry?
I have seen the stimulus working around me. The one architecture firm near me that is flat-out right now is busy because of stimulus money and I spoke with a PM at a larger landscape architecture firm last week and they are also busy on stimulus projects. However, I think these are isolated cases and the majority of firms are not seeing stimulus stimulation.
A few of my other architect friends are seeing commercial projects start to move again. High-end residential (where I work) is still flatline.
wait, you want a date certain? if anyone knew, they'd be buying lottery tickets. on that note, let me remind everyone that Powerball is up to 74 million...
thundercats....hooooooooo
Arch08, I believe we're in for a long road to recovery. I was working for a company doing primarily educational work, we were picking up more "stimulus" jobs than any other firm in our area, and thought we were somewhat immune to the slowdown. Unfortunately, those stimulus jobs have been extreamly slow getting on the table. The company has now laid off 50% of its staff (including myself) and nobody knows where the bottom is. Personally, i'll be going back to school to ride it out there.
i've heard the following sentence recently: "flat is the new up"
i think that our industry will face a new reality once this is all over, and i hope it will respond successfully...(that's the scary part)
back to the subject on the thread:
not much sign of stimulus money affecting our industry here yet...we are all watching for signs that a infrastructure heavy A/E firm in our area will get busy...so far nothing...perhaps due to so much of the funds being transferred through the states has added more bureaucracy and time to the process...
in my experience the stimulus money really isn't doing a whole lot to improve growth in the industry. many offices who have lost all of their commercial and residential clients are not trying to compete for the education jobs that previously was not something they would have done. it's pretty depressing seeing 50+ offices compete to get a reroofing and ada improvement project.
all in all, I think were going to be sitting in the bottom of this open grave for a long time praying that someone will just put us out of our misery already.
regarding the "stimulus" most of the good long-term architectural infastructure stuff wasn't really in the bill. mainly because those types of things weren't "shovel-ready". roads were shovel-ready. an architectural stimulus would be a WPA, CCC, TVA style program building the new rail/mass transit/green energy infastructure. no one has even broached that subject. meanwhile private enterprise will continue to be slow because most places there is a glut of almost every type of real estate. and if there isn't then you need financing and the TARP funds went straight to the banksters bottom lines because it didn't contain strings.
my guess would be late 2010 at the earliest. but that is an un-educated guess...
personally, I agree with titalwave1 and don't see much possibility of a strong uptick among the rank-and-file design firms until late 2010, at the earliest -- especially for firms heavily committed to commercial work, which will derive zero direct benefit from the government's stimulus package. I expect the upturn will be spotty and sporadic and protracted.
sorry ... I know that's not what you wanted to hear !
one thing to watch ... there are mid-term elections in late 2010 ... I would not be surprised to see strong efforts by the Federal Government to keep stimulating the economy so positive results are becoming apparent prior to that election. I also would not be surprised to see Republicans in Congress fight tooth-and-nail to prevent that from happening.
I agree with titalwave. LATE 2010 at the very earliest is when things might start really picking back up in architecture. This is the most devastating economic crisis we have ever seen this lifetime. And it only appears to be getting worse.
I work for an architecture magazine and you can get a sense for how the architectural/construction industry is doing but the amount of magazine subscriptions we've been receiving, which is not as many as in the previous years. Also, a lot of firms who have been renewing for 2 years are now splurging only on 1-year subscriptions. You can see that everyone is trying to cut back wherever it is possible - and I personally don't blame them one bit.
Everything sounds scary, so no hiring untill end of 2010..
Also as soon as the jobs show up there will a lot of people claiming for one..it is going to be a tough road ahead.
It's been said that "if the stimulus doesn't work, the taxpayers pay for it. And if the stimulus does work, the taxpayers pay for it." Hard to argue with that.
A lot of the posts here seem to imply a fairly direct link between economic recovery and the stimulus package. I doubt that this framework represents reality.
A stimulus is an temporary and artificial means, and these programs have always had historically poor results.
The work "created" by a stimulus may cause an apparent upswing in the economy, but that upswing typically tapers back down when the stimulus money is used up. So the program forestalls the inevitable for a time, but doesn't really solve anything.
A huge segment of small to medium-sized businesses are made very uneasy by giant-scale government programs. It creates a very tentative, wait-and-see kind of atmosphere because certain parties are handed benefits but not others. The stimulus is already one such program... with healthcare "reform" looming ominously large.
Improvement... not so sure about.
Change... definitely.
construction-materials-prices-jump-in-june1
Commercial construction down 71% in June
Even if things start picking up in mid 2010, when will growth start to occur that will require new hirings? 2012? 2013? 2014? Could be a while. Enjoy the ride.
I am not aware of any impact of the stimulus in wisconsin to date in AEC.
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