Archive for November, 2009

Florida Economic Forecasts for 2010-2013

Posted in News on November 12th, 2009 by Mario Espineira – Be the first to comment

Since we are all wondering were this crazy economy is going I thought I would share the below with you.

The University of Central Florida provides a comprehensive, quarterly forecast of the Florida economy and 12 metropolitan areas including: Pensacola, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, Gainesville, Ocala, Deltona-Daytona Beach, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Lakeland, Orlando-Kissimmee, Palm Bay-Melbourne, Naples-Marco Island, and Miami-Fort Lauderdale.

Excerpts from the report include:

Florida’s housing construction sector finally bottoms out deeper than many expected in 2009, falling to an annual rate of roughly 25,000 housing starts. Housing starts will climb over the next several years. In 2013, housing starts will recover to 2001 levels, rising gradually to 170,000 starts.

Sales of existing homes have shown strength in recent months as the 12-month moving average of sales has been on the rise since August 2008. However, prices are still struggling to find a bottom, and until this occurs, we will still have instability in the housing sector.

To view UCF’s Florida and Metro Forecast for 2010 – 2013, click on this link today. Pay particular attention to summary tables on pages 12 through 17.

The Florida Economic Estimating Conference met in July of 2009 to revise forecast for the state’s economy. As further updated by the Legislative Office Economic and Demographic Research, the latest forecast reveals an economy still burdened in the short run by national and state fiscal shocks, but showing underlying resilience in the longer-term. Population growth – while at an historic low – continues to be the state’s primary engine of economic growth, fueling future employment and income growth. All comments are directed towards the immediate planning horizon extending through Fiscal Year 2012-13.

To view the 2009 Executive Summary, click on this link today.

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“There is only one boss; The Customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”
- Sam Walton

Where Has Customer Service Gone To???

Posted in News on November 2nd, 2009 by Mario Espineira – Be the first to comment

Every day, the employees, managers and owners of Deco Truss huddle to re-affirm the #1 concept / rule at Deco Truss – Customer Service. Our culture is simply that the customer is everyone’s BOSS here, and that without the customers we have no jobs, no business. This concept in so in-grained in our culture, that we hear weekly comments from the team staff about their personal experiences when they are out shopping. So last week, when I had my own experience, it made me wonder, when did it become OK to forget about the customer?

Here’s My Experience:

Last week I had to go to IKEA to help out an export client with a $7,000 order. In today’s business environment, you would think that any business that is about to get an order of $7,000 would jump and help you, expedite this order, however contrary to this; my experience with the IKEA Business’s Philosophy / Customer Service was very different.

From the moment I walked in with a printed list from their web site, which included all the items with SKU #, I was sent away, from every staff member I spoke to, which included mangers. I could not pay any price for their help, simply stated by all their employee’s “You must do everything yourself here, that is why we can provided such low prices”, in other words; They just stock the store and take your money at the end, there was no help not even with the larger items like furniture, it’s shop at your own risk, here at IKEA.

Now the above may sound easy for most people, without seeing the store or the amount of items they stock, which have confusing Swedish Names, which after awhile (6 Hours of Total Shopping) all look the same.

This experience made me re-think our customer service and shopping experience in this country. At what point or at what price did it become OK, by consumers to stop demanding customer service. Even at most stores now, you even charge yourself “Self Check-Out” and no one even verifies the credit card you are using is actually yours. The “DYI -Do It Yourself” Concept has taken on a new meaning in The United States, I wonder how long before The Medical Industry follows this concept. While all business are trying to find ways to cut cost, it is our belief at Deco Truss, that no matter how much it cost us, we will never sacrifice Customer Service. We are “Old Fashion” we still believe in this traditional concept and we believe there are customers who still want Customer Service.

Come in and give us the Deco Truss Customer Service Test.  Whatever your experience, we want to hear from you.

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