Saturday, March 21, 2015

Slow Saturday Special: Snowing on the First Day of Spring

It's a real hard lesson, reading this trash over and over:

"On this day, the one calendars claim as the first of spring, there was only more of the same: falling snow."

And it is still falling as I type this, causing me much consternation before I even open the pos Bo$ton Globe.

"Contractors overwhelmed as winter repairs fuel demand" by Dan Adams, Globe Correspondent  March 21, 2015

Unsurprisingly, spending on remodeling dropped sharply during the recent recession. 

That's odd. I've been told the exact opposite (see jwho they used as an example) by the Bo$ton Globe's bu$ine$$ pages for years now. What's with the mixed me$$ages (what some would call lies)? 

As household budgets shrank, granite countertops and spruced-up bathrooms weren’t exactly a priority. Lately, though, the housing and rental markets have surged back and with them, a spike in improvements. Retiring baby-boomers are prepping their homes for sale, landlords are upgrading their properties, and homeowners are getting around to maintenance they deferred during the lean years.

The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies has said home improvement spending jumped nearly eight percent in 2014, and a recent study predicted 2015 will be another banner year for remodels.

RelatedHome remodeling spending to drop slightly in first half of 2015

But you know.... 

But the severe winter put much of that work on hold, according to Abbe Will, a research analyst who cowrote the report.

Aaaaah! That bad winter does come in handy as an excuse sometime as the $tatu$ quo $ystem rolls along and advances.

***********************

Ernst, Negron, and other contractors were careful not to gloat about all the business they’re getting, especially since the source of their windfall is the misery of their customers. And besides, there are downsides to the unexpected rush.

Sigh

“We make money shoveling snow and removing ice dams, but it’s not the kind of money we want to be making,” Negron said, but a homeowner in crisis can be an opportunity for a contracting business to prove it cares. Twenty years later, Ernst still has clients he won over during the brutal winter of 1995-1996, when he was trying to launch his company.

“Showing up when someone really needs help is an audition of sorts,” he said. “People are grateful when you come through, and they remember that they can count on you.”

They also remember how many times someone has lied to them -- until it becomes too many, like an agenda-pu$hing, war-promoting new$paper.

--more--"

Yeah, that's them!

At lea$t "this spring promises to be a boon for contractors."

And now the Globe claims Cohen(!) saw it coming

Why isn't he considered a global-warming denying kook like the other guy?