economic trends

Pivoting to Renovations
During times of economic strife, many watershapers have kept financial pace by focusing on renovations rather than new construction. Is it time to again start thinking in that direction given current uncertain economic conditions? Industry veteran Brett Lloyd Abbott believes so, and has advice about making a tactical shift in messaging. ...
Turning Down, Tuning Up
We knew it had to happen.  After several years of superheated growth, some sectors of the watershaping market are now slowing down - in some areas, dramatically so. In my travels and through dozens of conversations with watershapers and their suppliers during the past several months, I've been hearing consistently that the volume-oriented, price-driven end of the market has been hit particularly hard - off somewhere between 30 and 60 percent in some areas. That's a big number no matter which end of the spectrum is closer to the truth.  It represents an enormous change from the extreme demand that most all of us were experiencing just a year ago.  So now, a great many firms that were
Turning Down, Tuning Up
We knew it had to happen.  After several years of superheated growth, some sectors of the watershaping market are now slowing down - in some areas, dramatically so. In my travels and through dozens of conversations with watershapers and their suppliers during the past several months, I've been hearing consistently that the volume-oriented, price-driven end of the market has been hit particularly hard - off somewhere between 30 and 60 percent in some areas. That's a big number no matter which end of the spectrum is closer to the truth.  It represents an enormous change from the extreme demand that most all of us were experiencing just a year ago.  So now, a great many firms that were