I own a hair salon. Typically, November is my busiest season. It has been SO quiet. A lot of my colleagues are also saying the same thing and have had to close up shop because of it - or get a second job.
People keep saying it will get better and the economy will bounce back but I don’t know. I am so close from just throwing in the towel, closing up shop and getting a corporate gig.
Actually when a contract is involved, people typically like that better so they have a legal document. I’m in Lynchburg, and everyone around here does so much on handshakes, which I’ll do for other contractors that I know and I’ve worked with for years, but anyone unfamiliar I’m writing a contract every time. But it helps when the customer already knows what they want and the price is close to what they expect. But all in all I don’t think it’s changed much from what I can tell, except homeowners are more cautious bc it seems the “fly by nights” and sketchy guys were so abundant for a while that people are afraid they could get screwed.