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Technology Stocks : Discuss Year 2000 Issues -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (6682)	7/18/1999 12:40:00 AM
From: Ken	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9818

< Construction Industry Is As Good as Gone: Way Behind, Supply Bottlenecks senate.gov Perhaps construction will become the first industry to become burnt toast-- which would have the honor for second? Utilities? S.W.I.F.T.? International commerce? Maritime shipping? Refining? Fractional banking? Fiat money? US superpower status? Travel? You pick it....there are probably a LOT of unwitting contenders awaiting the honor!! <<The Gartner Group's third graph reveals that the construction industry is floating face down in the water: the furthest behind of any industry. It is so far behind that it cannot possibly get compliant. I received this letter on July 17. This lady has the picture. For the record: I never go to Sam's Club without buying three rolls of duct tape. Next on my list: PVC pipe. * * * * * * * * * * * I have not seen any commentary on the effects of y2k on the construction industry. Here is a currently "booming" industry of hundreds of thousands of blue collar types which, in my opinion, is destined to collapse no matter what the severity of or duration of the bug bite. I work in electrical contracting as an office administrator. It's a small company - we will do about 3 million in sales this year. I have had the sole responsibility of dealing with y2k compliance internally. However, trying to get definitive statements from our various vendors and their suppliers has been a joke. The supply chain for construction is incredibly complex. Few realize this or care (I don't blame them.) When commentators discuss the 20,000 suppliers etc for a particular automobile manufacturers it sounds very impressive. What about the supply chain for the materials it takes to build an elementary school, a bridge, or just a single family residence? We're talking about concrete, steel, aluminum, lumber, hardware, plastics, copper, glass, ceramics, asphalt, fibers of all varieties, appliances of all varieties. It's the construction industry that keeps these businesses growing, not the one-z two-z purchases by a homeowner at Home Depot. In the electrical business, we are generally the "last" to install our part of the job in any particular phase of work, i.e., the rough-in electrical goes in after the framing is done, the plumbing is done, and the heating & a/c people are finished. - right before the sheetrock goes up and the walls are covered.) So we are very aware of how one material order going wrong, shipped to the wrong place, or backordered 5 weeks can put the whammy on finishing a job. No materials - no worky. Labor gets disgruntled and goes where there IS something to do. Well, maybe no one cares about construction. Individual self-sufficiency is certainly the best contingency plan. However, there are so many workers connected to the construction industry, and these people and this industry are at a high risk for bankruptcy. Are you still wondering, what is this woman's point? My point is: this is an industry that is a "sleeper". It's made up of mostly high school graduates (if that) who passed a test and now run a business that employs lots and lots of people, has a supply chain that goes to China and back, and spends a lot of money in local economies. Go to any town anywhere and tell me there isn't some new building going on. This industry is ill prepared for Y2K and will certainly collapse, taking everyone connected to it down with it. Add nails, romex wire, 2x4's, pvc pipe and glue, duct tape, and a book on how to use all of it to your list of things to store.