It's more than an economic downturn that plagues PHC service companies.
Business has taken a steep turn south in recent months for many of my friends around the country, as well as our own firm. Every time I ask, "How's business?" the answer seems to range from not very good to downright awful. I heard a report about one of the biggest single-location PHC service firms in the country starting out a day with 14 service calls on the dispatch board compared to its normal 40-50. Contractors in the HVAC business keep praying for either very hot or very cold weather to boost their fortunes, and neither seems to be coming our way.
The natural reaction is to blame the recession for this situation, but that's only part of the reason. I've lived through several recessions during my business career, and don't recall being hurt nearly as much in the past as now. I made it a point to do some research on this and have come to the conclusion that the downturn has more to do with the emergence of the big home centers and other sources of cut-rate services, such as the "Penny Saver" classifieds, than anything else.