End of a long year
When I was a kid and my dad wanted me to clean my room, I’d say, I will, and he would say, Yeah, when? In 2010? This was around 1962…
When I was a kid and my dad wanted me to clean my room, I'd say, I will, and he would say, Yeah, when? In 2010?
This was around 1962 and at that time 2010 seemed like at least a couple of lifetimes away. Now here it is, almost history. I have to say that for me, 2010 has been pretty much the worst business year I have known.
1995 was looking to get the honor but in the middle of that recession there was a huge fire in the Oakland hills that took out over 1,500 homes. It was a horrible experience for those who lived there but it did provide a lot of work once they set about rebuilding. There was another fire that provided work for me when the Tomales Bay fire came through Inverness and took out a house we had just finished after almost a year's work. The owners decided to rebuild that one, too, so we got another year's work out of it.
This time there have been no such windfalls. Not that I would wish that kind of misfortune on anyone! But there has simply been little to no activity around here for several years.
Our new governor is said to be packing a machete with which he plans to attack California's overblown budget with a vengeance. We are anticipating more cuts in the government workforce and the university system and that is going to mean less money floating around for building and remodeling. So it is looking like another year of small projects and repair jobs that always seem to pop up just around the time the shop rent is due.
But Christmas is coming and the family is all doing well so I think I'll just put off worrying about jobs for a week or two
D.D.
David DeCristoforo possesses an extensive resume as designer/maker of fine furniture, high-end cabinetry and architectural woodwork. His experience in professional woodworking spans a period of 35 years. For the past 20 years David DeCristoforo Design has been located in Woodland, California. During this time David's shop has ranged in scope from a "full on" cabinet production shop with as many as 15 employees to a small fine furniture and custom millwork shop, working with his son, David RBJ, a highly skilled maker in his own right.