New construction is dead in SW Fla. They had 13 permits opened since new year in my county. During the go go time it was usually over 1000. The guys I know who are working are doing small jobs or maintenance. Things still break and homeowners who realize they are going to be living there a while are fixing them up. My wife's HOA is still doing a fair amount of building and repair. She is happy she can throw some work to her contractor friends.
Those are the kinds of thing you have to pursue. This is when your networking skills pay off. Get together with the other trades you know (plumber, drywall, carpenter etc) and try to offer a simple solution for complex problems. Most people outside of the building business don't have a clue where to start when they have a problem that involves more than one trade.
