A banking crisis and your business

By now, you’ve heard about the collapse of Silicone Valley Bank. The biggest bank failure in 15 years.

Sure, it seems like there’s still a bit of distance between ‘us’ and Silicone Valley’s bank.

However, many of us still remember the banking crisis in 2008. Where one far away bank falls and we are assured that everything is “under control.”

Then a few months later we are in the most crippling economic event of our lifetimes.

This time is different

This time is going to be a bit different for us in the building trades.

Fifteen years ago, it was more than just bank failures. The very biggest banks were at risk of collapse. The entire system was on the brink.

Whereas, this time the biggest banks are fine.

Further, the trades were diluted with an abundance of people thinking they could make money in construction.

Frankly, we needed a big crisis to clean out the workforce. The housing collapse was exactly that.

This time around the tech world is at the center of things. They are going through an unwelcome yet needed upheaval.

That doesn’t mean that we will go unscathed this time around. However, this time we’re not at the epicenter.

Money and credit will likely tighten a bit. It’s going to be more difficult to get a loan.

Additionally, many of our customers have made their money in technology.

They’ve had a pretty easy go of things until now but expect them to tighten their belts when it comes to big spending on things like remodels.

We may see some work shortages and money may get a little tight at times.

But we’ll come out just fine on the other side and hopefully we’ll have learned a lesson or two along the way.