Southern California → Re: Question from a MidWesterner

So, the feeling I'm getting is I'll probably want to wait for the economy to improve somewhat before even thinking about it.

The Mrs. and I both agree on moving to the SW. I hate Texas. NM and NV would be my 2nd choices after Cali.

I am a contractor (electrical and communications), so if new construction is down, it greatly affects me. I don't do a whole lot of new construction myself, but all the other electricians come running back to service work when gravy is gone.

The construction industry here in the Sun belt is all but dead. Especially here in Nevada.

The Southern Nevada area was the fastest growing area in the U.S from about 1992 to about 2008. This growth attracted legions of unemployed/under-employed construction industry folks from the rust belt, Midwest, and Northeast. Which in turn created even more demand for construction.

Plus, many Californians who thought they were oh-so wealthy because of the housing bubble speculated in real estate here during the 2000's boom. They would fly in on a Saturday morning, take a taxi to a new housing development that hadn't yet broken ground, and put $5K deposits on 2, 3 or 4 to-be-built MacMansions, then taxi back to the airport and fly back to Cally. Thinking that in a year, when the homes were complete they could sell and make a cool $100K profit. This also added to the building frenzy.

Once the music ended in this game of musical chairs, and the jig was up on the bubble, these "investors" walked away. At the end of the day, there is an enormous over supply of homes here AND most of the construction folks that migrated here were/are unemployed.

There are unfinished hotel casino's on the Strip and elsewhere (one of which would be the 3rd largest Hotel in the world) sit empty, and a lot of empty office/warehouse/R&D space, so commercial construction is dead as well. If they excluded construction workers from the unemployment count here (which is about 12.5%), it would be under 6%. The only bright spot for electrical contractors is Solar installations ('scuse the pun).

The upside is high quality housing here is ridiculously dirt cheap, relatively speaking. The overall cost of living here vs. Cally, is about 60% that of Cally - due primarily to housing cost and ZERO State income taxes and other Cally taxes.

Honestly, I don't envy your profession as an electrician right now. I can't think of any area in the U.S. where construction is active, much less booming. Is there any possibility that you would consider another career? Health care here is booming here (due in large part to the number of people that retire here who have great medical benefits in their retirements). A small, constant flow of California based business relocate here as its 30% cheaper to operate here. And people and businesses from Canada...of all places...are invading the joint. Don't ask me why. I would say the same is true in both Arizona (you should seriously consider Northern AZ), and NM.

there's actually been a boost in work for electricians in the LA area - replacing copper wiring that's been ripped out of construction sites/foreclosures, and retrofit residences. there was a lot of shitty construction done when the housing was booming, so there's lots of stuff that is just now showing signs of being installed incorrectly. i guess there's just barely enough money for people to have things fixed, piecemeal, at the moment. my guess is margins are small, but there is work.