Over the last week I have called a number of tradesmen and left messages asking them to quote for a couple of jobs that I need doing.

How many have got back to me?

None!!

Obviously, they must be so busy and have work coming out of their ears that they dont have time. Business must be booming.

No recession here m'lord.

Not enough tradesmen !

all been let go because of the recession

Colin. What is it you need doing and I will see if I can get it sorted for you.

Even in a recession some sectors will be relatively unaffected.

People prioritise their spending but when house repairs need doing they will come higher up peoples priorities, they will still get them done they will just do without luxuries.

Also the market with tradesmen will vary from region to region depending on how many suitably qualified tradesmen there are, in some areas where there is a shortage they will be busy.

Obviously in Warrington there's a shortage because if it was a competitive market the inefficient ones that don't get back to you would have gone out of business and you would have found it easy to get hold of a tradesman that would have done your jobs as quickly as possible for a price that just covered his costs and didn't leave much of a margin for profit.

The recession hits harder in non-food retail and leisure sectors.