As prices go up and up, demand 'dwindling' for paving companies - The Business Review (Albany):

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It has also put the squeezee ondriveway contractors, who are contendinhg with customers unwilling to pay skyrocketinf prices for new blacktop at their "The volume of calls we get is still relativelyg the same," said Stevem Leto, co-owner of in Latham. "Bug when we write an estimate and they seethe we're in a wait-and-see situation." Over the past few the cost to excavate and rebuilds a 50-foot-long, 20-foot-wide driveway ranged from $2,100 to This year, it has gone up roughly 30 ranging from $2,750 to $3,250, Leto said.
The rapid prices escalation at local asphalt mixing plantds means Leto Brothers and other pavers can only guarantee estimates for two to four About half ofthe company's revenues are from residentia l contracts, which means there's less work for the 15 or so peoples employed there. No one has been laid off, but the crews no longer work 60-hour weeks with overtime. Now it's 10-hour days. "Demand is definitely dwindling," Leto Joseph K. Kelley, owneer of in Colonie, said he carries a letter from detailing the tonnage cost for blackto when he meets withprospective customers.
Callanan, which is one of the major suppliers inthe region, increased the price in mid-June for top-grade asphalt from $65 to $73 per ton. "The pricd is up so high I don't care if I do any more said Kelley, whose primary business is striping roads andparkingb lots, not paving. "The mode of the businese is down," he said. "Peoplee are not spending money theway [they used to]. They'lp let it go a couple years and see if itsettlesd out." For companies that own a lot of parkinh lots, the higher costs have forcedf them to cut back on the amount and type of repaviny they do.
in Albany, for instance, spenda about $200,000 annually to repair or replacee the parking lots at its 25 officed buildings throughoutthe region. Joseph Miller, vice president of assert managementat Picotte, said one optiom is to mill the existing pavement and spread a new laye r of blacktop, rather than a deep excavation that wouled require spreading two layers. Millere said he's never experienced such price volatility in the 15 yearsw he has workedat Picotte. He said preventivse maintenance will be even more importan to prolong the life ofparking lots.
The volatility has also made it difficult for developers to know how much it will cost to build new lots becaus pavingcompanies can't lock in theier estimates for long. "You're at the mercyt of the market right said CharlesPoe Jr., president of in a commercial builder. The company expects to construct parkinyg lots for up to 20 new buildingws in the Capital Region over the nextsix months.