My company has faced some very challenging deadlines this past year.  We have been pushed to our limits more times than I care to say.  And I must say that I cannot blame my clients for these demands.  It’s all on their clients.  I’d speculate that the reason for these new and very shortened deadlines might fall on past performances.  If it took you 8 weeks to complete their last project, why not make it 6 weeks this time.  Here at Bratton Scenery, we take pride in delivering a high-quality product on time and on budget.  It pains me at times when we have to compromise on details just to meet the deadline.  Don’t get me wrong, we still deliver good quality, but having designers do with less is very disheartening at times. 

Encourage you children to work in the trades!  I have subcontracted out more work this past year because we lacked the labour force to keep the work in-house or our facility is busting at the seams with product and manpower.  In a perfect world we would love to be able to spread the work throughout the calendar year, however, this is not possible as it seems that everyone wants it all at the same time.  It’s also disheartening to have to let staff go when the workflow dries up.  That being said, it’s been the same way for the past 33 years and I doubt that it will ever change.  As the old saying goes, “It’s feast or famine”.