COVID-19 Survey Week 6
30 April, 2020
Not surprisingly, Week 6 of APC’s COVID Survey revealed a continued decline in painting operations. But contractor respondents remain confident that business will return closer to normal, sooner than later. We’ll call that cautious optimism. The data for this report was collected from April 23-29.
Thanks to readers like you completing our survey, we’re able to report where contractors are finding work. You’re also providing valuable insight on changing work practices and buying habits. So keep it up! Complete our new survey here.
For a third week, school work is the painting contractor’s favorite subject, continuing to be respondents’ top-performing sector. Healthcare and New Construction Commercial follow closely behind, with 51% and 50% of respondents reporting no change or even an increase in work. These were also the only two sectors to receive higher rankings from last week – perhaps these sectors are beginning to regain their bearings and start work.
Entertainment and Multi-Family Interior work dropped significantly from last week, with the latter displacing Residential Interior as the lowest performing sector.
| Sector | Increase/No Change | Decrease |
| School Jobs | 52% | 48% |
| Healthcare Jobs | 51% | 49% |
| New Construction Comm. | 50% | 50% |
| Gov’t Jobs | 48% | 52% |
| New Construction Resid | 45% | 55% |
| Entertainment Jobs | 42% | 58% |
| Other Commercial | 42% | 58% |
| Retail Jobs | 40% | 60% |
| Multi-Family Ext. | 40% | 60% |
| Resid. Exterior | 39% | 61% |
| Multi-Family Interior | 38% | 62% |
| Hotel Jobs | 34% | 66% |
| Restaurant Jobs | 33% | 67% |
| Res. Interior | 29% | 71% |
When looking at what materials contractors are buying now, the top two categories are “everything” and “nothing.” Is that a contradiction? Not really. It reflects the fact that while most contractors continue to work – and some report no change in levels – some contractors have ceased operations, either by choice or edict.
Top Product Categories Contractors Are Buying
1. No Change (buying all categories)
2. Not Buying
3. PPE
4. Cleaning/Disinfecting
Looking for insights on what the future holds? Your fellow contractors offered the following predictions on the painting "new normal" in the near and long term:
– Continued, long-term restrictions on interior work, with smaller crews and increased PPE requirements.
– Moving forward, perhaps less professional contractors will gravitate to exterior work, leaving more professional contractors to tackle increasingly complicated interiors.
– Continued slow-down through the summer, followed by significant increase by the fall.
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