Small Talk

"You staying busy?" he asked.

I don't know who he was. A familiar face on the job site, but we'd never exchanged names.

"Staying busy?" might be the most common conversation starter in construction. It's as routine as talking about the weather. Easy. Safe. Always on everyone's mind.

It's an invitation to vent, no matter how you answer.
Not busy enough? Problem.
Too busy? Also a problem.

The question opens the door to that thing we all do: comparing ourselves to everyone else.
No one really cares if you're busy.
They care how your busyness stacks up against theirs.

So-and-so is swamped. How come I'm not?
Or, At least I've got more work than that other guy. Wouldn't want to be him.

It's also a local pulse check. National headlines might be grim or wildly optimistic, but they rarely tell you what's happening in your town, on your site, in your trade. "You staying busy?" gives you real data.

The question is irresistible because it lets you brag and complain at the same time. You can boast about how in-demand you are while griping about the stress.

Out of all the times I've asked, answered, or overheard that question, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say they have just the right amount of work. It's always either feast or famine. Always swinging, sometimes violently, between too much and too little. Like we're little dinghies adrift on the wild sea of work.

And maybe we are. Market forces. Economic cycles. Some things are out of our hands.

But we’re not powerless.

We can shape our schedules. We can say no to the wrong projects so we can say yes to the right ones. We get to decide what that right work is.

Maybe the right question isn't whether we're staying busy.

Maybe it's whether we're staying selective.