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Matt Chiaradonna is the president of the AFA Northeast Chapter and owner of several businesses in the fence space, including JC Fence and Elite Technique.
The fence industry is being hit hard when it comes to dollars and cents. Diesel is hovering around six dollars a gallon. Grocery bills are climbing. Consumers are watching every dollar.
Matt Chiaradonna, president of the American Fence Association's Northeast Chapter and a second-generation fence contractor with over 50 years of family history in the trade, has seen this film before, he didn’t like the ending. But, he knows exactly which companies make it to the end.
"You're seeing a lot less of them," he says of the post-COVID micro-companies that surged when demand was high and the market was forgiving. "They're kind of falling off and getting back into the midsize to large size companies that are out there running things."
When Chiaradonna took over his family's business in 2004, his father had just been in an accident, and he stepped up fast.
"The first eight years that I owned the company, I had no idea what I was doing," he admits. "I was just flying by the seat of my pants."
Then 2008 hit. And suddenly winging it wasn't an option anymore.
That recession forced him to confront what a lot of contractors still haven't: the difference between being busy and being profitable. Between having jobs and running a business. The contractors surviving today's slowdown aren't necessarily the ones with the most work — they're the ones who built systems when times were good.
1. They price for where they want to go, not where they are.
One of the most common traps Chiaradonna sees: contractors setting prices just high enough to replace their old paycheck. It feels smart until demand softens.
"If you're not pricing for the growth that you want, for the place that you want to take the business, then as soon as a downturn like this happens, you're out of the industry pretty quickly — because you didn't set aside those extra three months."
Margins aren't a fixed number. They're a function of your goals. Want to hire a sales rep? Promote a crew lead? Build a second truck? The margin has to carry that weight before you need it — not after.
2. They treat quotes like contracts with an expiration date.
In a volatile materials market, a quote that's good indefinitely is a liability. Chiaradonna's team now sets expiration dates directly in their software — and when a quote goes past that date, the system won't let a customer sign without triggering a reprice.
"This is not a sales pitch. I'm not trying to get you to rush. I'm trying to be open and honest with you that — hey, look, we all know what's happening right now."
Customers respect the transparency. And the business stops absorbing margin hits it never saw coming.
3. They buy materials at the price they quoted, not when they feel like it.
This one costs companies quietly. A contractor books ten jobs, collects deposits, and figures they'll buy materials when they're ready to install. Eight weeks later, prices have moved — and so has their profit.
"If I'm taking money for a job at a price, I need to buy it at that price while I've got it, before it has the chance to go up on me."
It's a discipline thing. And it's the kind of habit that doesn't matter in a boom, until suddenly it's the only thing that does.
The contractors who are still standing after multiple cycles — 2008, Covid, today — share something beyond hustle. They watch their numbers in real time, not in the rearview.
"Longevity is knowing your situation, knowing your numbers, and being able to make sure that you're tracking, not reporting on a profit and loss a month after it's done. Reporting on them weekly so that you can pivot and make adjustments." says Chiaradonna.
He has watched brilliant tradespeople, even the savviest builders who can put up a fence nobody else could, build companies that plateau at two or three trucks forever. Not because they weren't talented but because they never made the shift from tradesperson to business owner.
The market slowdown is uncomfortable and downright scary. These businesses are people’s livelihoods, and put food on the table for families of the owners & staff.
The ones that will survive the shift are the ones that have built real systems around pricing, estimating, materials, culture. It’s also an opportunity that have built well. when the field thins out, there's more room for the ones who did the work.
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