The economic crisis has been tough for everyone. We all know the boom time is over for the time being. Making money for old rope isn’t easy any more, but the irony is that this is actually something to celebrate.  When money is that easy to come by, it brings in hoards of second rate (or third rate) tradesmen – otherwise known as “cowboys” – who undercut the real professionals that are trying to carve out a living through integrity and quality. Making money by providing a bad service is never a good thing.

What I was reminded of today when I met my builder friend, is that this crisis is filtering out all the rubbish, and we are left with the good people who have built their enterprises on integrity and professionalism.

We deal with a very broad range of clients throughout southern Andalucia, some of them foreign, but many of them Spanish. However,  I have actually met a number of potential English clients recently who told me that they wouldn’t normally hire English firms who work in our sector – heating, cooling, electrics, plumbing – because they had had such bad experiences with them in the past. Luckily, they were able to see that we weren’t cut from the same cloth, and we’re now happily working together. But the point is that the “cowboys” were not only taking business off us, but were also destroying the reputation of our sector all together.

The builder I met today was Albanian but I’ve met some good professional English ones recently too!

In fact, the estimates in the article are very conservative. They talk about the cost of oil set to climb to a “sustained level over $100 dollars over the next five years”. Bearing in mind that oil has already peaked at $147 a barrel, the basic rules of supply and demand can only lead to one conclusion. Demand from highly populated countries like China and India are increasing all the time as they become more industrialised, and when it comes to supply, oil is running out. Combine that with increasing inflation, and I think the price of oil could sustain a level over $200 in the next five years, nearly three times what it is now. Not just our bills but everything from food to transport will go through the roof.

I believe we should all be doing whatever we can to invest now in ways to protect ourselves from these difficulties in the future. Energy efficiency and renewable energy are crucial for the future – that cannot be emphasised enough! As I write this, the rain continues to fall but luckily here in Andalucia, we know that we get more hours of sun than almost anywhere else in Europe so we are lucky that we can really take advantage of solar power. What’s more, the local government is even providing a huge amount of the investment up front in the form of grants and subsidies, both for domestic and commercial purposes. I think investing in solar power now is what they call a “no brainer”!

Here is the link to the article I’m referring to: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/oilprices/7203172/Britain-faces-oil-crunch-within-five-years-Richard-Branson-warns.html