The construction industry faces some uncertain times ahead if the experiences of one small business owner and contractor are anything to go by.Alex DeCouto, president of Greymane Contracting, said that new projects had dried up considerably over the first quarter of this year and he had been forced to cut his workforce by 25 percent over the past year.Mr DeCouto said that his company has always had to bid competitively for almost all of its work and while projects available for tender were fairly active during 2010, they had “fallen off a cliff” in Q1 2011.Hoping that this was just a temporary blip, he admitted to being uncertain about the future.Mr DeCouto said that making sufficient turnover was one of the biggest issues facing his firm at present, with the need to cover all of his overheads including rent, accountants and HR staff and having enough money to get through the lean periods or having to make cut-backs.“The recession as it has existed so far has simply seen a shrinking of the market, of firms, of the workforce,” he said. “Workers with skills that are mismatched with the work available have probably been the worst affected.”When he first took over Greymane last year, Mr DeCouto believed it would be very hard to break into the established circle of major contractors and that has borne true, with the big players having the best business networks and cash to spare to land the large projects.But he added that his company had been able to take advantage of the opportunities in the middle market and make a name for itself as a fitout specialist a line of work he would be happy to continue in provided the work is there.In the last 12 months, Greymane has shrunk by about ten staff through a combination of not renewing work permits, lay-offs and attrition, while reducing overhead and profit margins in an attempt to secure more projects in competitive bids, leaving the company exposed during tough times when it needed the ready cash to keep people employed.Asked what his company’s prospects were for the year ahead, Mr DeCouto said: “Uncertainty. I have no idea what projects will move from the drawing table to reality this year. It is frightening really. I am much more nervous about this year than last.”He reckons that the only solution to fixing the economy is foreign cash inflows, while Government capital spending would be welcome by many who are struggling in the industry.“Government has to come up with some creative solutions for increasing foreign cash inflows (development investment, international businesses being setting up, foreigners coming here to live, etc),” he said.“In the recent meeting between the Economy Minister [Kim Wilson] and employment groups, a number of specific and easy-to-implement ideas were presented, so I would look for those items.“I think one that would be incredibly easy to implement and have an immediate affect would be to lift the ban on Bermudians being able to sell otherwise qualified properties to non-Bermudians.“This would immediately result in foreign cash coming into the economy, significant Government tax, and likely additional construction work (as new owners look to renovate).”