Ben,
Hopefully I can give some encouragement. I work with very high end custom homes. We have twice as many design/build agreements in progress than we did last year at this time. Some of these homes won’t break ground for at least another year. But if people can get past all the doom and gloom that is broadcasted every day in the news, one can see how strong the mid-west is. We don’t experience the extrememe highs and lows like the east and west coasts do. more than 80% of the extreme cases we hear about are in 4 states. That means 92% of the country is well above the doom and gloom.
When I was still framing, I made an agreement with the guys that I worked for allowing me to take side jobs when things got slow. I picked up a lot of additions, remodels, decks,… Chin up and keep hammer’n. Things will work out.