I have always thought companies like mine are like the canaries in the coal mine for part of the industry, like box companies as an indicator for the overall economy.  When companies start ordering more boxes they are expecting to ship more product.  Our company surveys buildings and provides as builts in both 3D BIM and 2D CAD formats.  When times are flush we operate much like others enjoying the benefit, but as projects start to dry up, firms will immediately pull back outsourcing to keep employees busy rather than laying them off.  This impacts us greatly.  When the economy turns the inverse is true, and firm wary of hiring yet or not having enough stuff turn to us to augment their services without increasing head count.  While I might argue that might be a prudent way to do business generally we ride the tide like everyone else.  Having said that there has been a very perceptible uptick in business and companies asking us for proposals.  More germane to the BIM world is people asking about Revit and asking for more Revit deliverables.  A University even asked us after our presentations to deliver their dorms in Revit even though they did not even have an installed seat of Revit but wanted to plan for the future.  Yesterday an architect I spoke to said they are now doing 70% of their work in Revit and that clients love seeing their projects in 3D, so even with the economic benefits of working in BIM are real no one should discount the importance of visual communication.  This has been a rough ride but I believe more strongly than ever that a fundamental shift has taken place in the building and design community and investing now in training in BIM will pay dividends well into the future.