Home Care In Mooringsport, LA

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"A tariff is a tax. A tariff is a tax that the purchaser of the good pays. So, if I'm having to pay, I guarantee you I am going to pass this on as much as possible. And if I can't pass it on, I'm not going to do the job.

"As a businessperson, I don't like to trade in uncertainties."

Businessman Wayne Boyter was animated in his discussion about tariffs. He had just posted a price list on social media from one of his vendors showing increases of 5% to 25%. Friends from other businesses commented that they, too, were seeing hikes.

Boyter, who describes himself as a "hard-core conservative businessman" lives in Mooringsport but owns general contracting and HVAC services businesses that do work all over Louisiana and Texas.

He is involved in commercial property development and leasing and owns retail and commercial properties in Mooringsport and Jefferson, Texas.

One of his businesses, Acumen Enterprises Inc., has a multiple-year construction services agreement with Barksdale Air Force Base.

Over the past five years, Boyter says he has invested close to $2.5 million into four small businesses in Mooringsport. He rehabbed a long-vacant historic bank building into a tavern, cleaned out a former junkyard and put in a state-of-the-art automated ice and water dispenser, and rehabbed a home into an upscale Airbnb. He has also purchased a 120-year-old steam locomotive, some cabooses, and 30 acres near the historic Caddo Lake Bridge and train trestle.

Prior to the tariffs, his goal was to renovate another Mooringsport property into a restaurant and one into a dance hall, similar to historic Gruene Hall in the Texas Hill Country, and he says he "has another two or three real estate developments I'd like to pursue," all of which are now on hold.

"I'm not going to execute some of those plans if I know that I'm going to have to be paying 50% more than I was previously," he says.

"The tolerance for risk is going to go down for lots and lots of people."

"Everything I told you costs money because they're going to be outfitted with the raw materials, like lumber coming from Canada, like steel that's coming from different places," Boyter said. "Some of the steel's come from China. Some of it's not. Some of it's fabricated in the U.S. But what we're finding is the U.S. sources, the domestic sources, are also raising their prices. Domestic sourcing is raising their pricing because they're not trying to be cheaper than the overseas stuff, right?"

In December, Boyter told his employees to find a way to cut overhead by 50% in anticipation of 2025 revenues being 25% to 50% lower than last year. He said that has meant reductions in pay and layoffs. He has also cut back on nonessential items, which he says affect other businesses.

Boyter says he is seeing price increases even before the tariffs take effect.

"Some of the work that we're doing specifically involves structural steel, mechanical piping and plumbing, all those things like copper and steel come from other countries. Sometimes it's even forged in other countries. And what we have seen is price increases that are beyond just the cost of the tariffs," he said.

"And here's the other thing about it, when Donald Trump at the last minute says, 'Well, I tell you what we're gonna put that off for another 30 days,' our suppliers are not then coming back to us and saying, 'Well, I tell you what, we're gonna put it off for another 30 days, too.' They go ahead and leave the price increase in place right now."

Boyter says much of the HVAC and mechanical equipment he sells comes from places like Taiwan, and because the market is so volatile, prices are guaranteed for only two weeks. That becomes a nightmare when decisions from his clients generally take 90 to 180 days.

"It's actually written in the terms of the request for proposals from the client that we have to stand good and make our proposal stand good with them for whatever defined period of time they have," Boyter said.

Federal contracts are competitively bid and don't come with clauses that allow renegotiation if prices go up, he says.

That leaves Boyter faced with a conundrum — to either try to get out of a legally binding proposal or eat the additional costs to preserve the customer relationship.

Boyter believes that the additional money to federal coffers will come at the expense of local communities.

"If you have a budget of $10 and now you're having to cope with a 25% tariff on that, it has a material effect and cheapens the overall investment total and value that you're going to receive," he said.

Email Liz Swaine at [email protected].