Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Matt Duncan from Stephens Incorporated.
Matt Duncan - Stephens Inc.
So the first question I’ve got, kind of going back to these job margins for just a second, and I’m curious, it looks like your alliance customers, the revenues there are down less than your total sales are down, so they are becoming a bigger piece of the mix. And those guys are typically going to get higher volume discounts. So do you have any way of quantifying of that 1% decline in job margins, could that just be customer mix shift?
Philip J. Hawk
You are correct that mix shift both among customers, among service lines, all those bring a -- things affect margin. I guess our conclusion is that kind of beyond that though that what we have seen is a -- and kind of believe there’s about a 1 percentage point decline that is basically independent of the mix effects.
Matt Duncan - Stephens Inc.
Okay, that’s helpful.
Philip J. Hawk
It’s difficult to measure but we have made concessions in the number of situations and that’s what we think is reflected in those lower margins.
Matt Duncan - Stephens Inc.
Okay. And then when you look, Phil, at the fall turnaround season, how is that looking so far? Have you seen any of the delays and deferrals that happened in the spring? Are any of those projects happening in the fall or are they still all kind of more geared towards next spring?
Philip J. Hawk
I think the general consensus is -- well, first of all, that our turnaround is happening. As we pointed out, we are projecting a 20% kind of sequential quarterly volume improvement, which is directly related to turnaround activity. I think our sense is that the spring will be a stronger turnaround quarter than the fall, although we have activities underway right now.
Matt Duncan - Stephens Inc.
Okay. And then if you look at an increase in demand of 10% in the second half of your fiscal year, earlier -- I guess last year you did kind of reduce your tech force by a couple of hundred people, if I remember correctly. With a 10% increase in demand, do you need to add some of those people back to meet that demand or is your utilization rate low enough now that the people that you have currently can fulfill that demand?
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