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How To Cope with a Winter Construction Project
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Business New Haven
11/12/2001
By: Susan Cornell
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The perception about most construction companies is that their doors are locked shut in the winter months while the owner and the employees fly south. In reality, however, the lion's share do as much if not more work in the winter than during the remainder of the year because of the way most customers plan. Additionally, customers today tend to be much more demanding - they want things fast and they want them when they need them, regardless of the weather.
It happens every year just after the Labor Day holiday. Many of those projects that have been collecting dust since June come to life. Back in June, the business owner perused his capital expenditures and devised the game plan for the first and second quarters of the following year. This game plan may have entailed constructing an addition or a new building. But, with all the decision-makers either vacationing or trying to keep the ship afloat while the rest of the company was on holiday, nothing concrete materialized.
September is a peak decision-making month for major projects. That's when everyone in the office as well as the attorney, the accountant and so forth are back in action. Often, however, by the time the design is finalized and approvals and permits are granted, it's December. When that happens, the business owner faces the task of deciding whether to break ground right away, or wait until the spring thaw.
The principal who opts to wait until spring times the project so that it can be “buttoned up” before mid-December, and can thus devote the winter months to working on the warm interior. For the get-going customer, the key word to keep in mind will be patience as the builder tries arduously to beat the weather. Further, this customer will incur added costs.
Part of the challenge is completing site work in freezing conditions. Concrete footings can't be placed directly on frost and only so much digging can be accomplished before the work must be protected with blankets. Or, the work is tented and heated. Another challenge is mud and water; there's freezing and thawing and nothing ever seems to dry out. While your inside office is snug and warm, outside it's muddy, rutty and difficult to work.
The next issue is the concrete itself - concrete can't be poured at temperatures much below freezing without the same protections mentioned earlier (blankets or tenting and heating). The option of adding chemicals, or “accelerators,” exists, but chemicals can alter the quality of the concrete if not applied properly. As well, the cost increases automatically in the fall when the concrete companies charge an additional $2 per yard to heat the water. The accelerators, too, become an added cost.
Masonry issues are much the same as those faced with concrete. On a summer day, the mason starts the mixer right up and can begin laying blocks. But, in the winter, the water may be frozen, the sand must be protected, and the blocks are cold. The tents go up and the heat goes on. Otherwise, the mortar sets so slowly that the mason must stop early so that the work is properly finished by the end of the day. Further, with cold hands and cold tools, the mason probably can accomplish only 75 percent of what he could achieve on the same job in the summer.
Clearly, winter weather affects the carpenter, the mason, and anyone in the steel trades. Materials are frozen-in and must be thawed out or chopped out. Mother Nature decreases productivity by an estimated 25 to 30 percent. And, since it's dark by four o'clock or so, the worker, who may have worked until 8 p.m. in the summer to push a job, can't see without adding lighting. The bottom line is an increase in the cost of both labor and materials.
Another issue is steel and roofing. Imagine trying to work on a ladder when you're cold or - worse - when you're cold and it's both windy and slippery. Walking on metal panels is like being on an ice skating rink - only much higher up. And, setting panels on a windy day is dangerous to the point where your roof or wall panels simply cannot be set.
Time delays become longer. Then, you look to pave - but most paving plants closed on December 1. And, honestly, there is a tendency to compromise the quality of work because people may only work so hard when they, too, are cold.
For the customer opting to build in the winter the word to remember is patience - patience to allow the job to be completed properly. Weather has a tremendous effect on the speed and accuracy as well as on the cost. A customer should select a builder who is experienced with wintertime challenges. Alternatively, by planning accordingly, the customer can obtain approvals during the winter and break ground in the spring.
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