Brr! Cold weather construction

by Michele Regenold

Minnesota isn’t usually balmy in January. Unless you call -18 degrees Fahrenheit balmy.

Matt Faiferlick and his crew were drilling an 18-inch diameter, 2,500-foot long bore through rock in Jordan, Minn. So as not to disturb a special archeological site, they had to work in the winter.

They were doing directional drilling, so everyone was working on top of the ground, in the wind, instead of underground in a trench or a tunnel, out of the wind. The only relief they had from the -40 degree wind chill was climbing in the truck or the computer trailer for a few minutes. There was a tent surrounding the drilling system to keep the pumps from freezing, but it didn’t do much for the crew.

Moving around was one way to stay warm, so one day Faiferlick built a snowman. The snowman made the rounds of the job site, including a visit to the porta-potty. “It kept morale up,” said Faiferlick, a project manager and former field supervisor with Miller the Driller. Working in such cold is tough.

“Construction is a business of extremes,” says Kris Young, president and chief executive officer of Miller the Driller, a horizontal boring/tunneling contractor in Des Moines, Iowa.

A contractor is a company that’s hired by a client to complete a specific project, like paving five miles of four-lane highway, or constructing a bridge, or drilling tunnels for water mains.

Construction workers deal with extreme weather, from searing heat to numbing cold, as well as extremely long work hours in the summer and often winter layoffs.

Employees for Manatt’s, a paving company headquartered in Brooklyn, Iowa, work “an extreme amount of overtime,” says Drew Manatt, a project manager with Manatt’s. Eighty-hour weeks are not uncommon, especially during the long days of summer. Neither are seven-day work weeks.

Because they work so much during the seven- to eight-month paving season, most people can make a living, Manatt says, even with winter layoffs.

Charlie Meyer, a concrete finisher with Manatt’s for 23 years, says a person can make $25,000–$30,000 during the paving season. In the winter when he’s laid off, Meyer earns extra money by recycling aluminum transmissions.

A concrete finisher works behind the paving machine. He or she uses a long-handled tool called a float to seal the surface of the wet concrete, kind of like smoothing the icing on a cake.

Most Manatt’s employees collect unemployment during the off season. Their annual insurance costs are all paid for during the paving season so that even while they’re laid off, they’re covered.

Why roads aren't paved in cold weather

In cold weather states, road paving doesn’t occur year round because the paving materials, asphalt and concrete, are sensitive to the cold.

Asphalt, the black stuff, must be placed when the ground is at least 40 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer. Concrete, the white stuff, can be used at a lower ground temperature, down to 24 degrees Fahrenheit.

The ground temperature can differ a lot from the air temperature. In the fall, even if the air temperature is below freezing, the ground may still be plenty warm from months of summer heat. In the spring, the ground is still thawing, so it may be significantly colder than the warm spring breeze.

If either asphalt or concrete is used on ground that’s too cold, the new pavement won’t last as long. And roads aren’t cheap. Just ask the local, state, and federal governments that hire construction contractors to build the roads.

When it’s finished in 2008, the Interstate 235 rebuilding project in Des Moines will cost about $429 million.

In Iowa, most road paving work stops around Thanksgiving. In mild years, it may last into December.

When winter rolls around, many road workers get laid off. Most of them are rehired by the same company the following spring.

During the winter months, some laid-off workers enjoy spending more time with their families. Manatt’s employs a number of Mexican immigrants who like to visit their families in Mexico for several weeks during the winter.

Not all types of road construction stop when the snow flies. Bridge construction doesn’t depend on ground temperature, so it can continue a while longer. During extremely cold winters, contractors may decide to shut down for a few weeks until the worst weather passes.

In Iowa, “10 months is the typical season for bridge work,” says Ryan Cheeseman, a project engineer with Jensen Construction, “but every year is different.”

In southern states, work can continue even longer. If you go far enough south, road work is a year-round activity.

Specialized contractors like Miller the Driller can also work year-round. The temperature underground in a 60-inch tunnel is the same no matter what the weather’s like above ground. The wind may be blowing like crazy, but as long as it’s not pouring down rain or snowing heavily and it’s at least 15 degrees Fahrenheit, Miller employees work.

Young says frostbite is the main concern. Since some drilling techniques require water, it’s important that workers don’t get wet, especially when it’s cold.

Road construction workers deal with heat and cold, long hours and lay offs. But when “you find something you like to do,” says Matt Faiferlick, “you never ‘work’ another day in your life.”

About the jobs

Road construction worker (entry level)

Do you like to work outside? Use your hands? Work with equipment? Maybe get a little dirty? In construction, there are lots of opportunities and many different kinds of skills you can learn on the job. You may learn how to finish concrete like Charlie Meyer, drive a ready mix truck, or operate various pieces of equipment.

Basic requirements/qualifications

A desire to do the work. Kris Young says she’d “much rather hose off a fanatic than warm up a corpse.”
A willingness to learn. Training is usually available on the job.
Reliability. You have to show up regularly.
For some contractors, you need to be 18 or older.

An additional quality that Miller the Driller looks for is a willingness to travel. Some of their projects take a few weeks to several months to complete at locations that are several hundred miles or more from Des Moines.

Project engineer

If you enjoy doing something different every day, and working indoors and outdoors, working for a contractor as a project engineer may be your thing. You’ll be working at a desk sometimes, doing paperwork, making estimates on upcoming jobs, and coordinating and scheduling subcontractors (like underground construction). You may also be in charge of field survey operations. You’ll help oversee the actual construction of a project, like a bridge or a stretch of road, and see it completed.

Basic requirements/qualifications

You’ll need a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering or civil engineering. In high school, take as many math and science courses as you can so you’re prepared for the college engineering courses.

Construction work can provide unique experiences

by Matt Faiferlick, Miller the Driller

Miller the Driller crews have drilled under rivers, creeks, streets, highways, bridges, intercoastal waterways, swamps, along railroads and ancient archeological sites.

I’ve also enjoyed the company of rattle snakes, copper heads, water moccasins, alligators, dolphins . . .

We have worked in weather conditions ranging from -18 degrees Fahrenheit (with -48 degrees wind-chill) to 108 degrees Fahrenheit (with 117 degrees heat index). We have seen blizzards and drought, tropical storms that dump six inches of rain in 1.5 hours, and a dust devil and two tornadoes in the space of four days in Florida.

I have worked around ancient Indian villages, a herd of deer estimated to be over 600 strong, and the return migration of the snowy egrets to the salt marshes in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I’ve also enjoyed the company of rattle snakes, copper heads, water moccasins, alligators, dolphins, sting rays, bald eagles, golden eagles, osprey, swans, scorpions, a snow white doe in Oklahoma, and a black bear in Virginia.

I visited John F. Kennedy’s grave and on the same day stood at the foot of the nation's capitol while the U.S. flag was flown at half mast in honor of his son’s untimely death. I looked east one morning as the sun rose over Tampa Bay and witnessed the launch of the space shuttle almost 200 miles away.

I have touched the Atlantic, the Pacific, and parasailed over the Gulf of Mexico. I’ve traveled to 25 of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia.

A “boring” job? You bet.

Michele Regenold is the editor of Go!.