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8.16.04 Contractors thrive by shuffling crews Nearly 200 workers and 610 earth rollers, bulldozers, pavers and other equipment help make Hawkins Construction Co. one of Omaha's biggest road builders. Northbound traffic reaches the end of 72nd Street construction at the Mercy Road intersection. An estimated 51,500 motorists daily maneuver through barrels and barricades on 72nd Street from Interstate 80 north to Mercy Road. The one-mile widening project is in its 20th month. Aggravated drivers wish the company would dispatch dozens of those workers to the Hawkins project nearest them every day until the road is done. But it won't happen. Hawkins and other road-builders spread workers among as many projects as they can. It's how they keep their crews busiest and get the most out of their investments in $400,000 paving machines. It's how they minimize losses from unforeseen delays on individual projects. It's how the City of Omaha's road-building system encourages them to operate. But it's not how to build any single road as fast as possible. Some contractors get stretched beyond their capacity, which slows construction zones even more. But normal business practice is to work multiple jobs. As a result, drivers feel the same kind of aggravation felt by homeowners when their painter, roofer or remodeler seems to never show up more than two days in a row. Consider a Tuesday morning last month, when Hawkins Construction Co. deployed 153 workers to 17 public street and bridge projects in Nebraska. Ten projects had crews of seven or fewer workers. Six projects had crews of eight to 12. More than a fourth of Hawkins' workers, 42, were on a single job -- the widening of Interstate 80 southwest of Omaha. That makes sense to Hawkins and possibly from a bird's-eye view. The Interstate was Hawkins' biggest project at the time, and workers were paving and making concrete on site -- tasks that require a large crew. But that isn't the view from along 72nd Street, where an estimated 51,500 motorists daily maneuver orange barrels from I-80 north to Mercy Road. Hawkins had a dozen workers there that Tuesday. The one-mile widening project is in its 20th month of construction. Nor is that the view from Blair High Road north of Interstate 680, where Hawkins had just six workers. That four-mile project is in its 17th month. The road serves 12,900 drivers daily. It probably won't soothe drivers to know that Hawkins has a great reputation with the City Public Works Department and the Nebraska Department of Roads, or that four Hawkins projects were among the better-staffed in The World-Herald's study of construction sites. Motorists also may not realize that contractors like Hawkins absorb extra costs to make life easier for motorists. In June, for example, Hawkins shifted extra workers and equipment to 72nd Street to get two lanes open in each direction before the College World Series. "We are very cognizant that the ultimate owner is the taxpayer," said Kim Hawkins, CEO of the business bearing his name. "Our industry recognizes that." By tackling multiple projects, road-builders keep a steady flow of work for crews and equipment when everything doesn't go according to plan. Consider the uneven impact of rain on various stages of construction. Heavy rain can halt work for up to four days if dirt is being graded or concrete is ready to pour. But rain doesn't stop workers from ripping up old pavement or building bridges. Contractors with multiple jobs can shift crews to minimize downtime from Mother Nature. Consider the frequent work stoppages when utilities move water, electric or other lines. With multiple jobs, construction crews can move to different projects and keep busy. Or consider Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Building a street is more than slapping down concrete. Crews rip out old pavement, level the soil, pack it right, build storm sewers, lay a foundation and construct new curbs and sidewalks. There are materials to order, tests to run, rules to follow. One mistake and everything can stop -- sometimes for days -- on the project nearest you. Contractors with multiple jobs, though, can keep their crews moving somewhere. Road builders are encouraged by the city's system to spread their crews among multiple jobs. Contractors are usually given flexible timelines for finishing projects rather than firm deadline dates. The city rarely offers incentives for early completion or imposes damages on contractors for finishing late. The goal is to help contractors thrive so there is competition when projects are bid. Unlike the City of Omaha, the Nebraska Department of Roads has a process to help ensure contractors don't take on more than they can handle. Road builders:
"We're trying to set up good relations with the contractors," said Norm Jackman, city public works director. "The name of the game is to keep equipment operating." Hawkins is among Omaha's best at that game. Drivers don't see Hawkins yellow trucks only on street projects. The firm has a separate division of about 100 employees that constructs schools and other buildings. It has 23 of those projects. Drivers also see the familiar red trucks of Vrana -- formally Charles Vrana & Son Construction Co. Vrana has about 100 employees, according to company filings with the city. A Vrana representative declined to comment for this series. Neither Vrana nor Hawkins approach the size of the biggest name in Omaha construction, Peter Kiewit Sons' Inc. Kiewit has about 750 Nebraska employees and thousands in North America. But its road-building division has no big city road projects under way, so none was in The World-Herald's study. Small companies often win city street contracts. WBE Co., with about 25 employees, had three projects in the study: widening 132nd Street, from West Dodge Road to Blondo Street; sewer work near 35th and Vinton Streets; and widening Fort Street, 108th to 120th Streets. Fort and 132nd are among the projects most frustrating to Omaha drivers. Fort is in its third construction season; 132nd is in its second. Neither looks close to completion. Neither has a completion deadline date from the city. Fort had an average of seven workers per day during checks by the newspaper. At 132nd, the average was four workers. Scott Wiekhorst, WBE vice president, said his company's projects are progressing well. "We're handling what we're doing," he said. But Jackman said WBE might be spread too thin. Right now, the city does little to screen out contractors that have trouble juggling jobs. "If the contractor is going to tell us, 'We are fine and in good shape,' it's not for us not to believe," said Tim O'Bryan, city construction engineer. "We are taking them on their word." City officials say they have no concerns about Hawkins or Vrana taking on too much. Vrana was the contractor on five city and state projects checked by The World-Herald this summer. The three projects with firm calendar-date deadlines averaged at least 12 workers per day. The two projects with flexible completion timelines averaged just six workers. Mack Johnson lives next to one of the projects without a deadline date, Harrison Street from 144th to 149th Streets. "Vrana hasn't had but 10 guys out here," Johnson said. "They do a little here and there. Not like you think a construction crew would get out here and get stuff done. There isn't anybody around here half the time." Of the four state and city Hawkins projects checked, two had deadline dates and two had flexible completion timelines. All four averaged 13 or more workers per day. Kurt Peyton, a Hawkins vice president and project manager, said his company juggles its workers daily based on what's planned on each project. For example, the six workers on the Blair High Road project that Tuesday in July were preparing soil for paving. It was the right number of workers for that task, Peyton said. He acknowledged that any site could get more work done with more workers. But costs would rise, he said. And it's not as simple as double the workers, double the work done. Hawkins sets crew sizes with an eye on efficiency, he said. Doubling the number of workers might speed up a project by only 15 percent to 20 percent. That's especially true on city projects, where crews usually work in tight areas surrounded by heavy, fast-moving traffic. Of the 15 Omaha-area projects checked this summer, most remained open to traffic. The city insists roads stay open whenever practical -- even though that, too, slows the pace of work. Gregg Rhoades, business manager for Local 538, concrete masons union, said drivers don't realize how hard it is to work while traffic buzzes around you. "Imagine you're redoing your bathroom, and your wife and two kids are in there getting ready," Rhoades said. "That's what it's like for contractors." |
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