The 43-day wait is over: Construction on all projects in Pa. can resume

Even when construction projects resume there will be a number of changes that the state has put into place to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

• Daniel Urie/PennLive
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Today is a big day for the construction industry.

For the first time in over a month most construction projects will be able to resume (weather permitting).

It is 43 days since Gov. Tom Wolf announced that he was ordering the shutdown of all non-life sustaining businesses in the state. Only select construction projects were able to continue — health related projects, emergencies and those projects that received waivers — but by and large most construction in the state came to a halt.

But even when construction projects resume there will be a number of changes that the state has put into place to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. The state has provided guidance, developed from direction created by the General Contractors Association of Pennsylvania, that provides universal protocols for all construction activity, as well as specific additional instructions for residential, commercial and public construction projects.

Every person present at a work site must wear masks or some sort of face covering unless they are unable to for medical or safety reasons. All construction projects must maintain proper social distancing and provide hand washing and sanitizing stations for workers, as well as cleaning and sanitizing protocols for high risk transmission areas.

Businesses must have what the state is calling a “pandemic safety officer” for each project or work site, and for large scale construction projects, one “pandemic safety officer” for each contractor at the site. And there are number of other new regulations.

Local governments can impose more stringent requirements than those contained in the guidance and in such instances, businesses must adhere to those more stringent requirements.

Jon O’Brien, Executive Director of the General Contractors Association of Pennsylvania says that the association, which serves other construction associations, has been working with the administration, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development over the last month.

“Since the shutdown I think we were the only group not to push for the construction industry to open,” he said.

O’Brien said instead of pushing for the industry to just open for business, it was important to demonstrate to the administration, L&I and DCED that the industry can operate safely. And he says every year there are new rules and regulations in the industry, so making some changes shouldn’t be a big change for a business where safety is always a concern.

“Our industry is always adapting to the changes,” he said.

O’Brien said that he believes the association’s push for additional safety measures, rather than just calling for a reopening, helped push the state into allowing the construction industry to open up on Friday. Originally, the state said that the industry could open up on May 8 but later pushed up the date to May 1.

O’Brien said that overall contractors are ready to get back to work, but there are still concerns, which he said varies by region. For instance, there are far more coronavirus cases in the Philadelphia area and its surrounding counties than in other parts of the state.

Some contractors have been working on permitted projects all along and others have been preparing to get back to work and creating safety plans.

“I think we got way out of ahead of it and we were really preparing all along,” said David Cross, president of Mowery, a construction company based in Silver Spring Township.

For the most part, Mowery’s projects have come to a halt but he said the company is ready for work to resume.

“We have a very detailed safety program,” he said.

On Friday, work will resume for Mowery. Some of its projects include a new 50,385-square-foot facility for Bobby Rahal Lexus of Lancaster at 4251 Oregon Pike in West Earl Township, Lancaster County and work on the new additions for the YMCA in Carlisle. And while some emergency work had to be performed at a 380,069-square-foot warehouse known as the Embers project, work will also resume there on the Harrisburg Pike in Middlesex Township.

Cross says the shutdown will probably delay projects.

“I think it will add time that we can’t define right now,” he said.

Cross says that projects could be pushed into other seasons more associated with bad weather, causing even more delays.

“My hunch is we will have lost more time than the time we were not allowed to work,” he said.

For the Vartan Group in Susquehanna Township all work has stopped.

“We’ve been on hold with all of our construction projects,” Nicole Conway, executive vice president and general counsel at the Vartan Group said.

The company plans to resume work on some tenant fit outs but will also continue to work on a large mixed-use project known as Susquehanna Union Green at the corner of Linglestown Road and Progress Avenue in Susquehanna Township. Before the government shutdown, work had begun on the development and construction is expected to resume there on Monday or Tuesday.

“We’re all happy that we have work to do,” Conway said. “There’s still that small sense of fear for everyone.”

While the company is completing phase one, which includes all of the site work and infrastructure, such as utilities and internal roads, it also hopes to clear pad sites on the property as well. One of those pad sites will include a new Panera Bread with a drive-thru lane located on Linglestown Road.

The community will eventually include 24 commercial/retail buildings; a hotel with 110 rooms; a senior-living community; and 40 single-family homes, as well as Central Green, where programming and events like outdoor movies, yoga on the lawn, food truck festivals, and a pop-up winter village with an ice skating rink will take place.

Zeroday Brewing has also announced it plans to open at the development. The goal is to start construction on the pad sites in 30 to 60 days.

And while work hasn’t resumed on-site, the company has been busy making sure that all safety protocols are in place. Conway says there have been calls every week with the company’s employees and that some have concerns about going back to work during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Everyone has some small fear about coming back simply because of the unknown — we have never been here before,” she said.

Conway said that the company has a sufficient amount of gloves and masks, and that hand-washing stations will be available at the job trailer and the portable toilets. She said that construction workers are used to wearing safety gear and that the bottom line is “all about keeping everybody safe.”

“Everybody is looking for everything getting back to normal — whatever that looks like,” she said. “We all still continue to be cautious.”

For Pyramid Construction Services in Lemoyne, construction has resumed on a dozen health-related projects but work is about to continue soon on two dozen more projects, including: a three-story new admissions and welcome center at Messiah College in Upper Allen Township; a new three-story building for the Pennsylvania Medical Society off of Route 114; and for the Neighbors & Smith retail and office center in Camp Hill.

With the company already working on a number of projects, its president says that specific guidelines have already been in place for each work site in relation to COVID-19.

“We were fortunate in having the healthcare projects going on,” Mike Klinepeter, president of Pyramid Construction said. “It’s not just a cold start for us.”

There is additional cleaning and hand washing at job sites. Employees will be asked if they have any symptoms and their temperatures will be taken daily. Klinepeter said that all of the pandemic safety officers have been identified.

“We’re ready to get started but the message that we’ve been sharing with everybody is we all have to be prepared to adapt to change,” he said.

For Lancaster County-based Benchmark Construction, 68 percent of its projects are healthcare related, so the company has resumed work on quite a bit of its projects, including work at UPMC Pinnacle West Shore hospital’s expansion project in Hampden Township, as well as work at the Hershey Medical Center in Derry Township.

“We’ve had six weeks of fine tuning, and it’s been a lot easier for us to incorporate the governor’s guidance than someone who hasn’t been doing it for the last six weeks,” Bob Brandt, president of Benchmark Construction said.

The company has been staggering work times in order to adhere to the spacing regulations on the job site. And each morning employees have a health screening where they are asked questions in regards to travel and symptoms and also have their temperature checked.

The company has 120 field employees and everyone was offered their positions back.

And although the company has resumed some healthcare-related construction, not every job has continued. For the most part Benchmark’s projects on the inside of senior living facilities have stopped as a precaution due to the high amount of COVID-19 cases at senior living facilities. And Brandt said those projects will continue to remain on hold. Other projects at area hospitals might be delayed until occupancy and elective surgeries pick up to bring in more of a cash flow, he said.

Two projects that will resume on Friday for Benchmark include work on a Home2 Suites by Hilton near Ephrata in Lancaster County and at a new building and garage for the Lancaster Public Library in downtown Lancaster.

At SitelogIQ in Harrisburg, the company, which is working on eight projects at public schools in the state, was able to resume projects last month in the East Pennsboro School District and the Palmyra Area School District. Next week it plans to resume work in the Camp Hill School District and in the ELCO School district.

At Camp Hill School District, SitelogIQ, previously known as Reynolds Construction, will be completing renovations at Camp Hill High School, a phased project over several years. SitelogIQ will also resume work on a renovation project at ELCO high school that focuses on an addition and redesign of the main vestibule; mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems upgrades; classroom reconfiguration; flooring replacement; and bathroom improvements.

SitelogIQ requires its workers to fill out a daily form acknowledging that they don’t have COVID-19 symptoms or have been in contact with anybody that does.

David Angle, president of the east division of SitelogIQ, said the company is adhering to all of the safety regulations, but that people are being a little cautious, as expected.

“We’ve been able to show that we’ve implemented the processes and procedures, and people are coming back to work,” he said.

Alexander Building Construction in Harrisburg, which is connected with three other sister companies that have projects across the state, has been able to work on about half of its projects, which were deemed essential. It will resume work on the other half on Friday, according to Christopher Magent, COO of Alexander Building Construction.

Magent said the most important thing they have done is educate workers on safety procedures like washing hands and obeying the proper amount of social distancing. But he said that the company is also educating workers about what the COVID-19 symptoms are.

For York County-based Wagman Inc., the company has been working at full strength in a couple of its divisions, but for the most part has not been back to work at projects in Pennsylvania.

Michael Glezer, chief executive officer of Wagman, said the company has implemented COVID-19 safety procedures, but that the changes are affecting workflow.

“It’s definitely changed the way we work and is slowing us down a little,” he said.

Glezer said it wasn’t easy to obtain all the necessary supplies but the company was fortunate to obtain all the supplies when the shutdown began.

Glezer added that a large majority of its workforce is eager to get back to work.

“We think we have a head start on this,” he said.

Even though some of the regulations will slow down work, Glezer said the regulations are definitely the right move to make.

“They are there for a reason,” he said.

One project that Wagman will resume work on is transforming the 107-year-old York Armory building into Keystone Kidspace. The two-story space will encourage exploration and offer educational experiences, including science, technology, engineering, art and math activities. The project is in the beginning stage and demolition will continue at 369 N. George St. in York.

Challenges and concerns

Even as construction resumes, it won’t be back to normal. One regulation that a number of contractors have said that will slow things down is the amount of people that will be permitted in a space.

For commercial projects, there can only be four people per 2,000 square feet of space and one additional person for each 500 square feet. For residential projects, only four people can work on a project at a time.

Klinepeter said he worries about projects that need five or six people to safely complete a job when only four people are permitted to work within the area.

Brandt said that guideline is one his company is trying to incorporate and figure out, noting that a space where you might normally have 20 to 30 people working will now be down to 10.

“That does definitely provide some challenges,” he said.

Magent said that the residential construction requirement of four total people on a project is a big concern for its Harrisburg restoration division.

And while getting materials at this point isn’t a problem, it’s some that Magent and others are monitoring.

“The other concern that we don’t have a full grasp on this point is materials from abroad,” he said.

Cross believes that the construction industry should not have been shut down and that regulations could have been put in place weeks ago. And in fact they were put into place weeks ago for the permitted, “essential” projects. But he does have a much larger concern shared by many.

“My issue is — if there is anything that keeps me up at night — that the whole world might have started back too soon,” he said.

And if that indeed does happen, his company and other companies might have to shut down again.

Safety measures are key

Some contractors have said its not just about implementing all of the proper protocols but actually communicating with every worker and every company involved so that everyone is on the same page.

Klinepeter said that includes subcontractors who might be hesitant to resume work.

“I think communicating the job site expectation and the safety measures you have in place — once they see it — they have responded in getting their teams back to the job sites safely,” he said.

Cross agreed that it’s important to let everyone know that they are working in a safe environment.

“They’re going to want to know that they’re working on a project site that is doing everything they can to keep themselves safe,” he said.

Brandt said that many of the safety measure put into place will probably become the new normal. When the company installed hand-washing sinks at every site, Brandt asked “Why haven’t we always done this?”

He said that with the new safety protocols in place and with people being more cognizant about hand washing, illness and other safety protocols, in the end it will be a good thing.

“It is going to be better for everyone,” he said.