In the construction business, time is money. But lately, many North Texas construction crews have had too much time on their hands due to heavy rain, which has delayed projects.
"If it's pouring down rain, there's not a lot we can do," said Billy Cheek, vice president of finance for Jagoe-Public Co., a Denton-based construction business. "If our guys aren't out here working, then we are not making any money."
Jagoe-Public is a government contractor currently working on about 30 North Texas road construction projects. About 90% of the work is done for the Texas Department of Transportation.
Recent heavy rains have affected the company's street work in Denton's Highview Court neighborhood. It's one of about 30 projects in the city, which are also delayed by weather. City traffic engineers said construction crews have lost 50 days to rain in the past three months.
"Any rain day over an inch, which is pretty much normal around this area, will cause us two, 2 1/2 days of delay," deputy city engineer Pritam Deshmuhk said.
That includes a project to reconfigure turn lanes at the busy intersection of Dallas Drive and Teasley Lane. It was supposed to be done by now. But because of rain, the completion date has been moved to mid-June.
City of Denton officials said they have heard about it, too.
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"There has been a lot of that frustration where we tell them the schedule," Deshmuhk said. "But we can't really control the weather."
Cheek said he has heard about it too -- from his neighbors. He lives right around the corner from the Highview Court project.
There's not much he can tell them.
"The weather's out of our control, for sure."
