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The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed life down for millions of Americans, but it hasn鈥檛 for Evan Adams, a specialty sports contractor based in Northern California. He currently has five in-progress construction projects, mostly installing school gymnasium floors, that are going full steam ahead due to contractual obligations. In construction, time is money, even during a global health crisis. 鈥淢ore than anything we need schools to extend deadlines and just slow the pace,鈥� Adams says. 鈥淚t is not essential to keep going at normal speeds.鈥�

The federal government hasn鈥檛 issued specific mandates to the construction industry, so states and cities are enacting their own policies. California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued on March 19 instructing all residents statewide to stay at home, but he granted exceptions for , which includes 鈥渃onstruction workers who support the construction, operation, inspection, and maintenance of construction sites and construction projects, including housing construction.鈥�

Because of the nature of his projects as a flooring subcontractor, Adams and his team are typically brought in toward the end of a project, when multiple subcontractors are also at work, and everyone is jockeying for space. He offered to pay his workers overtime, out of his own pocket, if they want to come in over the weekend and finish their job when the job site would be empty.

鈥淢y guys want to do their part, but they don鈥檛 want to crawl over everyone at the end of a project,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey just want to stay home. They have wives that might have immune system issues, they might have older parents at home that they are caring for.鈥�

From coast to coast, stay-at-home and social-distancing orders have been issued to help stop the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. By the end of last week, , limiting activity to critical infrastructure and services. is growing. While some of the essential businesses seem uncontroversial鈥攍ike hospitals and grocery stores鈥攐thers fall into a gray area. Construction, which employs over , is one of them.

While some cities and states are shutting construction down, others are granting exceptions, particularly where it relates to the . Meanwhile, industry groups are pushing for federal-level designation of construction as an essential business. Individual workers and small-business owners are torn between concerns for health and safety, the very urgent need for a steady paycheck, and legal contractual obligations.

Amid a worsening pandemic, just how essential should construction be considered? Curbed spoke to construction workers, contractors, small-business owners, industry groups, and trade unions to hear what they have to say.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a crisis that鈥檚 putting a strain on construction, but it鈥檚 kind of multifaceted,鈥� says John Doherty, communications director of the (IUPAT), a union that represents 160,000 construction workers in the United States and Canada. While major cities are banning or limiting construction, which is causing unemployment, some areas, particularly those that haven鈥檛 begun widespread testing and aren鈥檛 experiencing their peaks, haven鈥檛 altered activity. 鈥淎 lot of our members may be in danger there. Those areas have to make sure they鈥檙e following the right protocols, like the EEOC guidance on personal protective equipment and cleaning down job sites. At the end of the day that鈥檚 the number-one priority, that these projects are safe.鈥�

How states and cities are handling construction during the COVID-19 pandemic
In the absence of federal guidelines on construction during the pandemic, state and local governments are issuing their own rules for the industry, which has led to a lot of confusion and uncertainty.

Gov. Newsom isn鈥檛 alone in categorizing construction as an essential business. However, some California cities and counties have taken their own, and sometimes stricter, stances on what type of construction work is permissible in their jurisdictions during the pandemic.

鈥減ublic works construction鈥� and 鈥渃onstruction of housing (in particular affordable housing or housing for individuals experiencing homelessness)鈥� as essential. The list also includes 鈥渁irport operations, water, sewer, gas, electrical, oil refining, roads and highways, public transportation, solid waste collection and removal, internet, and telecommunications systems (including the provision of essential global, national, and local infrastructure for computing services, business infrastructure, communications, and web-based services).鈥� and counties鈥攊n the south and east bay, respectively鈥攈ave similar policies with respect to what type of construction is allowed during their shelter-in-place orders. Meanwhile, some local building departments are turning to to keep some projects moving.

The city of Los Angeles has adopted a broader definition of essential construction, and allows 鈥渁ny work necessary to to build, operate, maintain or manufacture essential infrastructure, including without limitation construction of commercial, office and institutional buildings, residential buildings, and housing鈥� in its . Mayor Eric Garcetti that the city is forming a special coronavirus inspection team that will visit construction sites to make sure proper safety protocols are followed.

is allowing 鈥渃onstruction required in response to this public health emergency, hospital construction, construction of long-term care facilities, public works construction, and housing construction.鈥�

The city of Boston enacted , but is on buildings that promote public health and safety, like hospitals; work to make residential buildings fully habitable; and residential construction in dwellings that are three units or less, including kitchen and bathroom renovations.

The state of Pennsylvania has adopted some of the strictest restrictions on construction. Only emergency repairs are allowed statewide, . However, thousands of waivers have been filed and construction is continuing in some areas, .

In other areas, construction remains unchanged. Construction of Amazon鈥檚 HQ2 in Arlington, Virginia, .

After initially designating , New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently changed course. , only work on roads, bridges, transit facilities, utilities, hospitals or health care facilities, affordable housing, and homeless shelters will be considered essential.

Jay Inslee, governor of Washington state, stated that , with exceptions for emergency repairs and construction related to government functions, like publicly financed low-income housing.

鈥淒ifferent parts of the country are experiencing [the pandemic] in different ways,鈥� says Sean Green, founder and COO of , a small general contracting company based in Portland, Oregon. His state鈥檚 governor, Kate Brown, said that all construction can continue so long as . 鈥淗ere in Oregon, we see the actions in California and Washington and from our own government. We get sometimes-conflicting messages on the level of importance. And I feel like we鈥檝e gotten ourselves into a position鈥攅specially in Oregon, with the lack of testing鈥攚here it鈥檚 unknown to us what the level of spread is. We know we鈥檙e facing severe shortages in personal protective equipment, in hospital beds, and we鈥檙e really not getting much support from the federal government.鈥�

Just how essential is construction during a public health crisis?
While some workers, like Adams, would like to limit work during the pandemic, that鈥檚 not the tack being taken by the industry on the whole. The (AGC), an industry group that represents over 27,000 construction firms, is lobbying for all construction to be allowed during the pandemic.

鈥淔rom a federal point of view, we鈥檝e been working pretty aggressively to get the Department of Homeland Security and the Trump Administration to amend some guidance that the Department had put out earlier in the month about ,鈥� says Brian Turmail, vice president of public affairs and strategic initiatives AGC. 鈥淐onstruction wasn鈥檛 identified as an essential industry. We鈥檝e been working hard to get them to include construction because it鈥檚 essential economic activity… You鈥檇 get minimum health benefits, but maximum economic damage, for people who are in high-paying, middle-class jobs by shutting down job sites.鈥�

The necessity of construction versus slowing the COVID-19 pandemic鈥檚 spread weighs differently on everyone working in the construction industry.

鈥淔irst you ask if construction is essential, but you have to then ask, 鈥楨ssential to what?鈥欌�� says Joe Rigazio, CEO of , a New York-based commercial construction company that does general contracting and construction management. 鈥淓ssential to the economy? Yes, definitely. If you鈥檙e going to say essential to snuffing out the pandemic of COVID-19, I think you have to ask the next question: Who are you working for and what鈥檚 going on? A lot of our projects are helping health care providers. It鈥檚 a tough one.鈥�

Before Cuomo halted construction in New York, Rigazio was trying as hard as possible to maintain business. 鈥淲hile New York is flattening the curve and pushing the peak out in time, we鈥檙e doing whatever we can to not flatten the curve of the production cycle and schedule.鈥�

New York鈥檚 former push to deem all construction 鈥渆ssential鈥� didn鈥檛 make sense to Carl Pinter (name changed to protect his identity), a carpenter who is currently working on a New York City hospital.

鈥淏eing considered 鈥榚ssential employees鈥� is a little odd for a lot of us,鈥� Pinter says. 鈥淭here are projects that make sense to run, like ours, but I know guys that are working and they鈥檙e not feeling like they鈥檙e essential. Like retail: No one is shopping in brick-and-mortar stores [because of the stay at home order]. It doesn鈥檛 matter if retail construction is done right now. In office buildings, they鈥檝e halted everything. Why would the office workers in those buildings be sent home because it wasn鈥檛 deemed safe, but construction workers told to come to work?鈥�

A gray area that鈥檚 emerged with regard to 鈥渆ssential鈥� construction is housing. Regions dealing with the affordable housing shortage and high populations of unhoused individuals have often made exceptions for housing construction. It鈥檚 impossible to shelter in place if there isn鈥檛 enough shelter to go around, after all.

鈥淭here are certain aspects of construction that are essential and need to continue to promote the health and safety of our community,鈥� Green says. 鈥淭he vast majority of construction work is only essential from an economic standpoint. However, given that shelter is an essential need, one could argue that continuing to supply the continued housing needs of a community makes housing projects more essential than nonresidential projects.鈥�

Moral considerations aside, some construction companies are encountering difficulty keeping projects moving, but doing their best to work around them.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been a week and a half [since the stay-at-home order] and projects are starting to hit roadblocks,鈥� says Ben Olson, the owner of the Bay Area-based . 鈥淭here are no inspections. Some cities have shut down their building departments. The next thing we鈥檝e been facing is all the subcontractors. They鈥檙e in various situations. Some want to work, some don鈥檛 want to work.鈥�

No work, no pay, no sick leave
One of the challenges for the construction industry is that there aren鈥檛 worker protections in place, such as sick leave and paid time off. The , which Trump signed on March 18, requires employers of 500 or less to provide 80 hours of sick leave to full-time employees. A challenge to the construction industry is that most companies are small businesses with far fewer than 500 employees. Construction workers are often paid daily and many are part of the .

鈥淲hen [our workers] don鈥檛 work they don鈥檛 get paid,鈥� says James Williams Jr., the vice president and head of organizing at the IUPAT. 鈥淪adly, most members concerned about health and safety have just asked their employer to lay them off. We have a growing number of women in the workforce and a lot of them are single mothers. With schools shutting down, they have had to make the choice of staying home or getting child care and still going to work. Most have made the choice to stay home and take care of their kids.鈥�

Since the COVID-19 pandemic has taken hold, IUPAT has been on the front lines talking to its members, as well as non-union workers, about their concerns and . Part of its campaign includes a in which members ask for protections like guaranteed health care if they lose work, direct financial compensation if a worker loses their job, and more infrastructure projects to help maintain steady employment.

How possible is safety first?
IUPAT and the Associated General Contractors of America are advocating for extra precautions on job sites to help stop the spread of COVID-19: social distancing (which isn鈥檛 possible for a lot of construction work), screening people to make sure they do not have a fever (that said, ), and the proper use of personal protective equipment, which is in short supply due to increased demand from health care workers.

IUPAT expressed concern for construction workers in states without stay-at-home orders because they might not be taking the extra social distancing precautions that are in place in cities and states with stay-at-home orders, which is potentially putting people at risk for exposure. These are also the areas from which IUPAT receives the most reports of exploitation, wage theft, and .

鈥淒own south鈥擣lorida through Georgia, and into the Carolinas鈥攖here hasn鈥檛 been much from the state level about how our industry should operate because they haven鈥檛 shut down as much commerce,鈥� Williams says.

Even taking extra safety precautions isn鈥檛 worth the risk for a residential window installer based in Chicago, who wishes to stay anonymous due to fear of retaliation. Illinois has deemed his work essential. Until this week, he had been conducting his work wearing a mask, gloves, and booties and has been carrying hand sanitizer with him. 鈥淏eing over 60, a diabetic with heart disease, a smoker, and overweight I know I am at a huge risk for myself,鈥� he tells Curbed. 鈥淚 have decided to stop working for the time being. My risk be damned: Bringing [the novel coronavirus] home to my wife who is a cancer survivor or spreading it to the next home I go into weighs on me more than my own demise. There is nothing essential about making another sale. I don鈥檛 get paid unless I do. There are things more important than money right now.鈥�

In some situations, time is what鈥檚 really needed to keep workers safe. But in this industry, it comes at a steep price. Contractual obligations usually stipulate finishing a job by a certain date, or else steep fines are levied.

鈥淥ur customers, whether it be a school district or someone else, don鈥檛 want to say, 鈥楬ey, you can have another two months to finish the project鈥� because if they do that, they have to pay the general contractor to manage the project for two more months,鈥� Evan Adams says. 鈥淪ubcontractors don鈥檛 get paid anymore for that. We do the work when we are told to do the work. You鈥檝e got to take your foot off the gas and give some people some breathing room right now when everyone is worried and has to make space. We鈥檒l do the work safely, but if you want to do something really safe, like in the kitchen, you slow down so you don鈥檛 cut your finger off. Just slow down. Sometimes that鈥檚 what鈥檚 needed and that would help.鈥�

In addition to crowded job sites and having to work in close contact, the construction industry is also vulnerable to the novel coronavirus because of the itinerant nature of the business.

鈥淚n an urban area, there isn鈥檛 a lot of parking around a job site,鈥� the AGC鈥檚 Brian Turmail says. 鈥淵ou鈥檇 park somewhere and carpool [to the site] and now you can鈥檛 have a shuttle bus [because of social distancing requirements]. And in most metro areas, public transit is reduced.鈥�

Many workers have to travel long distances to their job sites and sometimes have to stay in hotels for the duration of the job.

鈥淗ousing for our road builders is an issue, too,鈥� Turmail says. 鈥淵ou may be based in Cheyenne, Wyoming, but you are doing a job 100 or 1,000 miles away. You鈥檇 put them up in hotels and you鈥檇 bunk two to a room, but you can鈥檛 do that now. How do you make sure you鈥檙e not putting people in harm鈥檚 way when they鈥檙e housed?鈥�

Adams is also concerned about housing. Because his work is specialized, he ends up taking projects all across the state of California. 鈥淢y guys have to travel for work,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e all on per diem so they鈥檙e staying in hotels, which means they鈥檙e very close to other people. The hotels staying open are getting harder and harder to find. Not to mention the cleanliness; we don鈥檛 know what the standards are of keeping those facilities clean.鈥�

In order to keep his employees safe, COBE Construction鈥檚 Ben Olson is trying to assign as much at-home work as possible. The COVID-19-related slowdown is an opportunity to regroup.

鈥淔ifty percent or more of our superintendents are taking OSHA 30 classes online,鈥� he says. 鈥淥ur project managers are working on professional skills. We鈥檙e trying to phase out of work this week and then next week we will be moving into tons of training for a week or two and we鈥檒l see. If we get relief and opportunities with the governor, we鈥檒l try to stay home and try to improve the company so when we are allowed to work again, we will hopefully be better skilled and better trained.鈥�

In the end, whether or not someone feels comfortable working during the pandemic is often a personal decision, and a difficult one at that.

鈥淚 have a hard time totally faulting people who are desperate to work and willing to be safe about it,鈥� says Ben Olson. 鈥淎t the end of the day, everyone has their own personal situation, their own family situation. They could be single, have a full family, or live with older parents. Everyone is feeling some way because of their personal situation. At the end of the day, there鈥檚 a lot of fear and some who don鈥檛 fear this at all.鈥�

While no one on Carl Pinter鈥檚 site has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and he鈥檚 working on an essential project, the decision to come to work is challenging. 鈥淚 have a 5-month-old at home and her immune system is not fully developed,鈥� he says. 鈥淎t the same time, I am doing a [loan] refinance so I need to maintain steady checks.鈥�

An uncertain future
As the pandemic progresses and the full effects of infection take hold, there is bound to be more change to the construction industry, more shutdowns, and, hopefully, more targeted relief from congress.

鈥淥ur contractors are experiencing an enormous amount of uncertainty,鈥� Turmail says. 鈥淣o one knows how long shutdowns will last, no one knows what the impact will be. Last week, about 28 percent of our contractors said that they鈥檝e had at least one project that has been halted and delayed. Relatively few have had a government order to shut down their projects. This week, about 40 percent tell us that the owners, the people they鈥檙e working for, have shut down and delayed projects.鈥�

For some, managing day-to-day uncertainty from the pandemic is as much of a business problem as well as a personal dilemma.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a moral decision on an hourly basis,鈥� Olson says. 鈥淢y position is to keep this company running. What鈥檚 been so challenging is really how people feel about this and what they think we should and shouldn鈥檛 be doing is very individual. I listen to people and their reasons for everything make a lot of sense for them, but it maybe doesn鈥檛 make a lot of sense for someone else I talk to. It鈥檚 putting a lot of people in really tough positions. Everyone is in a tough position. We鈥檙e all going to be sacrificing.鈥�