Into the Night
Verified User
It is true for a lot of construction workers. You were actually using oakum and lead on new construction??????!?
Sorry, dude. I've found plenty of carpenters that fucked around much of the time instead of working. Masons working with cement work pretty hard once the cement truck arrives. Cement is one of those things that doesn't wait for anyone. They get done pretty quick though. After that, it's waiting for the cement to harden enough to work it for the next step. Then they're right back on it.
Road construction is particularly bad. Say the project is to lay a sewer pipe (a local job on a roadway near me at the moment):
One guy to comes to put up the traffic signs, then sits in his truck all day. He never even checks the signs and traffic control devices like he should. He does this each day.
A couple of guys to cut the slot in the asphalt using a saw. This would normally take a couple of hours, but they manage to do it in eight. Most of the time is waiting for traffic, waiting for water, or just fucking around doing very little.
Eventually, some guy in a dump truck will show up. Then another guy in a backhoe digs out the asphalt and puts it in the truck, he then waits for the next truck, which will carry the dirt. That truck hasn't shown up yet. Perhaps later?
Finally, a slot is cut deep enough to lay a section of pipe. (They don't use oakum and lead anymore!) That pipe is usually socked home using the backhoe or maybe a tension wrench.
Now the backhoe operator patiently waits around for a truck to show up with material for backfilling. The truck dumps it's load mostly into the slot and drives off. The backhoe smooths it out some.
Eventually, another worker shows up with a compactor. He fucks around with getting it started and running properly, then drives it over the backfilled slot to compact it...about an hour or two.
Now everyone stands around some more until an asphalt truck shows up. They dump the asphalt and leave. Workers then rake it more or less smooth, and the guy with the compactor runs over that. The result looks like shit. You can drive on it, but I hope you aren't on a motorcycle!
The next day, they lay another section of pipe.
Every few days, a truck shows up with sections of pipe, which they dump on the road in a random pile, and leaves. Workers then spend their time kicking and rolling these sections out of the way of traffic before the flagman can let any traffic through.
Everyone leaves at 3pm. They started at 8am. They all stop to have lunch at precisely 1130am for a half an hour.
Last week, the backhoe operator chopped a power line (a buried secondary). It did manage to knock out power for several blocks around. Why the transformer fuse didn't blow instead is beyond me. It should have blown and that would be the end of it. Instead, everyone on the crew (except the flagmen) stared into the hole looking at the damage until the power company arrived to fix it. They were done in about three hours, then left. They pulled the fuses, the conduit was cleaned up, the line spliced, and a replacement section of conduit was glued to the existing run, and replaced the fuses...a simple fix. Then the backhoe operator finished digging the slot for that day and they laid the next pipe, same as the day before.
So far, these fuckups have managed to lay about a mile of pipe in a month. The finished asphalt patch looks like shit the whole way. It's like driving on the surface of the Moon.
I recently built a driveway head connecting to a State highway. It took two YEARS for the State to fuck around getting the permit ready to begin work. The traffic control guy showed up, put out his signs and traffic control delineation, then sat in his truck and watched me work. I scheduled for the 30 tons of gravel and fill required for the job, and I completed the entire thing in a single day. A full day. At least the quarry delivering the material kept to schedule. Other than trucks delivering material, I was the only one building the driveway. The base, having passed inspection was ready for the asphalt masons.
The asphalt lay was a lot of fucking around and not getting work done. The traffic control guy showed up and did the same thing as last time. Two masons showed up and spent hours unpacking their compactor (I had already compacted the base, since I have my own compactor). They spent more of their time trying to get the engine to start, then ran it over the already compacted base. Obviously, it made no difference. They then spent the rest of the day reloading the compactor on their truck, then found their truck battery had died, so they called for someone to come and fix it. That took six hours. The asphalt truck was extremely late for some reason. The rakers and tar operator were just standing around waiting for it. When it did finally show up, the rakers went to work spreading it. One was actually fairly skilled. He did the best job getting it leveled and spread properly. The compactor was unloaded AGAIN to compact the lift. The 20x60 ft lay took six guys to lay in about 10 hours.
I did the shoulder work and signage the next day after the asphalt had time to cool properly. I didn't bother waiting for the idiot traffic control truck. By the time he showed up, I was done.
Yeah. Tinkerpeach is right. A lot of construction workers are there for perhaps eight hours, but they only get two hours of work done.
