Dry Run

While lack of precipitation spells trouble for agriculture, the unusually warm and dry winter has spelled an unexpected boon for the local construction industry.

Running dry

The U.S. Drought Monitor shows that all but five of Missouri’s 114 counties are in a drought, and the hardest-hit areas are the southwest and south central regions.

The state’s Drought Assessment Committee has classified 12 counties as experiencing Level 3 drought, and all are in southwest Missouri. To put that into context, the committee has never classified a county as Level 4, the highest possible drought level. Local counties at Level 3 include Christian, Taney, Stone, Lawrence and Dade. Greene County is currently at Level 2.

Construction benefit

Local builders and contractors have been able to work through the winter almost uninterrupted. Walton Construction is well ahead of schedule building Ozarks Technical Community College’s new Ozark campus.

Walton Vice President Rick Quint said the OTC project, originally scheduled for completion in spring 2007, could be done as early as late summer.

“They’ve been able to do a lot of site work we never would have planned on doing,” Quint said. “We had a good, aggressive schedule, but we never in our wildest dreams could have planned on a winter like this.”

Randy Ganz, vice president with DeWitt & Associates, said several of his company’s projects also are running ahead of schedule.

“We have quite a few projects that are exposed to the weather, and we’ve been able to pour a lot of concrete this winter, so the mild winter has been helpful there,” Ganz said. “We did the demolition at the (Jordan Valley) Innovation Center, and with the warmer weather, several crews of laborers are down there working. That seems to have been a big help – we’re pushing ahead of schedule on that project.”

The innovation center project is far enough ahead that Boonville Avenue, which was to remain closed until March 17 to allow for the demolition work, was reopened a month early.

Construction firms also have seen some of their costs dry up due to the warm, dry winter. Quint said his company has saved in several ways: Crews have used less temporary heat and fuel sources to keep warm, and less work has had to go into constructing temporary structures to protect the job sites.

“We’ve almost gotten lazy. We poured a (foundation) about four weeks ago, and before the superintendent poured it, I asked him, ‘How are you going to heat it from the bottom?’” Quint said. “He said, ‘What do you mean?’ I asked if he had looked at the weather forecast for the next seven days, and he (hadn’t). It’s like we almost forgot what season it was.”

Too much of a good thing?

Contractors say there is one drawback to the favorable building weather. If too much of the work gets done in the winter, it can lead to companies having a slowdown during spring and summer, typically peak construction seasons.

“Too dry can be just as bad as too wet,” said Cliff Kennedy of Kennedy Contractors. “The disadvantage is that everybody’s working through their backlog. Come spring, when you’d expect to return to work, you probably aren’t going to have much to do.”

Kennedy, who serves as president of Springfield Contractors Association, added that the traditionally slower winter months are when a lot of companies perform routine equipment maintenance and repairs, and some companies are probably falling behind on those activities.

Walton’s Quint, though, said he’s not as concerned about a possible lag. He cited both Springfield’s diverse economy, which makes the area less susceptible to volatility, and the strength of the commercial construction market.

“Overall commercial construction right now is as solid as it’s been in a long time,” Quint said. “I was looking at our end of January report, and we’ve almost got, committed or under contract, our entire year – almost $700 million. That’s unheard of at the end of January, to have your year committed.

“I don’t know if we set our goals too low or if the economy and the weather are just that good.”

Dangerous Drought

Twelve counties in Missouri, all in the southwest, are currently at Level 3 drought, the highest level ever assessed. Greene County is currently at Level 2, according to the Missouri Drought Assessment Committee.

Source: Missouri Drought Assessment Committee

During Level 3, the conservation phase, the state’s drought plan recommends that local municipalities ban Class 3 use of water, which includes watering gardens or lawns, filling or operating swimming pools and washing cars.

Click here to read about the unpredictable future of the Ozarks’ dry conditions.