Rain delay: Weather puts valley construction projects on hold

Jennifer Shubinski

Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2005 | 11:11 a.m.

The record-setting rain hasn't just bogged down Las Vegas Valley traffic and threatened some homes -- it has brought construction at some sites to a virtual halt.

Bad weather comes and goes in Southern Nevada, but with more than 20 days of rain this year, the water has saturated the ground and has made it virtually impossible to get certain types of work done, construction-industry executives said.

KDT Construction and Consulting has had numerous delays on several of its construction sites because the mud has hindered the movement of equipment to and around the projects, said Jerry Bailey, KDT vice president.

The company, which also has painting and dry wall divisions in addition to its roofing division, has had a 70 percent to 80 percent increase in call volume since the rains began from homeowners looking for relief from leaky roofs.

"The weather gets us the calls, but stops us from doing the work," Bailey said.

The Nevada Department of Transportation has had to delay its work on U.S. 95 at Rainbow Boulevard because of the rain and has rescheduled a previously planned road closure for Thursday evening. Demolition of a bridge and pouring of a concrete deck is the reason for the road closure.

"Because of the safety of the men doing the work on the bridge and the motorists down below, it's best to put it off until it's a more safe work environment," Bob McKenzie, NDOT spokesman said.

McKenzie said work on the U.S. 95 and Lake Mead interchanges has not been affected.

General Contractor Martin-Harris Construction also has been adversely impacted by the weather.

One site that had been freshly graded and prepared washed away. Mud and rain has kept cement trucks at bay and at one location, a land analysis of the site can't get done, Terry Stratton, chief operating officer, said.

The company had to lower its January revenue projections by 20 percent because of the weather, Stratton said.

"It's a really bad situation," he said. "If we have to, we can bring stone in on a site and build roads over the mud and mire, but that gets expensive."

Stratton said owners also are forced into acceleration modes to keep the project on schedule.

At the Manhattan Condominiums project site at Las Vegas Boulevard South and Serene Avenue, water has kept Martin-Harris crews from digging holes for foundations and those that have been dug keep filling up with water, John Russell, senior project manager at the site.

"We've had to pump water out, which is a pretty rare problem in Las Vegas," he said.

Russell said the developer has asked the construction crews to work Saturdays to see if they can pick up the lost days.

Residential construction also has been impacted.

Pulte Homes and its Del Web brand have pushed back some home closings because of the wet weather.

"We can't pour driveways, we can't get the stucco done, we can't put the roofs on," said Jon Wojtowitz, vice president of construction for Del Webb. "It's impacted us across the board."

At the company's Silverstone Ranch property in the northwest, flooding to roads caused delays because work crews had to clear the roads and job sites of the debris, a company spokeswoman said. Work on the homebuilders' recreation centers at Anthem and Sun City Aliante also has been delayed because of the rain.

"The main impact is we are not delivering homes when we said we'd be delivering homes," Wojtowitz said.