The days are longer, jackets are removed, lunches are eaten outside and construction workers and laborers return to work.
While many companies experience a surge of business due to higher temperatures and sunnier days, the construction trade often sees large fluctuations in both business and employment, secretary-treasurer for Laborers Local 998 Joe Gunther said.
The recession the nation faced during the winter resulted in the worst winter layoffs in three years, and most in the trade have been affected, Gunther said.
“If you have 10 employees for a company they’re going to lay off three but if you have 30 or 40 you’re going to see about 10 get laid off,” he said.
The result is a large discrepancy in the number of projects done in the summer and winter.
Jim van Ravensway, East Lansing director of planning and community development, said he saw a lot less paperwork cross his desk in the winter.
“We’re starting to get into the construction season so we get a lot of projects in now,” he said.
For Ravensway, the spring represents the first of two major business opening times.
Many restaurants try to open in the spring to take advantage of the flow of people into the city.
But in September retail shops open in time for the holiday shopping season.
“(Timing’s) a really tricky part of the construction business,” Ravensway said.
This summer is not expected to be any different with Cosi and Douglas J expected to open in May.
But not all parts of city development shut down for the winter. The Christman Company has kept busy furnishing and working on the inside of the City Center condominiums.
But besides the large project, vice-president Jim Cash said the company usually keeps busy.
“We’re able to do the exterior work in the warmer weather and then do the interior when it gets colder,” he said.
But Cash said the construction company could just be lucky in their growth while others have struggled.
“Construction is a cyclical industry and there’s a lot of variation in construction activity,” he said. “But I know we’re busy.”
