Fall in the Midwest is a wonderful time of year. However, in the construction industry fall is a time to start planning for the arrival of winter. The great thing is, for the most part, construction projects can continue to be built throughout the winter months.

There are unfortunately schedule impacts and winter charges that come with the ability to work year round. The added costs start in early November every year when the concrete plants start charging for hot water for each yard of concrete due to freezing temperatures and the masons need to start adding an accelerator to the mortar.

The asphalt plants normally shut down just after Thanksgiving. Therefore it is extremely important to plan around this event if the project schedule requires a parking lot to be installed before tax day the following year when the asphalt plants will normally reopen.

The further into the winter that concrete and masonry work needs to occur, additional time and costs start being required for frost blankets and accelerators for concrete and temporary heat and temporary enclosures for masonry work.

When the ground freezes this condition can be dealt with by using ground thawing equipment which now is available to use to allow concrete flatwork to occur throughout the winter months.

The key to dealing with these colder temperatures is having a detailed plan before this cold weather arrives in how it will be managed by the project team. The good news is that we can now build construction projects in the Midwest 12 months out of the year with proper planning and budgeting for all of the winter challenges.

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