Excessive heat warnings will remain in effect across Louisiana through tomorrow. That stifling heat is having an impact on home construction in the state.
In fact, the heat is hitting home builders so hard that it's forcing contractors to push back the finish dates on some projects.
"I had bricklayers that were supposed to be showing up to a job last Friday, and they're now, maybe, getting there today because the job they were already on is dragging out," said Bubba Jenkins, the chairman of the Northshore Home Builders Association.
He says the oppressive heat is causing lots of workers to end their days at or before noon.
"These men want to work eight to 10 hour days. Now, they're working three hours, taking a long lunch break, and coming back in the evening, or maybe they're not even coming back at all. They, around 11:00 or 11:30, they're spent. They've got to go home," Jenkins said. "It's already taking longer periods of time to build right now due to labor shortages and material shortages, and this is just adding one more obstacle to get over."
Jenkins says most mornings are cool enough to get some work done. However, he says working outside after 11 a.m. is like working in an oven. Jenkins says he and other home builders are doing everything they can to make sure tradesmen and other workers on their job sites stay as cool as possible.
"We're leaving the windows out until after those trades are done just to make sure they have more breathe coming in and out," Jenkins said. "We always try to make sure that they have power so they can bring their fans into their jobs--the big commercial fans that can keep them cool."
