I do my best to maintain a tight relationship with God.  While membership does have its obvious privileges, including the occasional burning bush and moving a mountain here or there, unfortunately things don’t always happen on our terms or time-line even under His favor.  God, with this weather lately, I sure could use that staff and whatever else you gave Moses to part that Red Sea…

I’d hoped that soon after my previous post, I’d be able to follow up with this second half knowing as I typed in my office that outside on job sites, bricks would be stacking and sod would be unrolling.  Yet, here we are a week later, when mud pie is still the only desert being served, and Alessondra and I are still singing her new songs.  (We’re working on remembering that the it’s the old man that’s snoring and the rain that’s pouring, not the other way around as she prefers it.)

What many don’t realize is that it’s not just when it’s raining that exterior construction activity ceases, but often for a few days afterwards.  Job sites need time to adequately dry out for some of the exterior components of construction.  In times like these, there’s a struggle between the urge to just make some progress to help move things along and keep clients happy, as opposed to waiting for the right conditions to properly proceed with the more moisture-affected processes.  Masonry usually continues quickly after rain ends, but any work related to dirt definitely has to have some dry-time.  That includes preparing sites for concrete drives, patios, and sidewalks, to final grade, irrigation systems, and landscaping.

Numerous other factors are at play, as well.  One might expect for all of the subcontractors to be waiting for the call to instantly appear and work in double-time, through over-time, to get caught up.  Often they do, but what I sometimes have to remind clients is that not all of my subcontractors work exclusively for Jeff Click Homes.  Many work for several other builders, and some of those other builders’ homes may have been scheduled before ours, so we have to wait our turn.  Sometimes that’s not a long wait, but in situations like right now, that wait of just an afternoon may get stretched to a few more days if another rain hits in the interim.

Homes nearing completion require special measures to protect the cleanliness of the interior, especially when the concrete walkways have not been poured.  Oklahoma red clay is no friend to beige berber carpet, and contractors don’t always think about where their shoes have been as they step into that just-carpeted home with freshly-polished tile floors.  Sometimes the only solution to that challenge is a thing called a dead-bolt.

Neighbors living near job sites also need to be considered with effective erosion control on nearby lots and in the delivery of materials, most of which are delivered on large trucks that have to pull onto the muddy lot to drop materials near or into the house.  The mud on their tires can be tracked for hundreds of yards, and when that happens, our phones definitely start ringing.

I’ve tried to reason with God that dry is good and rain is evil right now, leaving him no choice but to act.  I think he’s still considering my argument.  So as I wait for his ruling, or for Moses to come part the red seas flowing between the curbs of Silverhawk, I’ll have to sing the 500th recitation of ”Its Raining, It’s Snoring,” and set my mind to working on patience.  It’s a virtue, you know.