Local contractors battle summer weather

Aug. 7—St. Joseph has a variety of weather events this summer, from heavy rainfall to excessive heat, and some businesses are feeling the effects a little more than others.

Local contractors face heat exhaustion, rain and other issues while on the job during the summer months.

Travis Baldwin, owner of A-1 Roofing, said that the best way to handle these circumstances is by working different hours.

"One thing that we do when it does heat up to these temperatures is we'll come in at 5 (a.m.). 5 (a.m.), you can start working, you know, per city code, and we'll work till, say, 11 (a.m.) and then we'll come back at say 5 in the afternoon and work till 8:30-9 (p.m.). That usually kind of helps offset the heat," Baldwin said.

Baldwin said that they have several people on a project at a time to try to speed up the process so his team isn't in the heat for too long.

"It definitely helps. You need to have a lot of people there so they're not stuck there taking care of a task for too long. And they don't get, you know, overheated or exhausted because, you know, they're having too much work to do," Baldwin said.

Contractors ask that customers keep these conditions in mind when it comes to finishing a project, and encourage everyone to stay extra aware of the weather conditions.

"As far as all trades in general, I'm sure that everybody is, you know, trying to start earlier. And the best thing is just to stay hydrated. And, you know, we've heard and seen, you know, a lot of people having heat stroke and it's very important to keep yourself hydrated," Baldwin said.