Three Way Builders' construction site at Southland Community Church

Our mild, dry winter creates a win-lose situation for the construction industry. That, according to Len Neufeld of Three Way Builders in Steinbach.

"Warm weather is always great if we're working outside," says Neufeld. He notes one of the advantages to having a mild winter is that hoarding and heating costs are reduced. "That's really probably the biggest saving right now."

Neufeld says warm weather will also boost morale at job sites. "Everything seems to go a lot better. You don't have to take as many breaks or maybe not as long. So definitely it's a whole lot easier on the guys on site for sure."

But just because it's warmer, doesn't mean they can take on more projects this winter. "Because there is still frost in the ground," says Neufeld, "some of the projects, for example that wouldn't be on piles, they still couldn't be put in at this time of year. And it's not that warm that you can do outside concrete pours without hoarding it in." Neufeld says though they're not necessarily taking on more projects, they are probably making better progress on the projects they're undertaking this winter.

But Neufeld says not everything is positive this winter. "Right now we've got water on the site and mud on the site and there's more possibility of slip and fall injuries," says Neufeld. "The other issue for us is when you work on roofs, for example. When you have this kind of weather and you're installing roofs, particularly built up roofs, it becomes maybe not as good as what you'd think."

Neufeld says sometimes you'd rather shovel snow off a roof than worry about rain. Having said that, he notes a dry winter means crews aren't having to shovel snow off supplies and equipment before getting started at the beginning of the work day. "Let's say you're roofing, you have to shovel all that off before you continue. And then there's always a chance of trapping some of that in the building components themselves."

Neufeld says Manitoba has some of the most extreme weather conditions in the world. "We fluctuate from almost 40 degrees in summer to minus 50-55 windchills in winter," says Neufeld. "So the fluctuation in Manitoba and the buildings that we build here have to withstand the harshest conditions in the world and we don't always realize that."