“It was a wild ride.” How contractors made it through 2020
Not far from Jim Davis’ office in Port Monmouth, New Jersey, you can stand at the edge of Sandy Hook Bay and see the Manhattan skyline. When the claws of Covid-19 sank into New York City earlier this year, Davis and his company, Whirl Construction, where he serves as vice president, were peering into the pandemic’s epicenter.
But they adjusted quickly. The weekly Tuesday safety meeting became even more important as infection numbers rose and conditions changed daily. Thanks to a prior investment in cloud-based platforms, remote work was implemented quickly and administrative work wasn’t disrupted when much of the company’s office began working from home and others rotated on a schedule between the home and office.
Whirl specializes in the installation of playground and recreation equipment, shelters, restrooms and concession buildings. Nine months into the pandemic, it hasn’t had to shut its doors once. The office is still mostly remote, and the crews in the field have been able to keep consistent work.
To reduce potential spread among employees, Davis says the company treated its crews kind of like pods, keeping the same crews together job-to-job. Since the pandemic began, the company has only had two employees test positive.
“We did some take-your-car-to-the-job type of thing at the beginning, instead of everybody jumping in the same truck,” Davis says. “We just kept watching the numbers and we tried to stay in areas that were less pronounced than others, and that really helped us navigate through.”
Whirl will probably end the year down about 30% in the total number of jobs completed, according to Davis. While the dip definitely hurts, Davis says that in some ways the pandemic has pushed the company forward, forcing it to diversify sooner than planned. While the company has thrived for nearly 40 years on mainly playground projects, it’s now moving into more streetscape and excavation work.
“We purchased a couple pieces of equipment this year that we finally pulled the trigger on, and we’ve been more versatile than ever. We’re bidding things that we never would even pick up 10 years ago,” Davis says. “…So, you know, are the job numbers lower? Yeah. But have we had to lay anybody off? No. And most importantly, we kept the team and all the pieces of the puzzle together, which is key. Because the last thing we want to do is lay people off.”
With this increased versatility, Davis has a bright outlook for 2021.
“We’re kicking on all cylinders,” he says. “It just makes me firmly believe that we’re set up for a good year next year.”
–Wayne Grayson
https://www.equipmentworld.com/it-was-a-wild-ride-how-contractors-made-it-through-2020/
