State OKs Early Work Hours

Early-morning workhours may be annoying but they are necessary to keep the place up.

A new Arizona law took effect recently that allows counties to approve earlier work times for construction. The law allows construction activities to begin by 5 a.m. on weekdays between May 1 and Oct. 15.

After late nights of work or play, early morning work hours are not music to anyone’s ears, but earlier Maintenance Team and contractor work hours mean projects are completed as quickly and efficiently as possible. The projects contribute to the Los Lagos Vistas quality of life. So, please understand and be courteous to our workers. Summer may be a great time to invest in those noise-cancelling headphones you might be thinking about.

Under the new state law, concrete may be poured an hour before construction starts. The law delays work until 7 a.m. on Saturdays, and local governments may set Sunday construction schedules for some projects. Lake Havasu allows 6 a.m. concrete pouring on Saturdays.

Los Lagos Vistas already shifts work hours earlier when the weather heats up as a safety precaution for the Maintenance Team. The idea is to prevent heat-related problems and still get work done. Some projects require digging and other strenuous efforts which quickly raise body heat.

Concrete work, especially, must be done when it’s cooler to prevent materials from drying too fast and not being properly leveled, compacted, and smoothed.

"While it is never pleasant to be woken up on any given morning by construction noise there are usually really good reasons for why the work is occurring at that time in the morning. It's good to see the state of Arizona as a whole updating their laws to accommodate construction challenges. City code goes a step beyond and allows concrete pouring to start at 6 a.m. on Saturdays. As things begin to heat up, this is really beneficial to cure times and worker exposure."