When government officials had deemed construction work “essential”, Trey, Chris’ dad, and others in the business had breathed a sigh of relief. What Chris laid out this morning, however, brought back the high level of concern. Imports from China and other overseas locations were slowing, and steel was primarily imported. To make it much worse, longshoremen, warehouse workers, and truckers were catching the virus, creating worker shortages and unanticipated supply chain issues for critical building supplies even when the supplies were on ships at the dock or in the harbor.
At first, everyone around the table and his dad on Zoom wanted to hope for the best, but Chris was able to convince them that they needed to be concurrently preparing for the worst.
It was time to consider the options – layoffs and furloughs? And the aftermath — would furloughed workers be paid? Would their company health insurance lapse if they weren’t?
To deprive workers of wages and health insurance in the midst of a pandemic was cruel; yet, how do they keep paying wages and health insurance when the company has no income?
This was a sudden and un-anticipatable event, and neither Beck nor Alexander Construction was anywhere near prepared. They went from skeptical to crisis planning with urgency in the scope of an hour. Projects were prioritized; building and supply contracts were set for review and revision; and human resources departments began exploring options for keeping personnel employed or supported in various scenarios, including worst case. No one left the building before six, and they would resume the conference in two days to discuss emerging schemes and plans.
Chris called his dad on the way home, and was pleased to learn that the building materials had already delivered and stored at the lakeside site. That meant they could offer laid-off workers jobs at the lake, providing some monetary support, and expediting completion.
Chris also patted himself on the back for having filled the barn with cedar lumber for Jo’s gazebo, and for the covering above the slab that would house his outdoor kitchen, pits, and tables. He caught that bit of lightening in a bottle when a supplier of Alaskan Yellow Cedar called him after the project they were delivering to in Boulder folded, and his truck driver was hospitalized with Covid. He offered the truckload at a small fraction of the value if the buyer would deliver it to his site and return the truck to Georgia.
Chris knew a recently retired driver who lived nearby; he approached him, offered a substantial fee, and guaranteed him the truck would be thoroughly sanitized before he picked it up. An airline ticket from Atlanta to Denver was included in the offer, but the driver laughed. He said he would do it, because the money would add nicely to his vacation fund, but he wanted the return trip to be in rental car instead of a plane. His wife would accompany him, and they had kids and grandkids in St. Louis and Kansas City they could visit on the way back. They shook hands; Chris called the supplier and wired him the funds.