It’s the day the construction industry has been waiting for.

Projects affected by the shutdown are able to resume today.

Joe Mazzella, who along with his brother Christopher owns Mazzella Enterprises in Penn Forest Township, said COVID-19 has had a definite impact on his business.

“We were 18 guys strong last year at this time, in the winter we had 16, and after shutdown we had to go with five guys, about 30 percent capacity,” Joe Mazzella said. “It’s kind of been a big hit.”

Mazzella said the business applied for the PPP loan the very first day it opened up, but weren’t able to get in for the first round of funding, but remains hopeful that they will qualify for the second round.

“We weren’t really able to just hire guys just to do the warehouse,” he said. “But we did a couple emergency jobs, some emergency roof repair, emergency plumbing; we got a waiver to finish a handicapped bathroom through the Army Corps of Engineers, so that was exciting when we got that letter.”

During the shutdown, Mazzella said the business managed to do things to stay occupied.

“We took some time to just organize the warehouse, built a second storage floor on the top, did some yard work, things like that to keep a couple more guys working,” he said. “You can’t do that for 18 guys.”

Even though his business can currently operate today, Mazzella said it was decided to hold off until Monday.

“We’re excited about the open, but it’s kind of weird because in the construction (field), you use Friday to wrap up your week, so to start up on Friday didn’t make a lot of sense,” he said. “We’re really doing Monday as the real start date.”

Mazzella said customers are glad they can have work done on their homes.

“We’re excited people aren’t scared,” he said. “They’re as excited to get going as we are.”

Mazzella said his business has at least eight sizable projects for the spring/summer.

“Everyone was like, ‘Am I first in line,’?” he said. “We were afraid; we thought people weren’t going to spend money, (so that’s) a good sign.”

Mazzella said despite the fact they’re able to have four people per site, they will be utilizing a three-person crew per site to ensure social distancing.

“We’re getting portable stand-up hand sanitizers,” he said. “I think that’s going to become a requirement according to the letter from Labor and Industry for any projects that are longer than a day.”

Pros and cons

While it’s an exciting day for the construction industry, there’s also a bit of uncertainty, according to Daniel Durden, chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Builders Association.

“We’re very hopeful for (today), and yet we’re a bit frustrated because we’re more than thrilled to be getting back to work,” Durden said. “Most of our members are champing at the bit, but they are confused about the rules (when they return).”

Durden said the PBA has educated them of the safety requirements to ensure that they practice the social distancing and personal protection equipment measures, such as cleaning on surfaces, more mask wearing, more glove wearing.

“I think those things are clear,” he said. “They’re challenging at times, but we understand the necessity for doing those.”

However, Durden said he believes one of the restrictions that could prove somewhat challenging is only four workers per job site.

In addition, he said there are a lot of builders in the state who are not members of the association, and remains hopeful “that the cowboys who are out there doing their own thing don’t ruin it for those of us who want to follow the rules.”

Durden noted that a lot of homebuyers were in the process of purchasing or moving into a home that hadn’t been completed, or were laid off and can’t afford to pay the mortgage; in essence they thought they were going to have homes to move into in March, April or May but now can’t either because they weren’t able to build it, or they weren’t able to afford to buy it.

He’s hopeful that the startup comes soon enough that the remodelers can still stay in business, as the vast majority in the state were stuck with nothing to do during the shutdown, and as a result had no money coming in.

Durden also expressed concerns with what he termed “the haphazard way that waivers were granted or denied at the front end of the shutdown.

“So, we have a few builders who built right on through the shutdown because they had a waiver, but yet their colleagues and peers weren’t able to do anything,” he said. “So we’re hoping that disparity will resolve with the reopening.”

Additionally, Durden said that while construction is more or less regarded as outside the governor’s red/yellow/green system, a lot of their suppliers and manufacturers are affected by that system, and added it will be interesting to see what the rules are when other businesses open up since that affects homebuyers as well.

“If you had planned to buy a home, and you wanted to pick out what your appliances would look like, now it’s unclear whether you can look at those things, or have to pick it out online,” he said.

Durden said he would hope to see a new normal in a few weeks, rather than in a few months.

“In the ideal world, the whole state would move into the governor’s green format as soon as possible,” he said. “The quicker that happens, the more people can go back to work in all fields, be fully employed, and be able to buy homes.”