HOPE — A contractor handling the $437,500 renovation of Hope’s Town Square says COVID-19 has affected his supply chain and hampered the company’s ability to meet the town’s deadlines for the project.
Town council members, who had initially complained about the pace of the work on the town square, now say they have a much better understanding of COVID-19 is hurting not just the town square project, but business in general.
Improvements in Hope include replacing 43 existing streetlights with black posts and globes that utilize LED lights. Within the town square, concrete pathways that conform to the Americans with Disabilities Act will be installed. Other new amenities include new park benches and receptacles both in the square and in the surrounding business area.
After submitting the winning bid for the town square project in February, Tom Poole, president of the Poole Group, Inc. of Dillsboro, assured town board members that his crews would start working on the job by June 14.
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But after that date came and went, weeks went by when neither town officials nor project consultants were contacted. Since the start date was not part of the written contract, there was no legal action that could be taken, consultant Steve Robertson told the council.
Poole agreed to meet with a few officials to ensure them his crews would begin work by July 20. And when additional delays forced him to push back the completion date from Sept. 4 to Oct. 9, Poole traveled 54 miles to give the town council a full explanation.
Since its founding in 1993, the Poole Group had completed more than $6 million of contract work, and transitioned into a general contracting and masonry firm that employs 25 people year round. But due to the COVID-19 virus, delays and late starts began to start rapidly popping up in March, Poole said.
“It just kept coming back and biting everybody,” Poole said. “We have our crews between six to eight men. But then, we had to go down to three or four, so if somebody got sick, we’d only have two or three guys quarantined or sick.”
Another issue surfaced when a subcontractor asked to work second shift, because they don’t want their guys mixing with the Poole Group employees. While Poole said he felt the same way about the subcontractor, the lack of communication did slow things down a bit, he said.
It wasn’t just happening in Hope. Poole said he found himself encountering a myriad of supply chain obstacles in all of his contracts.
After obtaining aluminum for door or window frames, the glass manufacturer was delaying their shipments due to the virus. Another problem was that while new doorknobs were available, two required pins manufactured by a small shop was closed for nearly five weeks, he said.
COVID-19 also hit the Dillsboro business itself. Initially, nobody at the Poole Group was allowed to work for three weeks under orders of Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb in March.
“Later, the state called and wanted us to put four other guys in quarantine,” Poole said.
Apparently, those four attended a party where one person was later tested positive for the virus. While none of the four employees caught the virus, Poole said a masonry superintendent did test positive for the disease.
Recently, a subcontractor told Poole it’s not economically feasible to send a concrete truck to Bartholomew County unless they could also pour concrete on another local project that was experiencing its own virus-related delays, he said.
And then, there were other adjustments. While a number of suppliers had representatives working from home while manufacturing staff made product at the plant, Poole said the sales force was initially unaware of dwindling inventory caused by workforce reductions, he said.
“While the sales staff kept selling, the company was not delivering,” Poole said.
Poole said a sales representative assured him an order of bricks would be shipped to him on Aug. 11. But just hours before the bricks were supposed to arrive, the representative called to say there would be an additional five-week delay, he said.
Poole said he is still dealing with suppliers that are only maintaining a minimal staff.
“Right now, everybody is kind of at the mercy of subcontractors and suppliers,” Poole said.
Delays are still possible in obtaining handrails, as well as inserts for coverings of expansion joints, he said. In addition, he’s not sure when an Evansville contractor hired by Duke Energy to pull out old light poles will arrive in town.
The virus has hit some companies harder than others, and supply chain disruptions were more commonplace earlier in the year, according to Cindy Frey, president of the Columbus area Chamber of Commerce.
“Earlier this year, we heard some manufacturers say they had orders, but couldn’t quite get all the parts,” Frey said. “But even though they had some short term shut downs, those manufacturers have rebounded pretty well.”
There are so many stories about different types of hard-hit businesses that the chamber worries about their survival, Frey said. Her organization has recently begun hearing from a few members who says they can’t afford to pay their dues because their business is so hard hit, she said.
“We still remain very concerned about hospitality, hotels, retail, restaurants, entertainment and health clubs,” Frey said.
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