Kansas City Rain Delays Landscaping Projects

Kansas City, Missouri residents are finding it difficult to work on landscaping projects due to a rainy season that has brought more wet than dry days since April.

The Kansas City Star reports that the wet season has delayed many landscaping projects. Since April 1, Kansas City has had twice as many rainy days than dry days, with May only seeing four dry days. From April 1 to the end of June, Kansas City has gotten 21 inches of rain, which is seven more inches than average.

“We’ve just been stuck in this wet pattern,” said Chris Bowman, a National Weather Service meteorologist in the area. “It’s the opposite of 2012, when we couldn’t buy any rain. Now we can’t buy any dry days.”

The incessant rain has made it difficult for landscaping crews to work on gardening, planting, and other yard work. Some residents have had to wait weeks or even months to have exterior work done on their homes.

Better Concrete Construction Co. president Mike Backman says he is very forward with many of his clients regarding when he’ll be able to complete projects. He claims to tell many of his clients, “If it doesn’t quit raining, we may not get to it until next year.”

Carlos Montalbo, an employee with Hermes Landscaping, bemoans the poor weather, saying that he hasn’t been called into work that often since the onslaught.

“It’s really difficult for the workers,” Montalbo said. “We have to pay our bills. We have to pay for food. I’ve got my son, my daughter and my wife to care for.”

Landscaping is one of the largest manual labor industries in the United States, earning approximately $74 billion in revenue every year.

However, not all landscaping projects have been delayed, and other manual work such as construction and carpentry are trudging on regardless of the weather. Kansas City Public Works spokesman Sean Demory claims most non-landscaping public works projects, such as fixing the city’s downtown streetcar lines, have gone on just fine.

Still, one city project, maintenance of the city’s 3,000 crossworks, has been delayed since intersections are repainted every year and need at least eight hours to dry — something the weather simply will not permit.

“Our goal in the summer is to get all the school crosswalks done by the first day of school,” Demory said. “We’ve got a crew of six to do it. It’s a push.”