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Clear to partly cloudy. Low near 75F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.

Workers with Techline Roofting and Restoration replace a roof Thursday, July 14, 2022 in New Braunfels. New Braunfels is currently under a heat advisory with high temperatures over 100 degrees.

Workers with Techline Roofting and Restoration replace a roof Thursday, July 14, 2022 in New Braunfels. New Braunfels is currently under a heat advisory with high temperatures over 100 degrees.

Workers with Techline Roofting and Restoration replace a roof Thursday, July 14, 2022 in New Braunfels. New Braunfels is currently under a heat advisory with high temperatures over 100 degrees.

Omar Ramirez, sweat dripping down his forehead, stands before a house in the Southbank neighborhood, watching out for the laborers scaling the roof in preparation to lay shingles made of asphalt — a material known to absorb a lot of heat.

It is only 11 a.m. and it’s already 91 degrees outside with temperatures expected to reach 101 before the day is out, but for Ramirez and so many other outdoor laborers working through heat advisories is just part of the job.

With temperatures hitting record breaking numbers before the summer even got started, outdoor workers are planning their entire day around weather that is constantly testing their physical and mental endurance.

For Ramirez, the owner of Techline Roofing and Restoration in Canyon Lake, that means his team’s day began at 6:30 a.m. to ensure it ends before the worst of the heat begins to set in.

To keep his staff safe, he’s implemented more breaks, encouraging plenty of hydration and working slower — even if it means not finishing the project on time.

“It looks like we’re going to have another two months of this stuff … if (the) job takes a little longer outside it’s because of the heat,” Ramirez said. “Our jobs are taking longer. We did one last week that took us four days when it should have taken us only two just because of the height of (the house) and the heat.”

Workers with Techline Roofting and Restoration replace a roof Thursday, July 14, 2022 in New Braunfels. New Braunfels is currently under a heat advisory with high temperatures over 100 degrees.

Roofers aren’t the only ones feeing the heat.

Laborers in industries like construction, outdoor maintenance and home improvement are also dealing with the elements.

“When the sun starts coming out in full force in the morning, it’s just like, here we go again,” Hunter Paine said. “It’s a mental game because a lot of times your body or your mind is telling you to quit and just stop and go sit down in the air conditioning … but just knowing that I gotta get my job done to get paid (helps) push me through.”

As a former naval petty officer turned pool maintenance worker, pushing himself through hard work is second nature and has proved useful in times when the heat becomes unbearable.

Paine tends to roughly 65 pools a week and like the roofers also gets an early start to avoid peak heat. He wakes up at 5 a.m. and is at his first location by 6:30 a.m. so that his day can end at 2 p.m., but sometimes the day drags on and resisting the heat becomes near impossible.

“(One day) I was out cleaning pools till 3:30 p.m., and it was 103 or 104 degrees and there was one point in the day where I had to take about a 30-minute break because there was a thought in my head that was like, ‘If I don’t stop for a little bit I might end up passing out,’” Paine said.

Knowing your limits is an important part of working any physically demanding job, especially in the heat, and Daniel Cabrera has years of experience listening to his body and knowing when it’s time to throw in the towel.

Cabrera buys and renovates homes from San Antonio to New Braunfels and often finds himself in situations where he has to stop early. That can cause project delays, but when it comes to his wellbeing it can be the best option.

A few weeks ago the heat became too much for Cabrera on a job that required him to lift and place lumber.

“I’m looking at the guys, and I’m like, guys, I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty much worthless right now,” Cabrera said. “Something that I can usually carry and put in and lift up on a normal basis just feels like it’s four times heavier. I was like, we just have to go.”

Working with metal tools can also pose a challenge. Grabbing something as simple as a crowbar can burn your hand, and that isn’t the only thing that has the potential to burn you on the job.

Cabrera recalled working in an attic once and the lack of ventilation brought the temperature to 140 degrees on a 105 degree day.

“It was the first time in my life that I was burned — not by the sun,” Cabrera said. “I literally felt my skin so tight just because I was baking all day.”

While understanding one’s limits is a vital part of the work, not everyone has the luxury of stopping for the day.

David Vega is someone who learned that the hard way and while he turned in his tools a while ago, he is still using his years of experience to oversee a crew and watch as they try to make it through.

“I’m doing work that doesn’t require me to physically exert myself as much, but it’s friggin’ hot, man,” Vega said. “It’s like an oven and just standing around helping guys … it just sucks. I don’t want to be there, but you know you’re an adult and you have responsibilities, (so) you put it away.”

Working in harsh conditions just to make a living is something the project manager knows all too well and he is constantly witnessing others go through the same thing. One thing has always remained the same.

“It’s not about your comfort level, it’s about getting the job done,” Vega said. “We gotta make that money to pay the bills … we have to go to work so we do, and we get accustomed to suffering and operating with a pain threshold that most people don’t understand.”

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