The forecast turns grey, runners start moving faster, and someone always jokes that the desert finally remembered what rain is for. On a construction site, those few hours of persistent rain separate tidy delays from proper disruptions. Every contractor knows the big three to worry about when water arrives: air systems, pumps and power. If your compressors wheeze, your pumps choke, and your power blips out, you’re left juggling wet materials, stalled lifts and many disappointed faces. The trick is not heroic engineering; it’s having a practical, repeatable rain routine that everyone can run through with their eyes closed.
A small morning ritual that saves days.
I’ll never forget a small contractor in Dubai South who treated the first rainy morning like a rehearsal. Before the sun rose, their whole team walked the yard together. This included everyone: plant operators, the site foreman and one electrician.
All of these people made sure that compressors were covered and raised off pallets, sensitive couplers were blanked, and a spare roll of hose went into the cabin. They didn’t just stand around in meetings. They kept it moving.
And that attitude turned a nasty downpour into a single afternoon’s inconvenience rather than a week of lost productivity. What made the difference here wasn’t an expensive kit upgrade; it was the habit of checking the obvious things early and together, as a team.
And to get that same result, you need to make that ritual yours. A quick walk with the team lets people see the same problems and own the same fixes. It binds roles to actions.
This way, the plant operator knows which couplers to cap, the electrician knows which temporary outlets to isolate, and everyone knows where the dewatering gear lives.
Compressed air: not glamorous, but essential.
Compressed air runs a surprising amount of temporary works: nailers, pneumatic drills, even clean-air sprays for finishing. It’s good until it isn’t, and water is the usual culprit when it’s not.
Rather than a long theory lesson, think of a single morning habit: bleed and inspect. Let the lines breathe for a minute, check traps and separators, and make sure the compressor intake isn’t sitting in a puddle.
One fit-out crew at Jumeirah Beach Residence would run a five-second bleed on every line at the start of the shift during wet spells. Nobody loved the chore, but they would’ve loved their work a lot less if they hadn’t coughed all that muddy water out. This habit of theirs protected tools, paint jobs and, crucially, morale, which is a far more underrated yet important outcome.
Where water likes to surprise you.
Water does not respect boundaries; it finds the shallowest route and laughs about your plans. So, you might wanna keep an eye out for low points: shallow trenches, bunded material yards, and temporary road junctions.
That’s where a modest de watering pump can go from luxury to being your worksite’s lifeline. Having one pump on standby (with clear hoses and straight fittings) means you can keep shallow excavation workable and stop the site from becoming a water park.
Make power decisions before the lights flicker.
Power is the unforgiving one here. A blown shore supply or a tripped temporary distribution can cascade into stopped pumps, dead lights and suspended crane works.
Your rain week plan should map out priorities: what must stay live (pumps, site welfare, isolation lighting) and what can be shed.
And after that mapping, you need to practise the transfer. A controlled switchover on a calm day exposes vulnerabilities quietly. For a functional worksite, you want a relay that sticks, a labelled breaker, and a generator that will accept load. Fix these before the storm and your work will go without interruptions, whatever the weather may be.
You see, it’s better to test and grumble about the inconvenience than to lose a night on an unplanned failure and grumble about that.
After the storm: check, document and reset!
The sun returning is a relief, but it’s definitely not an all-clear. You need to walk the whole site: check panels, inspect bunds and crib areas, test fuel and air filters, and bleed the compressed air lines clean.
Photograph any scour or settlement around temporary works for records and insurance. The quicker you expose and act on damage, the smaller the fix!
And update your manual with any new lessons learned so you can be prepared for next time. You see, when the forecast turns ominous in Dubai, you’ll never stop people from worrying. But with a short, well-practised rain routine and updated plans, you can make sure the worry doesn’t show up on the programme.
So, keep the compressors protected, the de-watering pump primed and handy, and the electric generator ready to take the load without drama. That’s how you keep the site moving when the sky decides to test you.
