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On Labor Day, Collins Hammett Recognizes Our Outstanding Crew

Posted by Thomas Strange on September 4, 2026.

Table of Contents

Key Points

  • Labor Day was established during the 19th century to recognize the contributions of American workers. 
  • Construction site work is the foundation phase of any project, and the quality of that phase determines how everything built afterward performs.
  • Collins Hammett Construction observes this holiday by recognizing the many great staff that contribute to our success, day in and day out. 

Where Labor Day Originated

Labor Day occupies an unusual place on the American calendar. It is one of the few federal holidays that commemorates not a single person, a battle, or a founding document, but an occupation. The observance emerged in the early 1880s out of the trade union movement, spread state by state through the following decade, and was formally recognized as a national holiday in 1894. The subject of the holiday has always been the working person, and its original setting was the industrial job site.1

That origin still matters in the construction industry. The trades remain among the few sectors where the product of a day’s work is visible at the end of the day, and where the people responsible for it can point to it years later, in highway corridors, industrial parks, retail centers, and the neighborhoods that have filled in around them.

The Work Beneath the Work

Most finished projects conceal the phase that made them possible. Before a foundation is poured or a slab is set, a site has to be cleared, shaped, drained, and stabilized. This is the least visible portion of a build and frequently the most consequential.

The crews who handle that phase are responsible for a set of interlocking tasks:

  • Land clearing: Removing timber, stumps, brush, and existing structures so that a parcel can be surveyed and worked. Construction land clearing in Greenville, SC, often involves steep terrain and mature hardwood, which adds both time and equipment demand to the schedule.
  • Earthmoving: Cutting and filling to move a site toward its designed elevations, balancing material on site wherever possible to limit haul-off costs.
  • Erosion control: Installing and maintaining silt fence, inlet protection, check dams, and stabilized entrances. Erosion control in Greenville, SC, is a regulatory requirement under state stormwater permitting, and it is also the difference between a clean site and a compliance problem after a summer thunderstorm.
  • Utility coordination: Locating existing lines, following 811 requirements, and sequencing work so that underground infrastructure is protected.

None of these tasks appear in a ribbon-cutting photograph, but all of them determine whether the finished building sits level, drains properly, and lasts.

Safety as a Form of Respect

A holiday built around workers is a good occasion to consider what keeps those workers whole. Construction remains a high-hazard industry, and the risks on a site work crew are concentrated in a handful of predictable areas.

Practical safeguards we employ at Collins Hammett include:

  • Equipment awareness: Maintaining clear spotter communication and defined pedestrian routes around operating machinery.
  • Trenching discipline: Sloping, benching, or shoring any excavation that reaches regulated depth, without exception for short-duration work.
  • Heat management: Building shade, water, and rest into the schedule during the long Upstate summer rather than treating them as interruptions.
  • Daily briefings: Reviewing the day’s hazards at the start of each shift, when the plan is still adjustable.
  • Equipment inspection: Walking machines before start-up so that a mechanical problem is found in the yard instead of on a slope.

Respect for labor, in a practical sense, means ensuring the highest level of safety for each crew member. 

Happy Labor Day to Our Staff and Clients

Labor Day is a short pause in a long season. Collins Hammett Construction extends its appreciation to the operators, laborers, surveyors, foremen, and estimators who make the building projects of the Upstate possible, and to the clients who trust those crews with their sites.

If you are planning a fall or winter project, contact Collins Hammett Construction to discuss scope, scheduling, and site conditions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does site work matter so much to a project’s final cost? 

Site conditions drive quantities, and quantities drive cost. Poor grading, unbalanced cut and fill, or an inaccurate clearing scope can shift a budget substantially before vertical construction begins.

Is erosion control legally required in South Carolina? 

Yes. Land disturbance above regulated thresholds requires an approved stormwater and sediment control plan, and the controls must be installed and maintained for the duration of the project.

When should a property owner contact a grading contractor? 

As early as the design phase. A contractor reviewing civil drawings before they are finalized can often identify cost savings in the earthwork balance that are unavailable later.

Does Collins Hammett Construction handle commercial projects? 

Yes, our company performs demolition, clearing, earthmoving, grading, curb and gutter, surveying, erosion control, and material recycling for commercial and industrial sites throughout the Upstate.

References

“History of Labor Day,” U.S. Department of Labor, retrieved on August 20, 2026, from: https://www.dol.gov/general/laborday/history.