MARCO ISLAND, Fla-- The 2018 hurricane season is about 14 weeks away and that may sound like plenty of time to finish home repairs, but there are still thousands of people in Southwest Florida on waiting lists to get work done.
"Everybody's got something going on, the island just seems so busy," said seasonal resident Mark Pederson.
Pederson said he is very fortunate that his SWFL home only had minor damage after Hurricane Irma. However, not everyone was as lucky. Several homes on Pederson's street need brand new roofs and are waiting for repairs to be made more than 5 months after Hurricane Irma slammed into the island.
"It's very loud, it's kind of a busy island anyway but now you have this and then over there, 2 doors, 3 doors down they are having a whole new dock put in," said Pederson.
15,000 people call this little piece of paradise home. During season, that number more than doubles and now so has the demand to get repairs done.
Local companies like Moore Roofing said they've tripled their field crews and quadrupled their office staff but they are still having trouble keeping up.
"One of the biggest challenges that we're facing is the lack of material and the length of tile production is extending almost a week out every week," said Moore Roofing owner Tom Moore.
Moore said currently to get a tile roof ordered and delivered is ranging between 8 and 16 weeks. That means some deliveries won't even arrive until 2 weeks after hurricane season starts. So it's likely homes will still sport blue tarps well into hurricane season.
There are other options to help homeowners speed up the process, like shingle roofs. Moore Roofing has a banner hanging outside its office to let residents know shingle roofs will take about 4 to 6 weeks.
But either way residents have no choice but to embrace the constant noise with the hopes of being ready for another hurricane should one make landfall here later this year.
"They are working really hard, they really are trying to get the island back to what it was but it was devastating," said Pederson.
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