#1. The working-hour reduction
UAE labour law mandates a reduction in daily working hours during Ramadan for all employees, and this reduction applies fully to demolition and construction site workers regardless of the worker's own religious observance. A demolition programme that assumes full standard daily hours through a Ramadan period is planning against a schedule the law doesn't actually permit.
#2. What this means for project duration
Reduced daily hours directly reduce the productive output achievable per day on a demolition site — a project scheduled to run several weeks through Ramadan should expect its overall duration to extend somewhat to compensate, rather than assuming the same finish date remains achievable with fewer hours per day.
- Confirm the current year's Ramadan dates early in project planning — the Islamic calendar shifts each year
- Adjust daily productive-hour assumptions in the programme, not just the calendar duration
- Communicate the realistic revised completion date to clients and consultants before Ramadan begins, not once it's already underway
- Factor in Eid holiday periods immediately following Ramadan, which typically pause site works entirely
#3. Worker welfare beyond working hours
Beyond the legally mandated hour reduction, responsible demolition contractors adjust site practices during Ramadan more broadly — shifting physically demanding tasks to cooler parts of the working day where possible, and ensuring fasting workers aren't scheduled for the most strenuous demolition tasks during the hottest hours of a shortened day.
#4. Planning a project timeline that spans Ramadan honestly
The most common friction point isn't the hour reduction itself — it's a project timeline agreed before Ramadan that never accounted for it, leaving a client or consultant to discover the delay mid-project. A demolition contractor quoting a schedule that spans Ramadan should flag the adjustment and its schedule impact at the quotation stage, not after the works have started.