It's daybreak when Michael Machovsky climbs nearly 200 feet to the cab of his tower crane for a 10-hour day of hoisting equipment and supplies across a downtown construction site.

As morning joggers shuffle by and commuter traffic backs up, Machovsky methodically swings the crane's jib and drops the hook for the morning's first lift. The same morning ritual is repeated across the Dallas skyline as the construction day rumbles to a start.