The street outside near my apartment has been under constant construction during the entire 5 years I've lived there. They literally tear open the same part of the street multiple times, and cover it back up again, only to tear it open again, etc.

One day I asked one of the workers why they keep tearing open the same part of the road, why couldn't they just replace everything that is broken in one go?

He told me that they often do find and fix the problems, but sometimes they can't find them and give up, or sometimes they do and only kind of fix them. Other times they do fix the problem, only to have another in the same area. He also said sometimes an electric guy will mess up the plumbing, etc. And they aren't allowed to touch and telecom stuff. He said that sometimes some crews will just cut out his work, or cut into their pipes, drill and bolt into their pipes or riggings, causing leaks, etc.

I'm sure at some level this keeps these guys busy but its a wonder we haven't been able to come up with some kind of better system or way of doing things in all these years.