Landscapers Chelsea and Stella McMahon are doing fine in the crisis.
"We're going six days a week," Chelsea said about the family business.
"Everyone is at home, looking out at their gardens and saying 'we should fix it'."
So they do: the orders keep coming in for the two sisters and their father, Richard.
They've found the thinnest silver lining in a very dark cloud. Many tradespeople are suffering as people start shunning contact and retreating to their homes.
The McMahons have had to adapt their working practices. The two sisters work outside and the customer stays inside, exchanging information by text and phone call.
"We just see them for the quote," Chelsea McMahon said.
The two of them do sit less than 1.5 metres apart in the cab of their truck, but they have baby wipes and they keep their distance from everyone else.
"Until the government shuts us down, we are working as hard as we can," Chelsea said.
The crisis has hit trades people harder than workers who can take their laptops home.
"We're in the guts of this," Rob Bolitho, said about the current crisis. "Builders can't work from home."
He works for a company fitting windows. "We're still going to homes," he said but he and his colleagues back away if they feel there is a risk of infection. "If it's unsafe, come home," he said.
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Canberra sometimes seems like Construction City. The work on the big sites continues as the virus encroaches further.
One reason is that many contracts have "liquidated damages" clauses which penalise any contractor who causes a stoppage.
That clause can stipulate a $20,000 penalty per day.
"If you are in the middle of a big build, you would be in a lot of trouble if you stopped," Mr Bolitho said, though his company hasn't fallen foul of the clause - he's making a general point. In a drive to keep the big sites operating, working practices are being shaken up.
Unions and companies are discussing thermal-imaging at entrances to the big sites to check whether workers have a temperature, indicating fever and perhaps coronavirus.
Work times are being staggered so too many people don't meet at once.
Meal times are limited to small groups.
The "cages" which take workers to upper floors are now restricted to two people where they used to take 10 to 15. Stairways have been separated into up and down routes.
There is an unprecedented degree of cooperation, according to one union leader in the ACT.
"It's not easy. It's a juggling act," Matt Mccann, the ACT organiser for the Electrical Trades Union, said.
He said the union was keen to cooperate but wouldn't let standards fall.
There had been complaints that there wasn't enough soap on some sites and the union had acted on that "but the majority of the good builders around town are doing everything they can".
- For information on COVID-19, please go to the ACT Health website or the federal Health Department's website.
- You can also call the Coronavirus Health Information Line on 1800 020 080
- If you have serious symptoms, such as difficulty breathing, call Triple Zero (000)
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