[themartorana]

Yes and no. While there is legitimate "standing around" as your link makes clear, and safety should be paramount, most building projects from where I am - Philadelphia - take twice as long as the Empire State Building at 1/4 the size. We have labor unions that contribute to the problem, but you can't imagine how slowly work goes around here.

I'm aware that OSHA rules are different, and we have a higher standard of safety now than we did, but so too have materials and tools and building methods improved.

[saalweachter]

The Empire State Building was completed in one year and 45 days ... with 7 million man-hours of labor. Given 2000 man-hours in a work-year, that is 3100 people employed full time building the Empire State Building.

I would be surprised if the buildings you're thinking of in Philadelphia are employing even a tenth of that full time, continuously.