It's not so much to do with working hours - a Spanish working week has the standard 40 hours either side of the long lunchbreak. It's more that 'deadlines' aren't universally seen as being fixed, important milestones. This is fair enough in some ways - time is, after all a relative and artificial concept, and in geological terms if something gets done this Thursday or next tuesday, that's effectively the same. But it is a little annoying if heavy rain is forecast, and the guys who were supposed to be waterproofing your roof two weeks ago still haven't made a start...