Probably he means he'll wait until the rice is harvested. Around here the harvest is 'all hands to the pump' and there will be no one doing anything but rice farming for a while.
The rain might be nearly done, the rice has a way to go. Just a few very small areas have been cut in the last week. I was walking this morning and stopped to look at a field of black rice, it looked close to ready. The farmer was there and the gf asked him, he said that would probably be cut in December.
Of course, here is rice central. Other areas might have builders who are really builders.