I understand the time limitations on contractors.
One of my sons has been a carpenter for nearly thirty years.
He has usually worked building high end homes in the best neighbourhoods.
He’s always loved his work.
The last few years his work dropped off due to the bad economy.
Most of the Jobs were under bid by companies using majority Hispanic labor.
In the last two years, most of his work has been going to brand new houses to fix what the original builder, with his Hispanic carpenters, did wrong.
One house they had to completely remove and replace the roof.
Other times windows were installed badly, floors were not level, a porch roof had separated from the house.
If it can be imagined, he’s had to fix it.
He got so disgusted he left construction for good.
And he’s one of the guys who made top pay because he did quality work and could supervise others.
What happens when no one is left to build the houses but the cheap Hispanic labor?
Well yes, supply and demand when a once booming area dries up is extreme for a while. It not only drove the labor price down, I’m sure the final product price was beat down too.
Your son’s problem - and I’m sorry to hear it - is why I am a self employed type....but even as “the man” - my pay dipped significantly in the economic crash. I mean SIGNIFICANTLY.
Now I’ve never been involved in construction per se - no home building - so I don’t know if the cheap Hispanic labor is all illegal, or part legal and part illegal. I don’t know how many of them are good at what they do in that industry.
One of the many services we offered was landscape maintenance and landscape installations. In that industry, the Hispanics liked it more, and were on balance just very good at it. They were also culturally aligned with doing the same work day after day for many years, thus providing continuity to the staff.
Were some illegal? Perhaps. I don’t know. They all had paperwork. The e-verify system was not around during the majority of the time I had a hand in the personnel, so I would imagine as e verify works through the system, it will slowly clean it up.