[Stentor]

No Americans hereabout to do this work. Where are they ?

Not starting businesses because they know they will be undercut.

[Vigilanteman]

My kid brother was a general contractor in South Carolina a decade or so ago. Did quality work and hired young men black and white for decent wages.

Was run out of business by cookie-cutter contractors who hired illegals. Brother had to lay off his crew which hurt about as bad as downsizing his own home and eventually moving out of a nice area.

Before leaving, he went back to school and got his PhD and is now teaching economics at a small Presbyterian College. Good for him, not so good for the young men who lost their first good paying job.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We paid a premium price for the best shingles we could buy.
The company owner said he had operated with American born guys but they didn’t always show up for work.

[Rocco DiPippo]

"Not starting businesses because they know they will be undercut."

There's something to what you said. Back in the late 90s to around 2006 I ran a small construction company. Around 2000 I started noticing a huge influx of Mexican and Central Americans on job sites. Also noticed how I began winning fewer and fewer bids. I was paying my guys $15-20 per hour. These "southerners" were working for $6-10. I just couldn't compete with that. Given that the vast majority of the "southerners" were in fact illegal aliens I would not hire them strictly because of ethical considerations. But most of the contractors I knew did, because they just could not compete otherwise.

I saw the handwriting on the wall, found another line of work and never looked back.