I've never hired an illegal. I needed a fence put up, went to the local church, and found a bunch of teens that put up my $500 fencing for $200.
The fence people gave me a figure of $2400. Yes, the kids got the gate wrong, but we can fix that easy. Teens are dying for jobs here and McDonalds only pays $6.50 an hour. It took the 3 of them 3 hours to put up my fence.
They were happy.
To get a roof put on, I went to the local church mens group and hired them for $500 + a case of iced beer (it was a Catholic church).
One day, 5 guys having a fun day of it, church getting a nice donation, and my house was done.
Hmmmm let's see $200/9man hours = $22+/hr
You paid way too much !
Good deal. I have been working with the men at Victory Outreach to do some fence work. Also had them do some landscaping and putting in railroad ties for a stairs on a slope.
They arrive late morning since they spend a few hours in prayer in the morning but that's ok with me. They don't always show up two days in a row since there are so many people that call on the church for their assistance but that's ok as well. I get a good price, they make a few 'labor' mistakes like your teenagers but probably not as many ;-) And the cause is good too.
Don't need to hire illegals to do work. Plenty of people that need the work.