In article c3dhc2g=.5e4b8952ea1a9d772e28d61b97dfa2dc@1078328 834.nulluser.com, "Harry Krause" wrote:

Henry Blackmoore wrote:


I have personally witnessed whole blocks of residential housing being
built
without anybody that can speak English building them. Pseudo
electricians
without any form of license or proof of qualifications, pseudo
plumbers etc..
etc.. and these homes have NUMEROUS code violations.

How can a proper home be built by unqualified workers who can't possibly
read the National Electrical Code because they can't speak English and
their own education from their native country is on the grade-school
level?

Taking jobs that nobody wants? Hardly. However a qualified, intelligent
and skilled electrician would certainly look elsewhere rather than work
for the watered down peanut wages that most homebuilders offer. Home
builders get away with these insulting wages (and code violations) by
exploiting immigrant workers AND taking advantage of over-worked
and underpaid city code enforcement officers any way that they can.


The reality is, most homebuilders (single-family houses, townhouses, and
low-rise apartments, the "stick-built" stuff), do not pay wages. They
pay via what one might call "piece work." So much to frame a house, so
much to wire a house, et cetera. And *that* is one reason why why most
skilled craftsmen have nothing to do with the contractors who build houses.

And the resulting subcontractors who bid for that "piece work" hire
sub-standard workers (non-licensed etc..) for peanut wages.

If the hordes of cheap labor were taken away and proper enforcing of licensing
standards were upheld then subcontractors could no longer low-bid the job
down where it doesn't pay a sustainable wage for their workers. They
would have to bid higher or refuse jobs that don't meet their cost
requirements.

It wasn't that long ago that many residential homes around here were built
by union labor (translation real skilled & licensed workers). This is evident
by the union "bug" stamped in the concrete of walkways leading up to older
homes in many older neighborhoods. The quality of these homes is usually
superb.

Anyway that you cut it cheap illegal immigrant labor waters down the wage
benefit packages for American workers and the end result besides lost
jobs is poorer quality craftmanship and work for the American consumer.