Thread: Illegal immigrants already being booted from construction

http://www.dailybulletin.com/business/ci_3951002

Article Launched: 06/18/2006 12:00:00 AM PDT

Builders' bane or boom
Illegal immigrants already being booted from construction
Barbara Correa, Staff writer

He said the change will raise his labor costs, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. “It costs less to hire these guys, but we're paying for it in other ways,” he said, such as consistency. “Right now, the price to fix a room or change the windows is not the right price because someone is using illegal labor, and that's bringing down the industry standard.”

Undocumented workers are often paid less than their documented counterparts, which allows contractors to charge a lower fee for a service. Siler said some of those prices have been kept artificially low. At the same time, those undocumented workers may not have as much experience.

If there's a crackdown on illegals working on construction sites, prices may go up, but so will standards, he said.

“This will give the construction industry more continuity. Prices will go up, but there will be consistency. Companies will start charging the same price for the same job if you take illegal labor out of the scenario.”

Higher prices for labor could filter down to consumers in the form of higher construction costs and higher home prices. That will come on top of huge price hikes for building materials, largely due to high demand from China and for rebuilding in New Orleans. The threat of more expensive local labor will add to those price pressures.

James Guido, owner of Pine Bark Construction, a home-additions company in Glendora, said immigration reforms will end up raising labor costs. “But I'm already paying those higher prices,” he said.

That's because he does not employ immigrant workers without a green card, and he does things by the book. Including workers' compensation, Social Security and other taxes, nearly $48 of every $100 he pays a man goes to payroll taxes. “It's very frustrating,” he said. For him, cracking down on employers who hire illegals will level the playing field.

Other business owners say they are not expecting a dramatic crackdown on construction firms that employ illegals, partly because the practice is so widespread.

“I don't think it's going to come down to that sort of witch hunt,” said David Ayala, one of the owners of A.L. Ayala Roofing, which does a lot of work in Van Nuys. He said it will slow productivity, though, because it's already difficult to find workers, documented or undocumented. If illegal workers are taken out of the mix, it may be hard to staff building crews.

A labor pinch in the construction industry would certainly be a factor in keeping home prices high, said Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

“When you're looking at home prices, you have to look at the availability of land on which to build, which is very expensive. You take the cost of building materials, which is up significantly. Then if you push up the cost of labor, you've just exacerbated the problem,” he said.

Kyser said he has heard that many smaller contractors have converted to doing business on an all-cash basis to avoid problems with undocumented workers under new immigration rules.

“We have one of the tightest labor markets I've ever come in contact with,” said John Husing, an economist who has been studying the Inland Empire for almost 40 years. “I don't care who you talk to: They're desperate for workers, and clearly that includes construction sites.”

He said construction is the region's top blue-collar employer.

Construction is the second biggest employer of undocumented workers in Los Angeles County, after restaurants, according to projections by the Economic Roundtable, a nonprofit research organization in Los Angeles. The group's report says 30,800 undocumented people work in the industry in L.A. County roughly 15 percent of all those in construction-related jobs.

Whether immigration reform ends up reducing those numbers or prompting crackdowns on employers, construction trade groups are warning contractors to get their ducks in a row just in case. The Southern California Contractors Association, whose contractors employ only union members, is advising its members not only to gather employment data, but to verify it.

Local chapters of trade groups including the Building Industry Association and the Associated Builders & Contractors support stronger border security and a guest-worker program, but officially oppose law enforcement and compliance obligations on employers.

But contractors like Tom Siler, the TNT Construction owner, say a crackdown on illegal workers may turn out to be good for the industry and good for workers themselves.

“I think it would be better in the long run. It would put pressure on these guys who can become legal to do it because a lot of them are just procrastinating,” he said. “I know several of them are here over 15 years. ... I think it would be good to straighten the industry out. I'm sure a lot of contractors would disagree with me. But I think it will help the economy in California.”
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barbara.correa@dailynews.com

He said it will slow productivity, though, because it's already difficult to find workers, documented or undocumented. If illegal workers are taken out of the mix, it may be hard to staff building crews.

This is the fallout from years and years of using illegals in construction. My husband has been in construction for gosh, 40 years I guess. Our sons were trained in it...originally...say back in the 60's and 70's construction paid enough to overcome the disadvantages...bad weather...delayed sites...etc. But then in the 90's we were still working for what we were paid in the 70's...and that was not enough to live on...while the interest rates were so high and building was so slow we did well to survive.

Attracting young apprentices into an industry like that was nearly impossible...we would not have been able to hold on without our own sons as helpers...most subcontractors were not so lucky and went out of business in droves.

Wages going up would be the solution to 'no help available'.

MJ

It's funny how the builders try to scare you, by saying that taking the illegals out of thier labor force will drive the price of new homes up. In reality, it will cut into their profits because the market drives the price of the homes, not the labor cost. The builders are not being truthful. Screw them, they are part of the illegal immigration problem. Booo Hooo! They are not going to be able to make as much as they did in the past by depressing wages. It's time to pay what you should have been paying all along.

Dixie

The goal is not how to make an excuse for the illegal immigrants to stay , but how to utilize LEGAL ways to do the job which has to be done / construction / in this case / .
This is quite easy to exploit someone who is illegal , but it creates more problems - everybody complains / but business owners / . Illegals complain that they do not have rights , Americans complain that they do not have jobs .
That is what the officials are supposed to do - protect laws , make sure that the USC are happy and that the job is done .
If they do not have brains to offer the solution besides hirinig illegal people , then they have to leave .
I am sure , that if we think , the easy solution can be found - for example - to attract foreign workers who can come here legally - for a shot time - so they can do the job and will not poison and violate the country .
America is a big attraction , there will be no shortage of workpower here .

Booo Hooo! They are not going to be able to make as much as they did in the past by depressing wages.

That I think is more of a bottom line than anything. They will still make a profit, just not maybe as much. With the declining quality of work you'd think they'd rather keep going with a better reputation than pocketing temporary profits.

Business seems to be run that way now though and I don't like it. I know working in retail it was you made this much in profits this year, so next year we're going to cut employees and expect you to double the profits. You do....so now this year we're cutting more employees and you're expected to tripple profits. Great you did that, now we're going to ax a couple of supervisory jobs and the rest are cut to part time and you're expected to tripple last years profits. Then it gets to the point where the customers can't find help. The store isn't as neat and well stocked and you're standing in line at the 2 open of 15 registers. But it looks good in the stock market. Great if you do stocks I guess but not for the customer, the low wage employee and those dependant on that income.
I don't want to be followed around and bugged to death when I'm shopping......but I would like to find some assistance some times and not be stuck longer at the register for longer than it took me to shop.

It angers me to no end that I'm stuck repairing a job that my parents paid top dollar for! Simply from shoddy workmanship from cheap labor.

When we built our house, it was with local contractors, no foreigners at all, but he hired a drunk to do our drywall...most of the work was being done while we were at work.

After we moved in, the roof leaked, even came through the electric outlets! Lost 3 full rooms of ceramic tile because they didn't put it down right and some other things were wrong.....we tried suing but the lawyer let it drag on for 2 yrs and we had to get this fixed..

We had to get another loan for $11,000 to fix the house. After 2 yrs. the lawyer said we had to settle that the contractor was going to take bankruptcy...we got $2000 and the lawyer kept $1500!

So, I would have gladly paid more to have a better job done, and if these illegals are doing shabby work, kick them out and over the border...well that's what should happen anyway!