Hard work, unlawful tactics help some Hispanic builders conquer industry

By Daniel Connolly
Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Construction work helped Jose Nunez rise from a shack in Mexico to a middle-class lifestyle as head of a small Memphis-area crew. He said he has followed his parents' advice to work hard, and now happy clients sometimes invite him to family parties.

He also acknowledges hiring illegal immigrants and skirting workplace laws, though he sees it as helping poor people.
Subcontractor Jose Nunez, 35, (right) and two of his employees, Eduardo Morales Reyes, 19, (left) and Luciano Aleman, 25, are among immigrants holding the estimated seven in 10 home-building jobs in Memphis. Nunez admits using illegal immigrant workers and not offering worker's compensation insurance.

Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal

Subcontractor Jose Nunez, 35, (right) and two of his employees, Eduardo Morales Reyes, 19, (left) and Luciano Aleman, 25, are among immigrants holding the estimated seven in 10 home-building jobs in Memphis. Nunez admits using illegal immigrant workers and not offering worker's compensation insurance.
Video
Two immigrant business owners live very different lives within the Memphis construction industry.

Two immigrant business owners live very different lives within the Memphis construction industry. Watch »
Previous articles in this series:

Immigrants find way into Memphis distribution economy through staffing agencies

Story of Memphis company demonstrates role of illegal immigrants in distribution

For years, businesses have shielded illegal immigrants

New enforcement initiatives could mean more deportations

Mainstream Memphis often misses connection with city's Spanish-speaking subculture

Immigration's impact Answers about Hispanics

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This mix of hard work and legal violations is not uncommon in the Memphis construction industry. Nunez's story helps explain why immigrants from Mexico and Central America now make up the vast majority of workers on local job sites.

Immigrant construction workers often put tremendous effort into a physically demanding field that many native-born workers have abandoned. Many immigrants have advanced quickly from laborers to business owners and often hire other newcomers. But some bosses -- immigrant and native-born -- amplify that advantage by using questionable business practices such as evading insurance requirements and making dubious tax decisions.

While those actions may allow them to underbid competitors and can lead to lower costs for customers, it also reduces pay and benefits for workers, a big factor in driving Americans from the profession, say unions and other critics.

For a variety of reasons, construction companies like Nunez's can straddle the line between mainstream Memphis and the informal world of unauthorized immigrants: Immigration enforcement is light, unions are weak, big contractors shield themselves from subcontractors' actions and local and state inspectors have limited resources and authority.

Nunez represents both sides of today's construction industry. He typically puts in long days during the week and a half day on Saturday. He's a fast learner who picked up English and construction skills on the job. But his business relies on shortcuts and dodges of workplace law.

One of the more serious violations is not following a state requirement to buy workers' compensation insurance to pay medical costs for injured employees. Such insurance can be expensive and drive up the price a company offers customers, making the firm less competitive. Nunez said he plans to buy a policy soon.

He said he can sympathize with contractors who feel undercut and offers explanations: He runs a small company and isn't going for big jobs. He says it's up to builders to decide if they want to subcontract work to someone who doesn't have coverage, adding that the law should make it easier for workers to enter the country legally and that most Americans want cheap labor.

"Like us, or like me, you know, I'm doing this job for maybe half the price of (another) company," he said. "But at the same time, I feel good. Because even though it's not good, as far as like I said, the law and workers' comp and all that stuff. But I'm helping somebody out who does really need (it)."

Hispanics make up as many as seven in 10 workers in local home-building jobs, said Keith Grant, past president of the Memphis Area Home Builders Association. They dominate low-skilled specialties such as drywall installation, but are also entering skilled trades such as plumbing. Most top-level general contractors here are American-born, but many immigrants occupy the subcontracting levels just below them.

The Commercial Appeal interviewed about 30 people for this article, including attorneys, large and small contractors, illegal immigrant workers and state regulators.

Several people said illegal practices are widespread in the construction industry, but stress that not all Hispanic construction contractors and workers break laws or take shortcuts.

Nunez said he's being open about his life and business because he wants the public to know that immigrants are good people. "I really don't got nothing to hide, you know," he said. "We always tell it just like it is."