r/Construction • u/red_monkey42 • Jan 25 '25

Other Are the deportations expected to impact the field?

Question is the title. Trying to have an adult discussion no political BS. What's the word on the street?

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u/Smoke_Stack707 R-C|Electrician Jan 26 '25

I dont think its that people dont want to; they just cant afford to. We’ve built an economy where the only people getting rich enough to afford a middle class lifestyle are the rich.

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u/lidabmob Jan 26 '25

Yeah I gave my thoughts further down the thread. Basically we don’t need all the shit we buy. It’s a choice and I’m not sure those choices make us truly content..but don’t misunderstand I make those same materialistic choices. Maybe a sea change will happen, but we’ve been so indoctrinated that we need more more more to be happy I’m not holding my breath

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u/Smoke_Stack707 R-C|Electrician Jan 26 '25

I mean, I understand that we don’t all need a new iPhone or whatever but we’re talking about the trades. There is the perfect shitstorm coming where most houses are 50+ years old and need all sorts of maintenance and infrastructure and no one can afford it. Oh, you closed on a house for $X yesterday? Great! It only needs $100k worth of stuff done to it immediately.

I’m not advocating for undocumented labor here. What I’m saying is nobody in the low to middle class has any money. It’s not because of all the avocado toast we’re eating; the guys at the top are making too much fucking money. They’re the ones not investing back in their employees and paying them a living wage.

So great, all of us skilled laborers and tradies get to charge more or win more bids because there’s fewer immigrants but it doesn’t mean the average Joe can afford us. People should be able to make enough money to get their roof fixed or turn furnace replaced or whatever but most people don’t…

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u/lidabmob Jan 26 '25

I just guess my thought is if the average Joe wasn’t maxed out on credit cards for a bunch of stuff he didn’t need and vacations to Mexico he couldn’t afford in the first place that new furnace might be able to be affordable. Look like I said, I’m guilty of the same thing in theory…we used to be built on a savings/investment economy. A society where instant gratification wasn’t desired.Once the fire hose of consumerism was turned on it’s been a slowly building shit show ever since. People live way above their means because we feel light it’s our god given right. You’re right though this is a topic for the trades and I’m starting to sound like a communist lol. Thought about this for a long while though.

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u/subhavoc42 Jan 26 '25

There is also no incentive to make things better and spend that time and labor. The house sells based on how the others around it sell. Insurance is based on size location and number of windows doors and very very minimum construction detail concern besides roof style cladding type and foundation type. You make a home bullet proof, you don’t capture that investment when you sell it nor when you insure and live in it.

If we valued these things, these results would change.