I saw at a construction site “Wood Frame = Wage Theft”. What does this mean and why?
In: 42
Without knowing more details – (my source is I work in national construction management)
For a variety of reasons you generally see two types of building construction – “wood framing” is mostly found in residential and small (height wise), quick/cheap buildings like nursing homes, multifamily row-homes, office buildings, etc. It’s all wood 2×4’s and plywood to build the building. Kind of Europeans think *all of America* is built out of when laugh about how flimsy our structures are. “concrete deck/metal” buildings are steel beams and columns with concrete ‘floors’. Obviously you have hybrids of these structures, etc.
Anywho, since of the two “wood framed” structures have the reputation for being cheap, think McMansion. You don’t have 30 year union master electricians on McMansions, you have *maybe* a handful of people who have licenses and 50 guys who don’t speak English they picked up that morning from a Home Depot parking lot, today they’re a carpenter, tomorrow a plumber, day after a landscaper kind of thing.
If you google “wood frame wage theft” you see all sorts of lawsuits from poor actors taking advantage of the kind of people who’d work on these jobs – and most recently they are getting on the “oh, no, these aren’t *employees* these are *independent contractors,* we’re like Uber!” bandwagon to dodge taxes. Really shady stuff to make the cheapest of the cheap things and maximize profit.
EDIT – To defend some of my wood-framed trades friends, *not all wood framed construction* is crap. Much of it, and the people who work on it are grade A. But it’s like Nigerian Prince Scamming, if you’re going to scam someone you target the easiest targets AND wood framing construction is where you are going to find the most desperate / easiest to cheat workers in the industry.
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