Back around 2010....as I lived in Arlington....I knew this guy who had a unique house story.
'Bob' was married to a very determined woman who felt you could always get a 'deal'. So she went out and found this dilapidated property in Arlington that needed to be torn down. She offered cash, to get the person to a quick deal. I'm not saying that she put money under the table (avoiding taxes), but I would speculate she went that far.
She then hired a 'supervisor' to run this plan of hers. He brought in a Hispanic no-papers crew and in seven days....they'd removed the old house.
The supervisor then hired an American company to build the 'shell' of the house....the roof, the base, and basic structure.
Then the supervisor....week by week....would bring in a no-papers Hispanic crew to do different portions of the house. Never once....did any county inspector come by.
Adding around 18 months onto the normal schedule? Yeah.
So when the final detail was done.....the house, which should have cost in the $400,000 range....had a total expense of around $300,000.
When the wife decided to add the 3-car garage? That came a year later, and all of this was no-papers Hispanic work.
When the wife decided to convert one space of the 3-car garage into a guest bedroom....that was no-papers Hispanic work.
Did she cheat American workers out of jobs? Yeah....without any doubt. She poured her savings from the work back into her own pocket. Illegal? Yeah, without any doubt.
The house of poor quality? I went over one day and observed the place. In every single room, you can find some detail which is not 'perfect'. It's not badly done....just that when you ever go to sell the place...people might notice the problems.
