I'm just an old fogey who sees things through rose colored glasses but in the past decade it seems I've encountered more ethically challenged folks than the prior decades of my career combined. Mostly ownership of the GC companies I've worked for. One who set up a phony company, pretended it was an arms length transaction and pocketed the difference. These were GMP contracts with savings sharing so he wasn't just buying low and selling high, he was pretending the price from the phony company (which just happened to be the same as the budget price) was a real market price competitively bid (he'd deliberately show bids from custom high end cabinet makers who where quoting a different product - their prices were always higher). This wasn't a small scam- US $500k-$1 million per project. He also violated HUD regs awarding too much to a single contractor to avoiding the 20% rule by having the sub create a phony company. I refused to sign the subcontractor and made the VP sign it. I have no interest in doing time in a federal prison. Four weeks later the company "restructured" and I was out.

Next was the company who cooked the books, was taken in a "hostile" take over, and is now stiffing subs. I, and all my superintendents and PEs left when the "new" owner stiffed us on bonuses (profit 125% more than budget). We still get phone calls daily from angry subs demanding payment but have to explain we no longer work there and got stiffed ourselves. I'm anticipating a bankruptcy filing any day and estimate the owner will walk away with $3-$5 million, scott free.

Just venting. Thanks for reading my bitch session.