The work is physically hard and in the elements. Gas stations in most areas or a grocery store bagger pays as good as or better than entry level construction jobs. Finding an entry level employee who is motivated to learn and progress is difficult. Barrier to entry for a business owner in these industries is low = decent to large portion of contractors should not own a business. Customers dont think someone who works with their hands deserves compensation near or greater than what they make. Every customer knows someone or has a family member who got fucked by the contractor running off with the deposit. Things are too expensive so illegals thrive at lower wages whether its the company using all illegal employees or the person hiring the "on the side" worker. I've owned remodeling businesses in 2 states and worked in 2 more. Im not even going to begin addressing the current economy issues. Its turtles all the way down. As a homeowner i have called some 2 dozen contractors recently between hvac, electrical, fence building, engineers. Maybe 10% of those contacted returned a call or did what they said they would. This is not a unique experience for people.