Foreign Nationals Take Over Jobs in House Construction

My carpenter brother nearing retirement finds himself out of work for stretches of time

My dad Harold L. Bolstad, Sr. Obituary information for Harold L. Bolstad started working for H & F Builders - now known as HCS Builders | New Home Construction in Ames, Iowa - in 1959. I wrote about him in another Substack article Remembering My Dad on Veterans' Day - by Harold L. Bolstad. I went to work with him in the late 1960s and the summers of 1971-75. During the summer of 1975 after hours and on Saturdays, I helped him build the duplex at 108 Park Ave, Story City, IA 50248, which I inherited in 2015 upon his death. He retired from the company in 1993 but continued to subcontract wooden stair railings with the company after retirement.

During March through August of 2024, I commuted from Rice Lake, WI to remodel this duplex between renters. I quipped, “A carpenter best be careful how he helps build a house. He might have to work on it 50 years later.”

My youngest brother Arlan Bolstad - Foreman - HCS Builders | LinkedIn took over for my dad in 1993 and continues in that position to this day. He was able to work on the duplex during the month of June and off and on during the rest of those months. Fortuitous for me, but normally this is the busiest time of year for him. Work was slack for him, and the company prohibited its workers to work for the competition during down time even though he was offered an open invitation to work with another small outfit.

I went to one of the construction sites when there was work to be done. He pointed down the street where a construction company from the larger city of Des Moines was building a line of houses employing foreign nationals from south of the border. My brother is soft-spoken and could only shake his head and say, “It is disappointing.”

I think he would like to hang on until retirement and to complete 70 years of father and son for the company but is caught in a hard place with foreign nationals taking over jobs in house construction:

This is what a completely broken system looks like—gutted by open-border globalists from both sides of the aisle. From progressive Dems to spineless Republicans, greedy developers, and a corrupt government that rewards cheaters over craftsmen.

Let’s face it, illegal labor, corrupt subcontracting, and costly regulations didn’t just show up unannounced one day—this was all engineered. And the result of that twisted anti-American plot is a once-respected American trade industry turned into a rigged game where honest workers can’t win against cheap, unskilled illegal labor.

From middle class to bottom feeder: What the hell happened to American construction?