Mikev, I think there's much to be said about this new push for Spanish-speaking construction workers, too. It's hardly fair for an American builder to make those demands of his American work force. Most of the construction guys I know aren't multi-lingual.
Our competition may be cheaper & quicker, but I've been dealing with thier work for awhile, now, & it's horrendous. The builders that hire them exclusively end up with bad reps, but that doesn't seem to matter when they have all that property bought, ready to build on. They build thier crap, sell it, & move on & buy more property, while the home owners are left with lots of things needing attention, due to the sloppy workmanship.
Dan Ryan, my favorite local bldr, has some funny guarantees, for example. You'd think that a roof would be warranted for as long as the shingles, but that isn't the case. The roof on that new house is guaranteed for 10 years, NOT the 25 the shingles call for. Siding? That's only for 1 year! I don't have any idea how these rip-off outfits get away with so much, but they do it every day.
And meanwhile, the men & women who have done the work for decades, for the most part in exemplary fashion, are now out in the cold, while the imported workers get the work & do it poorly, while that difference in cost doesn't get passed on to the consumer. The builder gets more $ at the cost of the buyer, time & again.
Our standards are dropping, as we let these things continue, & as we allow these ppl to work without proper checks on them. Language on a work site MUST be uniform, if you are to expect a well-built, safe dwelling.
It's one thing to have the illegals working in the fields, but quite another to have them building ppl's homes! There is no check when they do questionable stuff, & it's too easy to have important things ignored. Things can look good for months or even years & then fall apart unexpectedly. I've seen outright dangerous situations caused by the unknowledgeable or negligent workers on construction sites.
Would you want them working in a pharmacy or a power plant, not knowing English? The dangers are about equal, in my estimation, to allowing them to work on bldg sites, to life & limb.
Sorry, but I'm against illegals in ANY job in the states, & I'm against ANYONE working in sensitive jobs who don't understand our standard language. This crap just doesn't make sense, & I don't care how touchie-feelie ppl are about it all. When ppl's lives, livelihoods, & life's savings are at stake, things must be done certain ways.
SMILE - it's the safest way to spread your cheeks!