How Contracting Work Became a Race to the Bottom

Ben Whelan is not the kind of carpenter to wax poetic about the joys of framing a wall or redoing a roof. Like a lot of men he knows, he started working in residential construction as a teenager because it was a reliable way to earn money. But he has a craftsman’s pride in knowing the details that go into great work: where to place the nails on a shingle, how to seal a house against drafts. His own home in Connecticut is built so tightly that he can heat the entire place through a whole New England winter using only a cast-iron stove and three cords of wood.

At 47, Whelan knows that he is part of a meaningful tradition. He owns books about home building that were published in the early 1900s. “Framing a roof hasn’t changed,” he said. “Sheathing a wall, even though the products have changed, the basics haven’t changed. Flooring hasn’t changed.” The fundamental skills have been passed from one tradesman to another for more than 100 years.

When Whelan was growing up in Guilford, Conn., in the 1980s and 1990s, the shoreline region east of New Haven had lots of contractors who began their careers by swinging a hammer while they were still in school. Most of what he knows about building, renovating and repairing houses he learned working alongside older carpenters. These tradesmen could take apart a roof, identify the source of a leak and redo the weatherproofing, flashing and shingles with the ease and care of watchmakers. Back then, he says, seasoned carpenters, electricians and plumbers commanded respect. They often lived near doctors and lawyers, in wooded neighborhoods filled with well-made homes. That was the history Whelan stepped into when he became a general contractor and started his own business, BTW Construction, in the early 2000s.

The work itself was never easy — he was often on the job 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week, in all kinds of weather. But tradesmen like Whelan could earn a good living: enough to buy their own homes, send their kids to college, maybe even buy a boat. And the early 2000s were boom times.

“We were very busy — to a point where you’re going to bed and going to work,” he recalls. He could see a future where his business kept growing. He dreamed of becoming the kind of contractor who developed a neighborhood of beautiful single-family homes that working people could afford.