Building Justice...One Home at a Time

“This is heavy work and they make us work long shifts every day.  Normally we work 50 hours a week; but we have to do it because the salary is so low, and even working this amount of hours you just barely get what is necessary to support your family.” –Rogelio, drywall industry

Workers should be prospering at the same time as their employers and their industry do.  Residential construction in the United States is close to a $600 billion per year industry.  Since 2000, the value of residential construction has grown by 55%.  But more importantly for large home development companies, the median sales price for homes in the US has increased 62% over this period, from $154,400 in January 2000 to $250,000 in February 2007 according to the US Census Bureau.

During the same period where housing prices increased 62%, the stock price for some of the largest US home developers went up by well over 200% (with some increasing in excess of 500%).  Nonetheless, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the average hourly wages for residential construction workers increased just 21% - and that’s even before inflation is taken into account.

The campaign’s primary focus at this time is the southwestern U.S.  The residential construction sector continues to remain strong in this region even with the national slump in home sales and prices.  Because of this regional focus, the campaign has initially elected to engage Pulte Homes in its effort to raise industry standards.  Pulte Homes is a leading company in the U.S. residential construction industry and a very significant player in both Arizona and Nevada.  In 2006, nearly one-quarter of the company’s overall home settlement revenues came from the Phoenix and Las Vegas markets.  Subcontractors working directly for Pulte Homes employ tens of thousands of residential construction workers in these two states.

The campaign’s goal is to get Pulte Homes to help raise industry standards by  providing safe working environments and ensuring that each and every subcontractor hired by Pulte is in full compliance with the law.

We believe that companies such as Pulte Homes should be held to high standards.  Multi-billion dollar home development companies should not be allowed to engage in such business practices that undermine community standards and do not provide an opportunity to the workers who build their homes, to one day have the opportunity to purchase one. 

Click here to read our stories.