Cane Pole says a mouthful: But much of this stuff is caused (too) by the influx of (undocumented) cheap labor in some areas that undercuts the guts out of most legitimate contractors; who (unlike) the undocumented workers (who our government allows to fly under the radar) are forced to comply with much more state and federal requirements and codes and carry far more insurances and much greater overhead costs that (quite simply) won't allow them to compete with the lower costs of labor and/or the low ball estimates that tend to win a huge percentage of the bids and bidding wars in today's economy.
NO CONTRACTORS = NO CONSTRUCTION LABORERS.

IMHO: This is the very type of reverse engineering "cause and effect" that our government is world famous for. It's the same logic that caused the Mom & Pop businesses (that made our country great) to become extinct by way of the mega stores who undercut the local economy by finding products created by cheaper labor (usually in other countries); eventually local businesses become casualties of the almighty power of the dollar in the modern era... along with the total sacrifice of customer service and sense of duty to drive a solid and healthy economy. What's next in their hit parade??? You gotta wonder!!!