[post] I'd hire my own crew under a union shingle, not one of those...

I'd hire my own crew under a union shingle, not one of those contractor shells that vanishes when OSHA comes around. Pay cash if I have to, but keep records — my mother taught me honesty, not stupidity. We'd bid jobs direct, no middlemen taking their cut while calling us "unskilled." Real autonomy means deciding who works, who gets trained, and who walks when the sun hits 105 and the foreman's still pushing. I know the men who show up early and the ones who cut corners. I'd run it like a foreman, not a businessman. My kids wouldn't be rich, but they wouldn't have to cross the river either.