With 31 years in business in Northern California, Allied Framers has always adapted to changes in the often-volatile construction industry. Today the company operates mostly in multi-family home construction, where they specialize in rough carpentry.
We invited Allied’s Vice President of Operations, Jesse Carter, to share his take on the state of an industry where law-abiding contractors and their employees are increasingly disadvantaged when competitors cheat to win bids.
“Some of our biggest sources of work are in affordable and senior housing in the Bay Area. A lot of that is at least partially supported by federal and/or state funding, which typically carry prevailing wage provisions that all bidders must adhere to. In most cases the prevailing wage is pretty much equal to the union rate. Anyone can bid for the work, whether they are union or not, but we all must pay that rate. It’s pretty straightforward.
“As time went by, we began to see a much larger spread between bids, and we assume the winners are paying only a portion of the correct wage. It’s both unfair and illegal but we often get feedback from the general contractors that we need to come in lower if we want to compete.
“In 2025, I got a call from a general contractor (GC) that they were severing their contract with ProFrame, a subcontractor at a West Sacramento jobsite. We were invited to bid the remaining exterior finishes that had not commenced. We later found out that ProFrame had been charged with wage theft by the Sacramento County District Attorney.
“The GC had gotten so used to low-road bids that they told us they liked our reputation and our proposal, but we were coming in a little too high. They wanted us to revise our bid lower.
“We stayed firm because the GC was making an unfair comparison. There’s no doubt, at the rate they wanted to pay, they could never get that job done legally. We told the GC they needed to reevaluate their budget—and that’s when the phone line went quiet.
“A week later we had the contract. When we got to the jobsite, we found that a lot of work had to be redone.
“The biggest problem overall is that this GC and many others are not properly vetting bidders. When there is a 20 percent delta between our bid and the low bid from a private framer, that should be a red flag. When the GC didn’t properly vet ProFrame’s bid, they had to deal with the consequences.
The problem is with cheating subcontractors, but I do feel that developers and owners looking for the lowest bid are contributing to the issue. Proper vetting of proposed wages, benefits and insurances are needed to ensure all bidders are competing fairly.
“We feel very fortunate to work with a lot of great GCs, but whenever a company is not following the rules, it limits the projects we can have in our pipeline—and our ability to have our strong, well-trained workforce on jobsites. It’s workers who are hit hardest; that’s why it’s so important to deal with this problem consistently and aggressively.”
Editor’s Note: The felony case against subcontractor ProFrame is ongoing in Sacramento County. ProFrame is accused of underpaying workers by more than 50 percent at the 39th and Broadway Senior Housing project. Early investigations in the case were done by Northern California’s Workforce Defense League. Allegations in a criminal complaint are not proof of wrongdoing. We are not hereby accusing ProFrame of violating any law or contract.