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JANUARY 9, 2025
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
Migrant matchmaking
Vermont Construction Company is headquartered at Fort Ethan Allen in Colchester.
Latino subcontractors power local construction industry BY JASON STARR Observer staff
Owning a Burlington-area construction company increasingly means relying on subcontractors who employ migrant workers. The local company makes the sale, then often outsources the job to another company, which brings their workers to the job site. For the consumer, it can be hard to discern which company the workers on site are employed by. When Vermont Construction Company was cited for violations by the Town of Colchester for unpermitted housing of migrant workers near its Fort Ethan Allen headquarters, as first reported by VTDigger in December, the employees were not on its payroll. But the company, like others in the local construction industry,
have taken it upon themselves to find housing for their subcontractors’ employees as a way to stabilize their workforce and keep the construction economy humming.
Inside Lansing Building Products in Williston is a sign for a matchmaking app for workers and contractors. OBSERVER PHOTO BY JASON STARR
“We identified a problem — insufficient housing for working class tradespeople. We then focused on a solution — fixing up properties around the county
and leasing them to our subcontractors to house their workers,” Vermont Construction co-owners Dana Kamencik and David Richards wrote in an email to the Observer. Kamencik is also owner of Williston’s Isham Family Farm. Developing relationships with migrant-connected subcontractors has become an indispensable part of the business, according to Wyatt Edgerley of Alpine Roofing based in Shelburne. It’s a trend that predates the pandemic, but has accelerated since. It was on a materials run to Massachusetts that Edgerley was approached by natives of Guatemala who had started a construction company and were looking for work in Vermont. That meeting has evolved into a years-long, mutually beneficial relationship, with Edgerley overseeing their training and ensuring they are housed while working in Vermont. “I was putting them up in a hotel until they could get a see MIGRANTS page 3
WWW.WILLISTONOBSERVER.COM
PHOTO BY GLENN RUSSELL/VTDIGGER
Inside one of Vermont Construction Company’s housing units for workers. VTDIGGER PHOTO
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