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Perhaps you’ve seen the newspaper ads: “Quality Amish Construction: 10% Off Roofing” reads one. “Amish Contractors – Concrete and More” reads another. “Amish Contractors. Re-roof, re-side, room additions, remodels” promises another.
Maybe you’ve had a home improvement project hanging around the house for a while and have considered hiring an Amish contractor.
If you do, you’ll be downright trendy as more Amish in northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio succeed in appealing directly to their non-Amish homeowner neighbors for construction work.
Those familiar with the area’s Amish say they’ve worked in construction for decades and it’s not unusual for them to work on job sites outside their religious communities. What’s changed lately, they say, is the economy.
Dave Fuller, commissioner of the Allen County Building Department, says that in previous years the area’s Amish typically worked as subcontractors for big builders of new homes. It was a booming business until an oversupply of houses and the mortgage crisis dented the number of new-home starts.
But, Fuller says, with the annual number of new-home permits down 35 percent from 2006 to 2008, some Amish tradesmen are looking for jobs outside their traditional work relationships.
There are “hundreds of Amish” among the 7,000 licensed contractors in Allen County, he says.
“What is happening now is they’re going out and trying to get work on their own,” says Fuller, who hosts regular meetings with Amish contractors. “They’re chasing a different clientele.”
Steve Nolt, a professor of history at Goshen College and an expert on the Amish, says some workers now have their own businesses in construction and home remodeling.
Some have sought work outside the local communities.
“In Adams County, they were commuting to Lima (Ohio) or Indy or as far as Cincinnati,” he says. “They were working more in urban markets, and some of them were staying there while they (completed) jobs.”
Nolt says Amish from Allen and Adams counties shifted toward construction work in the 1970s and 1980s because the settlements were more conservative about what kind of technology could be used at home. That made it more difficult for them to compete in farming, he says.
“If you were working as a carpenter, you were much more free to be competitive, because you’re working on someone else’s property,” he says. “The idea is to keep technology at arm’s length from the home.”
Carpentry/construction was the dominant occupation among Amish heads of household in a 2007 Adams County survey, Nolt says, adding there are no similar figures for Allen County.
In the Elkhart-LaGrange area, he says, Amish who have lost cabinetry-related factory jobs also are seeking work from homeonwers.
In the Fort Wayne area, Amish now routinely use power tools on construction jobs, says Steve Leffers, of Paul Davis Restoration in Fort Wayne, who grew up around the Amish and has long-standing relationships with Amish subcontractors. Some contractors carry cell phones for business, he says.
Jesse, an Amish contractor from the Leo-Grabill area who asked that his full name and business name not be publicized, has noticed the increase in competition. “I’ve been in business for 30 years,” he says, “There are a lot of new guys out there lately.”
So what can a homeowner expect when hiring an Amish contractor? We asked Jesse, those who have worked with Amish tradesmen and experts on the Amish.
How do I find a contractor?
Tammy Luce recently worked with a half-dozen Amish crews from the Fort Wayne, Shipshewana, Syracuse and Honeyville areas while renovating her Albion home into a bed and breakfast. She says one crew was subcontracted by a Fort Wayne construction company, and she found four others through friends.
Both are typical routes to hiring, although Amish now advertise more frequently in general-circulation newspapers. Nolt says direct advertising to the non-Amish is somewhat unusual, and rules for ads vary among groups, but bare-bones ads are standard.
“It’s not their mind-set to brag about what they do or market what they do,” Leffers says.
The Amish do not advertise on the Internet, according to Nolt, but non-Amish managers sometimes advertise Amish goods or services.
Do they do competitive bidding and negotiate on price?
Generally, yes, says Lonnie Norris, vice president of sales for Granite Ridge Homes by Tony Reincke in Fort Wayne, who has hired Amish contractors for at least the last 20 years.
“One of the fallacies is they’re cheaper. They’re fair, but they’re not necessarily cheaper,” he says, noting that Amish do the majority of framing on new homes in the area.
Jesse says that someone who calls him is “going to find that I’m about the most competitively priced contractor around. My view is that I bid them (jobs) to get ’em because I want to keep my guys busy.”
What about payment? Do they use banks?
Yes, and most will take a check. Amish generally don’t take credit cards, Nolt says.
Are they licensed and insured?
Most in the Fort Wayne area are, Jesse says, but homeowners should ask. “They need to make sure the Amish contractor is licensed and insured, which I am,” he says. “I’ve been in business for 30-some years. Whenever someone calls me, I can give them references to the blue moon, and they’ll be satisfied. I get plenty of referrals from customers.”
Is there any type of work they won’t do?
Nolt says they reserve the right not to work on projects that conflict with their religious beliefs, and they might be shunned for disregarding rules regarding work practices. When he posed that question to an Amish builder in Pennsylvania, the man thought for a while and said,
“Well, I don’t think I would build a casino.” Amish typically don’t directly seek government contracts, Nolt says.
Jesse says he would not do a project that required him to work on Sundays, though he would work Saturday mornings, if necessary.
I’ve heard they don’t follow building codes because of their religion. Do I have to worry about that?
In the Fort Wayne area, Amish contractors comply with any building code that governs the properties they work on, Leffers says. Fuller meets periodically with Amish contractors to explain code changes and contractor responsibilities.
How is the workmanship?
It generally gets high praise.
“They’re not out there to do shoddy work, and they don’t like dilly-dallying,” says Kenny Berry, 48, of Leo Crossing, who has been a driver for the Amish 16 years. “They want to come in and do the work and do it right because they don’t get paid for coming back.”
