Are you claiming that most of the cost in building housing is in labour costs?

At least in places with housing shortages, like the Bay Area and NYC, it seems to me that the high costs comes from the government slowing down (or refusing to allow) new housing construction.

I think a similar problem is evident in healthcare, with certificate of need laws and AMA's restrictions on number of doctors.

> Our forefathers and foremothers built roads and trains, farms and factories

Yes, and most of these were also built by slaves or people in slave-like conditions. It's incredibly easy to build things when you have nearly free labor.